Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Call this meeting to order. Uh, beginning with a roll call. Good evening, Mr. Dakota. Mr. Fox, Mr. Williams. Here. Mr. Kendrick, Mr. Marett, Miss Flattley, Mr. Myers, Mr. nicely here. Mr. Pero

here have a right establish. We have a quorum. May we now stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the stands one nation. We bow our heads. Heavenly Father, we thank you for allowing us to gather in this place. Dear Lord, we ask that you clear our minds and hearts as we go about the business of this county. Lord, make sure that we make the the best decisions that we we can for other citizens. These and other blessings we pray. Amen.

All right. Um, let's see. So, I'm ask the our members to take a look at the um agenda, see if there are any um amendments that need to be made or adjustments. One that I do know of was we will not be recognizing Mr. Parker as he will not be um avail he's not available to be with us this evening. All right. Does anyone have any other adjustments to the agenda? All right. If I can get a motion to have the agenda accepted as with the uh uh amendment that was made.

I make a motion to accept the agenda as amended. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Right. I don't call this for a vote, but actually yeah. All in favor share your hand. Passes unanimously. Right. Next on the agenda is the approval of the minutes. um from August 12th. Ask each member to take a moment to take a look at those.

Make a motion to approve the minutes from August 12th, 2025.

I'll second. Motion's been made and seconded. Show of hands for approval. All right. Motion passes unanimously. Okay. Next is our citizen public uh comment period. Comments will be limited to three minutes per person to uh afford everyone an opportunity to speak. If any comments relate to a specific public hearing item, please offer them at that time of public hearing. Right. So, with that being said, we only have one we only have one for general public hearing. That's Tutti Monsur. Tutti Mons Madison District. My family and I represent many people who cherish the Rabahanic River, many of whom cannot attend these meetings. Call us water stewards. Water is our lifeblood and we depend on it as a county. It comes as no surprise to you that our aquafer is running low and the demand is up. We need to look at surface water for the future. That is why we must look carefully at data center construction and proposals. We are getting bamboozled by companies telling us that they will reuse water. We know that water and its reuse is evaporative. We also know that we need revenue from data centers and we look kindly at those who listen to our concerns carefully. Technology is changing quickly and the use of water for cooling is no longer necessary in these proposals. Thank you for your time and your service. Yes,

ma'am. Thank you. I have no others on the signup sheet. Um, so the floor is now open to the general public. Again, this is for general comment that that is a specific item and we will have that opportunity when it presents. Are there any other um but general comment? Uh, Mr. Chris, is there are there is there anyone online that wishes to speak? No, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, sir. With that being said, uh, citizens public comment period is now closed. All right. And is there any discussion from those comments or comment made? All right. All right. Moving on to our next item on the agenda is uh our community planning leazison officer Naval Support Facility South PTOIC Dogren. Mr. Lynch, you have the floor, sir.

Good evening, Chair. Planning Commissioners. Thank you for your time as always. Um in uh early October, Captain Nater, our commanding officer, looks forward to hosting Chair Davis and Miss Binder from the supervisors to uh join us on base for a base tour, as well as a discussion of of shared issues and ongoing partnerships between the Navy and King George County. Some of the topics we'll be addressing include uh utility partnerships, uh intergovernmental support agreements, energy resiliency, and compatible land use. So we look forward to those discussions which will also include Mr. Smolnik and some other senior staff. Uh just a few weeks ago I had the opportunity to meet uh with Miss Leuk and the rest of the planning staff including uh Miss Mr. Vaughn and uh Miss Tutill. Really great opportunity to talk through some of our partnership areas. Uh one that came up which is a great example of our collaboration is the military compatibility overlay district. that is a special zoning district overlay that applies within areas of uh security or noise impacts by the base on the community and we were able to collaborate and make sure that we were all fresh on our data. So, thank you for staff for uh giving us the time to to make those uh important conversations happen. Uh this week or next I plan to meet with Chris Clark who is your parks and recck department uh director as well as I understand a part-time transportation planner. So, we have a lot in common. We're looking forward to conversations about transportation planning both around the base and u adjacent to uh potentially commuter roads to improve safety and connectivity for our our base employees as well as uh recreational opportunities potentially at places like the new Wayside Park on the Ptoac River. Um, couple weeks ago I was able to brief the George Washington Regional Commission Executive Committee, which is composed of elected officials from around the uh PD16 area that included Mr. Sullins and Miss Binder.

Uh, had a a good time having some military specific discussions alongside my counterparts from Fort AP Hill and Quantico. So, a very good conversation and so grateful for the support we have from this community for the military mission. Finally, in about two weeks, we have our community relations council com uh that is going to be hosted at Colonial Beach this time. Um looking forward to uh hopefully good attendance from our community partners and working with Mr. Strad who is the board of supervisors representative on the comrade council. So with that, uh happy to answer any questions you have.

Looks like they're pretty quiet today. Mr. Lynch, thank you so much for your report. Thank you, sir. Thank you. All right. Next on our agenda agenda is the public hearing for application Z-20225-0000302 resolution PC-16-25 King George Motorary Services. Um, Mr. STS stors resoning. Hi. How are you guys? Hello.

Thank you. I'm just going to introduce David Storvy. advisor who was here last month uh gave her presentation on this topic and I will just start with a brief staff overview for the application. So Mr. Stok has applied to reszone approximately 27.5 acres of a 78 acre parcel from A2 to C1 which is neighborhood commercial and this would match the remainder of the parcel. The subject property is located at 11089 James Madison Parkway. It is just south of the intersection with 205 and 301 James Madison. The proposed use of the property is to continue operating as a funeral home in the existing structure. The property lies within the route three Route 301 settlement area as designated in the comprehensive plan. The comp plan states a key policy for future development in the route three route 301 settlement area that a commercial development is recommended to follow the pre prevailing development pattern along the route 3 and within the triangle created by Route 3, 205 and 301 which this lot is adjacent to. This area of King George is home to several residences and businesses and the area is partially served by public utilities through though this lot is on private well and septic. The application seeks to rectify a parcel that is currently splitz zoned. This leads to a clearer land use situation and will increase tax revenue for the county. The application was reviewed by all county and state reviewing agencies and their comments were addressed throughout the review processes. Resolution PC-16-25 along with draft motions are included in your packet. And with this, I'll turn it over to Mr. Stor.

Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the commission, and staff. Uh, I'm David Stor. I'm sorry I couldn't have been with you in the August meeting. Ivy Spicer, who's one of my licensed funeral directors and my manager at our King George location, uh I watched her on YouTube and I thought she did a great job explaining uh but I wanted to come tonight to answer any questions you might have from that first meeting. So um just a little background uh I've been a funeral director for 41 years. I graduated from King George High School in 1984 and have owned a funeral home in Bowling Green over in Caroline County for 29 years. Uh in 2016, I was fortunate enough uh when Mr. Toiver decided to retire and wanted to sell National Slaw Funeral Homes in King George and Columbia Beach. He reached out to me. And so in 2016, I was able to come back home and purchase uh the funeral home where I grew up. Um, my 11th greatgrandfather, William Stork, was a resident of the Shiloh district in 1667. Uh, my father and my brother currently live on that same parcel of the land grant. Uh, so we're heavily invested in King George County. U, I've been a funeral director, like I said, for 41 years and I have four sons and one of them is one of them is in mortuary school now and is going to come back and work with me. So, u my intention is to operate funeral homes. We have one in Bowling Green, King George, Columbia Beach in Arlington. And, uh, my my intention is to operate, uh, this funeral home, uh, which is the only funeral home in King George County, uh, indefinitely. Um, so, um, to give you a little background on this, uh, the handout that you have,

uh, in 2016 when I purchased the funeral home property, it was, um, approximately 30 acres fronting on 301. And if if you've seen the funeral home or if you've been to the funeral home, it sits back off of 301, probably three or 400 yards. And uh when I bought the funeral home, I I didn't be honest with you, I didn't even check what the zoning was. I saw on the plat C1 and I just assumed it was all C1. Um so what I'm asking you all to do is a housekeeping type thing. And but I'll tell you why I'm really asking for it. But so my my 30 acres of land there um the front part on 301 is zone C1. The parking lot and the funeral home and the field and the woods behind it is zoned A1 or A2. A2. Uh so what happened when I was in high school in King George? A classmate of mine and her family lived in that building. That was a house. That funeral home that you see now was a brick rancher that's been added on to. And Mr. Toiver in the early 80s bought that property and turned that house into a funeral home. And back then with zoning ordinances, you didn't you didn't have to do anything. You he just moved his business there. And so uh he operated his funeral home in a A2 zoning with no issues. And then probably in the 90s, uh, you guys came through and said, "Okay, this land along 301, we should probably make that C1." So they made the front part of my now parcel C1. And so

when I found out, the reason I found out that my funeral home building and even my parking lot was A2 was when I went in 2020 probably to ask for uh adding a crematory, right? And so I found out, well, I I couldn't put a crematory right there because it's grandfathered as a funeral home, but I can't add on to that building at all. I couldn't put a building behind. I want to put a crematory right behind the funeral home. Found out I couldn't do it. So in 2016, I bought the funeral home, right? And then in 2017, I bought History Land Memorial Park, which is the land adjacent to it. When I bought History Land Memorial Park, 78 acres, it was all zone C1, which is what a cemetery should be zoned. It's what a funeral home should be zoned, you know, according to your your ordinances. So, what I'm trying to do is clean up a piece of a parcel of land that is split. The front is C1 and the back or twothirds of it is A2. Now, why am I doing this? So, I want I want to behind my funeral home, I want to build a a pole barn. I want to build a garage to put my vehicles in. My funeral home, have you been to my funeral home? It's it's a brick rancher that's been added on to it's it's a a roof with a a porch a roof coming off that has two steps and then a third step. It is so horrible getting handicapped people inside of my building. I also want to add on a a bigger aid coming off the front where I can put a ramp so people can enter the building. So why am I asking you to do this? Well, number one, I think it makes sense to clean up this C1 A2 right? Arbitrary.

But number two, I can't add on this new roof I want to put in the front. I can't add on a pavilion or a carport behind my building. I can't do anything to my building because it's it's grandfathered, but I can't make any improvements to it because it's not zoned correctly. I can keep on operating it as a funeral home indefinitely. So, I am not reszoning this because I have some intention of putting something there one day. This land, for lack of a better word, is stigmatized. I mean, what are you going to put beside a funeral home? Really? And and then what are you going to put beside a cemetery where there's hundreds of people buried, right? So, this land is uh King George County has one and I'm privileged to operate it. This is where I'm going to operate it. This is where my son's going to operate. This is where my excellent staff is going to operate it. So, there is no intention of reszoning 27 acres for some some other reason other than to clean up an antiquated issue and to allow me to make some improvements that don't affect anything other than making life easier to operate my business. So, I I appreciate if you look at the handout I gave you, what what I did and and the land that's highlighted in yellow, which is different than your screen, but the land that's highlighted in yellow, is the original funeral home property that I bought in 2016. And you can see down front along 301 in the pink hashmarked area, that was the arbitrary commercial zoning. It's maybe 100 yards deep. And when I asked the planning department years ago, where is where is that line? It's not like it's surveyed off and there's pins. I mean,

it's just an arbitrary like line. And then you go back a little further and my funeral home sits in A2. So that's the whole reason that I want to do do this resoning to clean it up. So if you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer them. Thank you, Mr. Stark. Um, floor is open for anyone who wants to make comment. Sure, Mr. Fox, you have the floor. Good evening. Uh, if I'm not mistaken, now please correct me if I'm wrong. Your your colleague, I guess the lady that was here last month,

uh, yes. Um, I believe she was asked whether or not you would consider profering the future use to be strictly as a funeral home and and their associated uses with a funeral home, etc. And if I'm not mistaken, I believe she indicated she would be willing to consider that. Is that still your uh uh position uh today? Uh, no. And and I'll tell you why. Um, so you're asking me to profer out everything else in your C1. She was asked if if she'd consider that and I Yeah,

if my memory serves. I believe she indicated she's open to that. So, I'm just asking if that's still uh their position because you said you only foresee this as used as Absolutely. as a funeral home.

I'll give you an example. My funeral home that I own in Colonial Beach was on 1313rd Street in the town of Colonial Beach. It was a funeral home since the 40s, right? And in December of this past year, I sold it because it was in a strictly residential area. It was an old house that was turned into a funeral home that was added on to. And with the growth in Columbia Beach, it's all just closed in. And there was no parking. Neighbors didn't like parking on the street. And so I've purchased a building in Oro, which is a Colonial Beach address. And I've moved my funeral home there. Now, why do I tell you that? I tell you that because I don't want to hand hamstring hamstring my son or my grandson. I mean, this land that we're talking about that is the funeral home is beside a cemetery that's been there since 1968 that has hundreds of people buried there. The odds of this being anything else, but I don't want to remove anything. So, for instance, I sold the property at Colonial Beach and it's now become a house. They tore down part of the funeral home. They're building three other houses. So, I don't want to profer out anything. because I don't know what my grandson might want to do. Uh but but I'm here to tell you 20 15 of the 27 acres we're talking about are woods, gullies, and swamp. So it's it's not like it's going to be anything uh desirable, you know, for any other issue. And I know it was mentioned at the at the last meeting that they could put a restaurant there. Well, who who

knows what the future holds? Uh 60% of my business is cremation and in 20 more years it's going to be 80%. So is a funeral home like I have now going to be relevant in 30 years? I don't know. And I don't want to hamstring, you know, any of my property. If you have and see one that y'all are scared of or don't want, man, y'all need to take them out. I I'm just not willing to profer out anything. But but the land speaks for itself. It's It's not like it lends itself to a I mean, fill in the blank subdivision or uh or or anything else. So, I just have a problem profering out. If you have a C1 designation and you have everything that's permitted in a C1, if there's something in there that you don't think needs to be in a C1, then take it out. You know, work on taking it out. So, I'm not willing to profer out anything. But I'm here to tell you since 1667, the SOR family's been in King George County and for 41 years I've been a funeral director and I've got a son that's going to carry on the business and King George needs a funeral home and we're the only one. and I hope to be that in the future. So,

okay. No, you're good. Are there any others that on the floor at this has any comments? I just want to be really clear that when if this gets approved, this would make your entire parcel the C1. There's no other pieces left that are mixed. Thank you. Yeah, that's correct. It makes it all the same. And All the land around it save the back three parcels are all C1 anyway.

Mr. Fox, you had a question for him. Have you considered I mean correct me if I'm wrong. I don't want to put uh words in your mouth or anything of that nature. uh what you're thinking about is is essentially expanding your current business a bit with these buildings and so on that you want to put so on uh for the funeral home future if you will. Uh how much land do you think you need for that roughly speaking?

Well, I want to build a carport behind the funeral home. I'd like to add on to the front of the funeral home with an A that's covered with a ramp. That That's it. My My current footprint suits all my needs as far as case load and the amount of deaths that we we handle. Um I mean, if if if you all as a body wanted to move my C1 back, encompass the funeral home and that field behind it where I want to put the carport and then leave the woods in the swamp. A2, you certainly could do it and I I probably wouldn't have any problem with it. But is that the best practice for a planning commission?

I mean, the reason why I I I kind of phrase it in this in this way is that it we also have to be fair to all the other residents in the county that might have a similar situation. Or maybe not. Maybe they just want to convert some land to C1 for future family use the way you'd like to do. I certainly don't fault you for want to do that. Uh there is a sort of a fundamental fairness issue regarding this because the the you know the value of the C1 land certainly goes up. I I take your point that maybe some of it is uh hard to construct on or this and that. Uh but if it were an issue of of uh helping you uh operate your current business and your future business the way you foresee it, I I' I'd have a lot more sympathy than simply saying I don't foresee any changes to the business. I want it all C1 and I'm not going to do any profers. Because then I to me you bump up to that fairness issue a little bit. have other folks coming to the podium now

with these issues. Well, let me ask you this. Are there some things that you would like me to profer out and maybe I'd be willing to do it? I mean, if it's if it's solar, if it's wind, I mean, I'd be willing to do certain things, but I personally haven't thought that far into it. So, what is in your C1 that scares you? And I and maybe that's something I could profer out

and keep in mind. If any of you have been to my funeral home or been to a funeral that I conduct, it's not a business where we're going to put something up beside it that's not going to be compatible, but give me an example of what should be profitered out and maybe I'd be fine with it. I'm not sure it I'm really supposed to do that from Yeah, I was going to Yeah, you want to um we're going to want to uh skate lightly on that. Um As a matter of fact, I would um yeah, that would be something that uh maybe take under under counsel perhaps. I don't I don't know.

So, I would I wouldn't advise. One thing I will mention is I don't know if you've ever seen on Facebook and it's probably AI or fake, but they say it's like two big oceans where they come together and they're almost like a different color water. Yeah. Right. Have you seen that? So, currently, as you have it, my has that ocean. There's a line where there's blue water and there's dark water and no one can really tell me where it is, right? I ask I ask like where where is it? It's not even a surveyed thing. So, is that the best use for land?

Um, Miss Flattery, I think you wanted the floor. Um, well, a couple things that uh I wanted to discuss is first of all, I I want to see your business succeed and I'm happy to see it grow. I think kind of the general concern that I have is that um if we're increasing commercial property, no matter what your intentions are, just like you don't know what your son or grandson is going to do, we don't know what could possibly happen there down the road. And so, we have to make sure that it's in the best interest of the county to kind of project what could happen. That's why I said restaurant. Not that I think you're going to put a restaurant there, but it's just the idea that once we reszone it, right?

We don't have any more say as long as it's by right. And um so increasing uh the amount of commercial land, we have to make sure that our county who's having trouble keeping up with services uh can can handle whatever you by right put there because like I said, we would no longer have control. But I wanted to bring up uh something I'm not sure is necessarily relevant, but if you want to add the crematorium, that still needs to be reszoned industrial.

So, let me answer that and I appreciate you bringing that up. So, the issue about the crematorium is not what this is about. your predecessors back in 2020 reszoned my land and it added so back but prior to me buying the funeral home King George Countyy's zoning ordinance didn't have the word crematory in it right and so in 2016 when I bought the funeral home I determined with now four funeral homes I need a crematory I need my own crematory and so I came and I had y'all and staff add the word cremator in your zoning ordinance. So, I already have a crematory. Y'all gave it to me. It's an accessory used to a funeral home. Now, it's not a standalone. And I think, you know, the conversation is industrial. If someone was to come to King George and say, "I just want to build a crematory." And they say, "We're going to do it up at Seal Stand and we're going to do it in an industrial park." Yeah, that's an industrial use. But every locality anywhere around here, when they have a crematory, that's an accessory use to a general operation. It's an accessory use. And so you all have already done that. I'm not asking for that. I've been cremating individuals for years now. Uh and and by a show of hands, I bet you over 50% in this 50% people in this room plan to be cremated one day. So you already have a crematory. This has nothing to do with the designation of crematory. This is just about so that I can build a carport. so that I can if I want to add on a bathroom or addition in the back for another office. I can't do anything to my building because it's A2 and it's just grandfathered. That's all this is about.

Okay. I just want to make sure that we're not taking care of all the things that we would do. Yeah. Yeah. No, you you all took care of that like six years ago. Okay. Mr. Nice, I think you had a question. So, do you have a crematoria on your other commercial property there? I do. So you've already built one on this property that in this plat, correct? Yeah. But it's in the commercial part of the plat.

Yeah. So that's how I kind of found out that I, you know, when I went to build my crematory after I got my zoning, I wanted to build it right behind the funeral home building, but y'all said the county said, "Well, that's A2." So what the county staff So uh Mrs. Leuke his predecessor. She said, "All you need to do is dissolve the boundary between your two properties." Right. Okay.

Because King George Mortuary Services LLC, which is me, that owns all the land. And so I built the crematory over on the cemetery property, which is C1, and it's all the same property. The state board, the funeral director's board, all approved it. Everybody approved it. So I already have a crematory running. The problem is this little antiquated A2 which is where my building is and the field behind it where I want to build my carport and the woods behind it. Mr. Fox, did you have another question?

No, only to reiterate that if I mean I had asked you you know how much acreage do you think you'd need to to do those things you just envisioned? If it was personally I'd have a lot more sympathy if you you said I just I need three four acres to cover the next 30 next generations running of the business. Fine. But when you come and say it's a not entirely necessary to some extent and b you don't want to put any restriction on the future use 27 12 acres of commercial land is is quite a lot in this county. I mean if you I haven't done the math but u it's going to be a meaningful percentage. Now again, I take it that some of it is hard to build on.

That may be easier in that 20 or 30 years. Uh but it's not a small amount of commercial property in relation to the total amount of commercial property in King George County.

Right. So if if it was a deal breaker for you guys, may I walk over there and just show you an imaginary line? So if you said, "David, we just don't trust you. We think you're going to put a solar farm there." I'd say, "All right, draw a line at the field. Leave the swamp in the woods A2 and I'll be happy. That's all I That's all I really need. I'm not going to build back there in the woods with a swamp. But there again, you've got this two oceans that come together. One's A2 and and you just move the C1 back a little bit. But if if you say, David, we're not going to give you this unless you do that. I'll profer that out. But if you just need something, I'll give you that. But if you have something in your C1 by rights that you're scared of, tell me and I'll profer it out. Yes.

Just for clarity sake, it's it's it's really uh up to you as an applicant to propose something along those lines. We're we're technically not No, I understand. I understand. And I I don't mean that to be confrontational, but that's why I say for cleanliness, I just assume make it all see one. If you ever you're welcome to drive back there and go back there and see. There is nothing suitable in those woods behind that field. But if it you know, if it would make you better. We can draw a line at the end of that field if you can kind of see the little area and you can leave the woods back there and the swamp and the stream.

Well, it sounds like it you're opening a negotiation. We can't do that from here. So, if you'd like to maybe up to uh think about No, I I I think I think I I'm not profering anything out. I'll just leave it up to y'all's decision. All right. So, at this point, what we're going to do uh is I'm gonna uh I'm going to open the um floor for public comment. Thank you.

Yes, sir. Um again, keep your if we can limit uh to three minutes per person to afford everyone an opportunity to speak. Um if comments, make sure the comments are related to this particular uh subject or matter. Uh I do have a signup sheet and when the name I have listed on this uh sheet is Katrina Mentor. Um you want to come up and speak ma'am.

Good evening. I'm Katrina Men. This is my husband Ed. We have the property that joins Mr. Stor and um our land is commercial and all along there's commercial. So he has always been a wonderful neighbor. It's a highass operation. We call them the Chick-fil-A of funeral homes. He's somebody you can trust. And if he tells you that this is his plan, then that is really his plan. Um we would just like to stand and say that we are in support of this because that section right there, it really would be wise to if it's going to be commercial, we may as well have it all the same rather than okay, this little piece is this and this little piece is this and this. I mean, it is commercial and our business as well is commercial. And we shared that with him. So that's it.

All right. Thank you so very much. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. All right. That's all I have on the uh sign up board here. Um the floor is now open for uh to the general public. For those who didn't sign up, you now have the opportunity to come up and speak if you wish. Right. Seeing that there are none, um Mr. Chris, is there anyone online that wishes to speak?

No, Mr. Chairman. Very well. Thank you, sir. Being that there are no other speakers, the uh public speak uh speaking hearing for Z-20 25-00302 uh is now closed. All right. All right. Boards, we this is an action um item. The floor is now open for discussion amongst us. I guess I understand the concern, Mr. Fox, and but but on the other hand, I'm not sure I understand, you know, part of our part of our charter here is to help develop commercial and and good relations here in the community and and support the the the businesses that are here in the county. And I guess I'm a little I'm a little confused about what our concern is. If we don't want things in commercial property, then we shouldn't have put it in the ordinance. I I tend to agree with Mr. Stark about that. And and the fact that he is wants to come in here and actually pay more taxes on more property and commercial, I'm not sure why we're fighting him from paying additional taxes. So, um, I I see this as a as a good opportunity to remedy a solution that we sort of created by splitting his property and making it a mixed zoning a long time ago. So,

thank you, Mr. Nicely, for your input. Are there any others at this time? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I just I'd just like to point out that um he's not profering out anything, but we're taking everything that's in A2 that he could do. He's leaving that behind for the C1. And obviously, this is A2 right in the middle, right in the middle of his project. Um like you just said, you know, it it makes sense and he's going to pay more taxes and it's it's going to be um a better business for for our community. He's going to be able to make improvements with without having to come say, "Mother, may I?" This is This is really what property rights are about. He owns the property. He's paying the taxes on it. It's a It's a funeral home. It's going to continue to be that. Um he's asking to fix an error on the zoning map in essence. So, yeah. In fact, I think this one should be easy.

Mr.

So, I certainly want to support local business. I certainly respect, you know, someone who who just wants to do the right thing for his business and his family and expand and the services that he provides are unique. My I I wish we could get there another way though because I feel like um just having that door open um to a lot of acreage that would be by right commercial. um when we're trying to reduce the amount of development in our county because we don't have the services to keep up with it. Um I'm not sure that I can support this way of solving that problem. Any other comments? All right. All right. So, our comment period I'm going to close and at this time I'm going to ask for a motion. um whichever way in which you want to make that.

I move to adopt resolution number PC-16-25 to forward application Z-205-0000302 to the King George County Board of Supervisors with a favorable recommendation. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Mr. Can if we could have a roll call for Mr. Paloda. I Miss Flattley. Nay. Mr. Fox. Nay. Mr. Nicely. Hi. Mr. Williams.

Hi. 32. Four.

All right. So motion carries uh with the recommendation to the board of supervisors um in a favorable for Mr. Stark. Um saved my comments for the for the um last here. Um the funeral home has been here for a long long time. It's been a pillar within the community. Um, I think it's our due diligence um to support our pillars. Um, I see no I see no ill will. I see no um nothing that that discourages us from supporting them in this manner. Mr. Starks, thank you for your contributions that you've done to the community and we ask that you continue to do so and do so in in many many generations to come. So, thank you, sir. Thank you. Right. All right, think we're ready to move on to the next uh application, which is Z-20224-0024 resolution PC1 17-25 Solar LLC Richard H. Steuart special exception. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the commission. Uh my name is Angela Farooi with Bagby Farugi and Good Pasture as a contractor for King George County. Um I am here before you this evening to present the Kaladon solar terraform power special exception permit. Uh the application number is there before you and the applicant is requesting this evening a special

exception permit to allow for utility scale solar energy use on an A1 property. So here you will see the location of the property here. Uh highlighted here in pink is the entire parcel which is 8-1 just over 1,400 acres. Um to orient you a little bit for those who may not know, here's 218 Kaladon Road here. We've got Kaladon State Park here. Um, so yeah, the entire parcels, like I said, is just over 1,400 acres, but the special exception area that they were requesting is approximately 216 acres, which you will see. Let me try to orient you here. And I I do blow this up later so we can see it a little better. I just wanted you to see the entire parcel um how it lays out. So here we go. Here the entire parcel is here in black. The special exception area is this purple area. So it's the access road along with this rectangular piece here. It is within what's called the exclusion area for the conservation easement which is there in orange. And then the facilities themselves um encompass approximately 122 acres. And these are the solar panel facilities here and here. And again I'm going to zoom in on this so we can see it better. I just wanted to show the entire parcel uh in its overall so everybody can see that. Okay. So, oh, I apologize that that got cut off. Um so, as discussed, there is a the main request before you this evening is the special exception permit for utility scale um solar that is allowed per article six of our use matrix. Uh the zoning ordinance defines solar energy utility scale as a groundmounted solar

facility that generates electricity from sunlight on an area adequate to support a rated capacity of 5 megawws alternating current or greater. This application before you this evening is 22 megawws. So it falls in that utility scale section. Okay. So that's the main request. There are a couple of subsequent requests that that come along with this application. One of which is uh a consideration of height. Section 7710G of the zoning ordinance which is the section that is the use performance standards for utility scale solar um states that if the utility scale solar energy is ground mounted the facility's height shall not exceed 15 feet at its tallest point including a pertinances. That's key. the board of supervis but that the section gives the board of supervisors the ability to approve a greater height where there's a demonstration of significant need those are sort of the two this thing die on me yeah um a significant need and where the impacts of increased height are mitigated so the applicant is uh requesting they will not exceed uh the 15 feet for their solar panels or racking they're only asking for a higher height to accommodate the animometer weather station for functionality. So key here is significant need. The need is for the weather station to function properly. It needs to be taller than 15 ft. And then the other the imp sorry impacts of increased height are mitigated. So the applicant is proposing um some additional landscaping and buffering and it is internal to the site. As I said, there's that whole 1400 acres and with the facilities encompassed on about 122 of those. So, um I'll show that again in a little more detail in just a few minutes.

The other request that is uh part of the special exception request is the time frame. Again, um so section 3-4-4 of our zoning ordinances for all special exception permits. And we have a a clause in there that states that that special exception permit will expire within after two years if the applicant has not obtained site plan approval or commence the the the use or such longer time as approved by the board. Again, that's that's directly out of our zoning ordinance. So, the applicant has requested up to five years to obtain the building permit as opposed to the two. Um, and that's based in conversations with the applicant. I understand that that's um due mainly to requirements of Dominion Energy and other studies and considerations that are required uh outside of the county permitting process. So in other words, the county permitting process is not the critical path. That's not what takes the longest. What's going to take them the longest are these other studies, which is why they're requesting additional time. Okay, so here's some general information here. Again, um it's a portion of tax map parcel 8-1. The entire parcel's just over 1,400 acres in size. The special exception permit area that they're requesting is approximately 216 acres um with proposed facilities themselves accomp uh encompassing approximately 122 acres. The applicant is Kaladon Solar LLC and Terraform Power. their existing zoning is A1. The proposed zoning will remain A1 with the proposed use of utility scale solar. I'm going to get into the comprehensive plan a little bit later. Uh it is in the rural development area, specifically the PTOAC River North area. Uh the surrounding zoning around them is A1, A2, and then the Parkland.

Um the ordinance lays out several sections that discusses special exception permits as well as utility scale solar. Um I just include these they're excerpts of the are included in your ordinance and obviously can readily be found in the zoning ordinance. I wanted to have those up there. Um okay, here's a little bit closer up. I hope this Yeah, here we go. Um, so again, 218 is down here. The point of interconnection of the facilities is here. The purple all the way around is what they're requesting the special exception on. These teal things here are their solar panels or the facilities. Um, let's see. This is an existing access road here. At some point it becomes proposed. Um, we do have RPA and wetlands that have been delineated. I'll talk about that a little later as well. Um, this is the proposed wildlife corridor, uh, which is required on our ordinance and an important part of solar. They are enhancing the landscaping buffering here. That's what this green area here represents. Um, Yeah, generally covers it. There we go. And then zoomed in a little bit closer. I wanted to show the access point on both the facilities as well as the entrance. Um, but this just zooms in a little bit closer so that people can get a better idea of what they're proposing here. So again, this is an existing access road up to some point than it becomes. This is the proposed um they will need to secure all permits um to cross the RPA and the wetlands there. But you can see they're avoiding

the RPA and the wetlands with their actual facilities here. as part of their uh concept plan, their generalized development plan, the applicant did prepare a um distance to neighbors. As you can see here, this is the closest residence here, which is just about 540 ft away from the solar panel facilities. Our ordinance requires um that the solar facilities be at least 200 feet uh away from uh the nearest residence. As you can see, like I said, they're they're a little more than double that. They have also conditioned there is a condition that they will be at least 200 feet away from the property line itself, whereas our ordinance requires just 200 feet from the the residence. So the comprehensive plan again it is this uh partial lies within the rural development area specifically the PTOAC River North area. Um staff has highlighted a couple of relevant sections of the comprehensive plan. As as you well know one of the major goals of our comprehensive plan is to preserve, encourage and sustain the rural character of King George County in the non-primary settlement areas. Um, one of the industrial land use policies implementation strategies is to ensure that all new industrial uses provide adequate protection of the adjacent existing land uses through techniques such as setbacks, landscaping, screening, noise, lighting, access control, etc. Um, the applicant has shown buffers and landscaping on their uh concept plan. There are also proposed conditions related to those to

setbacks, screening, landscaping, vegetation, etc. Um, as well as requirements within our performance standards. So, that's how they're accomplishing this goal. One of our transportation policies requires right-of-way dedication as well as on-site road improvements. Um the applicant has we we have conditioned to uh dedicate 70 ft of ride ofway from center line of Kaladon Road that is um um in coordination with the comprehensive plan uh pending approval from the department of conservation and recreation site. One of the utility goals is to research and develop strategies to attract and support green energy such as solar and wind while balancing the preservation of environmental resources. Um this is obviously a a solar solar project. Um they are in terms of environmental resources they are avoiding the wetlands with with their panels and and showing a wildlife corridor as well. It's a lot of information up there. I apologize. I just wanted to make sure that it was up there in the event that anybody had any questions. Um, in terms of just some some considerations, environmental and resource impacts, um, the applicant performed a cultural resources risk assessment. Uh and based on the outcome of that risk assessment, staff recommends adding a condition to require a phase one archaeological study be conducted and any of the mitigation uh measures that come out of that phase one, which we can't know what they are yet. Um but to require those uh to to be implemented. Um and just the condition should also include that the applicant provides that confirmation to King George County after the approval of the

study and any mitigation measures associated with the phase one archaeological study. Um as mentioned earlier, wetlands are present on site. That delineation was performed by um Deubberry. they do have an existing access road crossing. Now, um any disturbance of any wetlands, flood planes, RPAs, any of that will be reviewed by county and all regulatory authorities at the time of site plan and they will be required to comply with federal, state and local laws. Um some other considerations for for the property, uh noise um noise is expected from construction. They have conditioned those construction hours that you see up there um 7 am to 6 pm Monday through Friday and 7 am to 5:00 pm on Saturday with an option if the zoning administrator were to allow work on Sundays. Um and then the applicant has performed uh this is all in your packet, but I'm sure you've seen numerous uh analyses, assessments uh and studies as both required by the ordinance and supplemental too. and I've just listed some of them up there. But again, all of that's in your packet. This application has been sent to all of the applicable reviewing agencies including Commonwealth Attorney's Office, the County Administrator for Economic Development, Health Department, Service Authority, Fire and Rescue, Sheriff's Office, and VOTE. And all of the letters from each of the those agencies are included in your packet. Um obviously if this were to go forward the site plan would be um routed to the the same entities for review. So overall staff has reviewed this special exception permit application and we have

found that it meets the zoning ordinance um with with the affformentioned board required approvals and exceptions which is the height requirement and the the time the five years versus the two years. Um, further staff has found that the proposed conditions will assist in addressing will assist, I apologize, in addressing protecting and promoting health, safety, and general welfare, which which is the criteria by which we judge these applications. Um, and and like I said, staff recommends an additional condition regarding that phase one archaeological study. Uh, draft resolutions are in your packet. Um, and at this time, I'm happy to address any questions you may have. Thank you. Um before we go into questionings, I I think I'm gonna Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna open the floor up for public comment first and then we'll go we'll do questioning.

Mr. Chairman. Yes. He needs to uh the applicant needs to have uh their moment to to speak with the commission first. Okay. Per your All right. Um, if you may, if you wish. Yes, sir. You can have the floor. This one right here.

He's He's going to proceed. Good evening, Mr. Chair and members of the commission. My name is Tyler McGelry and I'm with Terraform Power, formerly Sun Trap Development. I was born and raised in the Commonwealth and for nearly a decade, I've had the privilege of working alongside land owners to pro preserve their family farms and properties. I got my start in traditional land conservation with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, and that experience continues to guide my work today. Now, I focus on designing well-sighted solar projects such as Caladon Solar that deliver real lasting benefits to the communities in which they serve. This is work that I'm deeply proud of and extremely passionate about and I'm excited to share this project with you tonight. Each of these four sections represents attributes of the project that I feel are important to highlight and will be expanded upon throughout this presentation. Caladon will benefit the county. The project will provide 11.3 million in economic benefit over the project life, all without drawing on county services such as school, water, or sewer. This number includes over $3 million in direct revenue to the county. The power produced by this facility will also be consumed locally right here in King George County, and the resiliency of the grid will improve as a result of the project. Kaladon will protect the watershed. I'm an avid fisherman and I've spent most of my life in and around the Chesapeake Bay. For me, wershed preservation isn't just a professional priority, but it's personal. I know how fragile this ecosystem is and how vital it is to our way of life in the Commonwealth. This site specifically was considered for oil and gas development, which is a permitted use on the property. But this project takes a different approach. By opting for a low

impact form of energy production, we're helping to preserve the watershed and avoiding the environmental and health risks that are linked to fossil fuel extraction. We're also committed to reestablishing the vegetation in the Chesapeake Bay resource protection areas internal to the site. Caladon will steward the land respectfully. will be planting native pollinators on site in accordance with the Department of Conservation and Recreation's Pollinator Smart Program. A dedicated wildlife corridor will also be preserved through the site to facilitate animal movement and pro promote habitat connectivity across the property. Finally, Kaladon will be a good neighbor. The project will be well hidden and well screened from nearby roadways and properties. Kaledon is a known and predictable quantity. This is a passive, quiet, and unlit use with no dust, odor, or noise during operation. We are here seeking the planning commission's recommendation for approval. Throughout the remaining slides, I plan to demonstrate how terraform power develops solar differently than projects you may have seen in the news or in other parts of the Commonwealth. Oftentimes, I get asked, "What does this project do for me and my community?" As we dig into project specifics here, I'll be addressing each item with that question in mind. The project is located on the north side of Kaladon Road, just west of the intersection with Dogen Road. It is a proposed 22 megawatt facility with no battery component that occupies 122 acres or just 8.5% of a much larger 1431 acre priv private parcel. This is a small facility, but the benefits go far beyond the footprint. The project brings powerful economic upside. It will multiply the property's annual tax contribution by nine times, all without placing burden on county services like schools, water, or sewer.

That means more revenue coming in, fewer demands going out, and a meaningful way to help keep taxes down for residents. On top of that, the electricity produced here will be consumed locally. At 22 megawatts AC, this project would generate enough power for 3,500 homes or roughly 30% of the households in King George County. It is a step towards local energy independence with zero emissions and solar is the lowest cost energy generation available today. This project supports Governor Yncan's all of the above strategy for energy in the Commonwealth. Kaledon Solar is reimagining the energy development future for this property. The clean, quiet, emissionfree energy that Kaledon Solar will provide is a conservation positive outcome on a property that's slotted for oil and gas development. In line with the open space easement and the conservation values shared by both our landowner and Terraform, we didn't want to just stop there. That's why this project is going above and beyond in several key areas. Pollinator habitat will be planted through the site per Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation's Pollinator Smart Program. This isn't just a checkbox for us. We had a third party consultant who actually helped draft the Pollinator Smart Program conduct a full site suitability analysis. That report confirmed that the land is well suited for pollinator species and it was included in our application materials. Vegetation will also be reestablished within the resource protection areas. To strengthen Chesapeake Bay wershed protections, a newly planted 100 foot wide vegetative buffer will be planted along the project's eastern boundary to mitigate viewshed impacts to the project's only adjacent neighbors. In accordance with King George County's robust standards, this will include deciduous trees, ornamental trees, and shrubs.

Finally, a wildlife corridor will be maintained through the site per department of wildlife resource guidance to allow unencumbered movement of animals across the property. Having worked in conservation for many years, I care deeply about preserving viewsheds and protecting waterheds, especially the Chesapeake Bay. That's why we put so much thought into the project's location, setbacks, and buffering. This facility will not be visible from any roadways, including Kaladon Road, which sits half a mile to the south. It also is over 500 ft from the nearest residents to the east, whose viewhed is further protected by the newly planted 100 foot wide vegetative buffer. To further limit impact to neighbors, our design doubled the county's setback requirements for project equipment from 100 to 200 ft. Finally, this project will connect underground to existing 345KV distribution lines on site along Caladon Road. It's important to note that we're connecting at the distribution level, not the transmission level, which is different from some of the larger projects that you may have seen. That means no on-site substation and no new transmission lines. The upgrades that we're making are limited to existing structures and existing rightways. You'll see some new equipment, updated fiber, and reconductoring of current lines, but all within a footprint that's already there. Again, stewardship of this land is top of mind for us. I've mentioned a few times that Kaladon will protect the land and water in King George County, but I'd like to take a minute to discuss how that's actually realized. A highlight of this project is the lack of topography on the site. It is flat. This is important because when you don't have to move dirt, on-site water management gets a lot easier. In terms of water management, there are two mechanisms that will be used. First, erosion and

sediment controls, which are put in place during construction of the facility to keep sediment from leaving the site. The second is storm water management facilities, which are installed to manage excess rainfall during the project's life. Both of these measures are approved by King George County and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and are monitored for compliance during routine inspections. Mr. Chair, to follow up on your question from the mass last meeting, in the unlikely event of runoff, the project owner, which will be Terraform Power, is obligated to remediate it promptly. Additionally, the project owner may be subject to fines or other mitigation requirements under applicable regulations. As you can see, this project will be subject to both state and local oversight, which ensures strong protections for the land and nearby waterways. That's a major shift from the current situation. Right now, the property is unregulated, and the agriculture use poses the risk of unmanaged runoff. What we're proposing is a clear improvement. native grasses, pollinator habitat, reestablished resource protection areas, and purpose-built storm water features that work together to manage runoff responsibly and protect the environment. Importantly, this facility will not impact streams or wetlands and is safe for both the ecosystem and the people around it. When I talk about safety, I get a lot of questions about the safety of solar panels, and it's understandable. There's plenty of misconceptions out there. So, let's bring it down to the basics. The main solar facility is steel, aluminum, glass, and silicon. What you're seeing on the screen is a cross-section of a typical panel. You'll notice the aluminum frame, the glass layer, and then the plastic encapsulate that completely encloses the photovoltaic

cells. Those cells are made of silicon, which speaking is the same as sand. Aside from a small amount of lead that's used in the solder, which is just like any other electronic device, the materials involved are not inherently concerning. And again, these panels are completely encapsulated. They're sealed off from the outside world. Solar electricity generation is a proven and safe technology. Solar panels don't produce light or noise, and they've been safely used for decades on our homes, schools, hospitals, RVs, and boats. To back that up, we included two studies in our application. One from North Carolina State and the other from the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources that show that even in worst case scenarios, panels do not pose a threat to health or safety. I know that those reports are lengthy, so I'm more than happy to point you guys in the right direction to some specific spots if you have questions. Kaladon's promise to be a good neighbor began the moment we started working with our land owner. And since we will own and operate this facility, it will continue throughout the project's life. During the development of the project, this has looked like meetings with neighbors and two community meetings where we gained valuable feedback. Those meetings are special moments in this process where we get to dig in, understand concerns, and improve the project. The construction phase of the project is expected to take 8 to 10 months, but only a small portion of that time involves actively building the facility itself. So that's driving piles, assembling, racking, and installing panels. For the remaining five to seven months, work on site will be low intensity and low traffic with focus on tasks like site stabilization, testing, and finalizing erosion and sediment control and storm water management approvals throughout the process. However, a dedicated community liaison will be available to provide updates, answer questions, and ensure residents have a

clear line of communication. We're committed to transparency and minimizing disruption every step of this process. During operation, the project will be a quiet neighbor with basically no traffic, no noise, and 247 remote monitoring for performance and safety for the life of the project. At the end of Caladon's operational life, which is expected to be 40 years, the entire facility is required to be decommissioned and removed. At that time, the facility materials will be recycled, salvaged, and repurposed as practical. This decommissioning process requires oversight and approval by the county and will be entirely paid for by the project, not the land owner, not the neighbors, and not the county. To guarantee this, the removal is paid for upfront and held by the county and it's updated every five years to ensure that the money is available to remove the project when the time comes. After decommissioning, the land, which is still owned by the landowner and his family, can be returned to its previous use at their discretion. I'd like to end by reiterating the points that I started with. Kaladon will benefit the county. The project will provide 11.3 million in economic benefit over the project life. This is over $3 million in direct revenue to the county and includes a year one payment of $580,000 per the proposed sighting agreement. The power produced by this facility will also be consumed locally right here in King George County and the resiliency of the grid will improve as a result of this project. Kaladon will protect the wershed by opting for a low impact form of energy production. This project helps to preserve the wershed and avoids the environmental and health hazards that are associated with oil and gas development. We're also committed to reestablishing the resource protection areas internal to the site. Caladon will steward the land

respectfully. We'll be planting native pollinators on site and adding a dedicated wildlife corridor which will be which will preserve and promote wildlife movement across the property. Finally, Kaladon will be a good neighbor. The project is well hidden and well screened from nearby roads and properties. This is a passive, quiet, and unlit use with no dust, odor, or noise during operation. This project is low impact, and it provides significant tangible benefit to the county. Thank you for your time tonight. I'm more than happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, sir. Um, I'm hold I'm ask the uh commission to hold off on any any questions uh at this moment. I'm going to give the uh public an opportunity to speak. So, with that being said, um the public hearing for application Z-2024-00240 uh Kaledanine solar uh project is now open. I do have a sign signup sheet that has some names on it. So, we'll go through that first and then uh the floor will be open to uh the general general public. Uh first on the signup sheep, I have Mr. Blake Cox. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the planning commission. My name is Blake Cox. I'm one of the co-founders a nonprofit called Energy Right um where we want to see energy developed the right way on the local level with the focus on property rights, conservative ideals, and an all the above approach to energy. We have to be a common sense voice during these very important energy discussions on the local level. So, as you all continue to consider solar projects in in the county, we would just encourage you to keep an eye on property rights. So, meaning somebody can do what they want with their land as long as they aren't negatively affecting their neighbor and their community. We believe that's a cornerstone of America. But we would also hope that you'd be mindful of the economic growth opportunities that come along with energy investments. We believe the solar project should pay their fair share in taxes to the county so that all residents can benefit. Sighting agreements are a useful tool to offset county expenses or allow leaders to lower their taxes or lower taxes on residents. It's important to remember that the additional tax revenues from solar projects don't strain public services like other types of development might demand that could be proposed or

built on the same property. These tax dollars can help lower taxes on citizens as we've seen in various other Virginia communities go to repairing roads. Our infrastructure funding our schools are very important first responders. If done responsibly, solar is a quiet, odorless, out of sight, out of mind land use and neighbor that can generate millions of dollars for for county projects and needs. So, I just urge you to move forward in the consideration approval of solar developments in King George so land owners may move forward with these projects and the benefits of energy development can be realized by the county. Thanks so much.

Thank you, sir. Next on the uh sign of sheep, I have Mr. Andre Reese, Andrea, is it Andrea? And you? All right. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the planning commission. My name is Andrea Ree. I have 20 years of experience in land conservation at the local, state, and national levels. and I'm representing Chesapeake Conservancy, one of 10 environmental conservation nonprofits working all across Virginia and beyond who joined together to reach out to you. Our concern is the sighting of the Kowadon solar proposal. Our letter along with the legal analysis backing it up begins at page 531 of your packet. As you already know, this land is protected in perpetuity with a publicly held and publicly funded open space easement. Its terms allow for the possibility of a fairly limited amount of future infrastructure if and only if it's approved by the agency that holds the easement and compatible with the conservation purposes. The applicant is not part of that entity. What you may not have seen are two letters in your packet at pages 566 and 570. The US Fish and Wildlife Service granted $986,000 to conserve this property and its letter states that under the terms of the funding, the easement prohibits commercial solar development. And the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, the holder, states in its letter that the conservation protections do not allow the commercial solar development as described. To be sure, you also have a letter from a former Secretary of Natural Resources suggesting solar development could be allowed where it's consistent with the easement terms. But as you just heard, the letters from the easements holder and funer document that there is no place on this land where that's the

case. So to safeguard this property's natural resources and maintain public confidence in the easement protections, we urge the planning commission not to approve this proposal as presented. That said, you may be looking for a way forward even knowing of these concerns. In that event, we ask you to add a condition to those your staff have already recommended. The condition that the proposal will follow the state law that governs conversion of land out of an open space easement. This law is code of Virginia section 10.1704, diversion of property from open space land use. Its process involves making a finding of public necessity and protecting replacement lands in order to compensate for what the entire public, King George, Virginia as a whole, will lose by developing land that is publicly protected. If this solar facility were proposed for land that wasn't conserved, my colleagues and I would not be here before you. But this land is conserved and our expertise is land conservation and your decision may set a precedent. If you decide to further movement of this proposal then the right thing to do is to require engagement with the 1704 process for replacement of this protected land.

Thank you very much for the chance to speak with you. Thank you ma'am.

Next is Mr. Thomas uh of Calan Road 1231 Calan Road. Your name sir? Okay, I didn't want to butcher it.

That's fine. My name is Thomas Burkel. I live at 12381 Caladon, which is a neighbor to Cedar Farm or Cedar Grove Farm. Um, just want to first give my empathy to you. 35 years ago, I sat there where Mr. Nicely sitting during the hopyard, the dump, and all the other things, and people were very upset. So, it wasn't a whole lot of fun. However, having said that, we have new problems. I never thought Hopyard would happen outside of the comprehensive plan, but it did. This plan, which I'm not against or for, I won't see it, but I do want you to make a knowledgeable decision. I did get to go to the first um uh neighbors forum that the company held, and I'd like to thank you for it. Learned a lot. One of the questions that was outstanding there was noise. And we've talked all about noise, but not long-term noise. We are going to be dealing with inverters. We are going to be dealing with either generators or other noise making devices. At that first meeting we asked and the gentleman I think it was Utah did not know the exact decibel level but he said it thought it was above 130 which is about the size of a jet fighter taking off which he also in his in all fairness said he didn't know the number. I still don't know the number. So, I'd like to know what is the noise level from that because at 130 dB, two miles away, you're at 65 dB. And if you need to create that at home, have a nice dinner with your wife in the dining room and have your kids both turn on their hair dryers upstairs in the bathroom because that's what it would sound like two miles away. I don't think it's going to be that loud. But I think uh to be a successful implementation

for you to provide a recommendation to the supervisors uh an acoustic design needs to be implemented here is a standard going forward of actually what noise will be generated. Noise does affect animal mating to upset neighbors to your telephones ringing at home because I'm mad. So I would ask you please to consider noise and make the company report what the actual noise will be from 218 206 uh Little Arc Baptist Church. Take a two-mile circle and do decel guesstimates using real math. The other caveat that I would give and it's only because I learned it here going sitting where you are is that when a company shows up here and this company presenting tonight looks totally above board. But as we have seen in the past in this county, the company that represents the project is not the one that executes the project a year from now. And I would make sure that any contract this county comes with I lose uh any contract that this company or county does make sure that it locks in any other future company to absorb the exact we had it with Hopyard. We had it with power plant. So each one of those were not the people that stood here and sold it.

Thank you Sarah. Thank you. All right. Uh, next on the signup sheet, we have Mr. William Wright. My name is William White and I used to live in Carolina County and my wife is originally from King George. Matter of fact, the last name is Fitu which as y'all well know in King George Fitu means something. But I'm here not that I have a dog in this fight but this hunt. I'm here for nature. Nature is something that we all respect should respect. Kellon is a special special place. Have you asked anybody in this county where would you like to live? They would probably say I would like to live on Kalon Road because Kalon for some reason in this in this county is a very special place. And I guess God made it that way. But I just want y'all to think about this. I know progress has to continue. I know things have to go along with with the way the world works, but we have got to always consider nature, our fresh air. I don't care what they say here about solar panels, the heat from it, and all the other stuff is going to create the noise that's going to be there, the guarded look that's going to be there. We're talking about Caladon. Just remember the name Kaladon

is a special place in this county and we lose Kaledon, you're not going to get it back. It's going to be this, that, and the other. So please, I'm here for nature and only for nature and we all love and enjoy nature in this county. So just remember, Cowadon is a special place in King George County. There's no other place like it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. W. Thank you, sir. All right. Next on the signup sheet, we have Mr. uh I think it's Ken Jubie.

Uh yes, thank you very much. Um I do live right across the street from this project. I'm on Caladon Road and as William said, Kaledon State Park is a treasure in King George. I'm sorry. So, just if for the record, state your name and your your address. Excuse me. Your if you can state for the record, state your name and address. Ken Jubie Juy. Address is 11264 Kaladon Road. Thank you.

Okay. And I can't even imagine losing that park to a fire in St. Louis Abyispo, California. A solar farm caught on fire and destroyed 12,000 acres. I can't even imagine driving down 218 and all of a sudden because of the decision that this panel made, that park is gone. And oh, it's an eagle preserve. And you know what started the fire in California? Two birds landed on some lines, pecked at them, broke them, and caused a fire. So, I urge you between the toxins that are going to be a byproduct of these panels and microlastics into the water systems, and by the way, there is a water system that runs right through this project. And I I have a well and how many years is this going to be there polluting the land? You can't say it's not. It is going to pollute the land. So, we're creating a hazard. I remember not too long ago VOTE came along and they informed us they couldn't cut the trees along Kaledon Road because there was a bat that was almost extinct and they were forbidden to cut the trees because of the bat. But now we're going to clear a whole section of land and put in panels that are are not going to be hospitable to the natural Kaladon State Park wildlife. I urge you to vote no. Thank you, Sarah. Next on the signup sheet, I have Gail Jala, I do believe Galada. Thank you.

Oh, I'm Gada, 456 whispering in the middle right along. moved there. There was cows and I loved it. But if you give me a choice between the solar power and a bunch of houses, I'm going to take the solar power. When they first said they wanted it, we called up and complained. They came to the house for three hours, sat there with information, talked to every question we had, walked the whole property line with us, and the guy said, "Don't just take my word for it. Look it up. Don't take my word for it because I'm selling this. But look these questions up that you have. We've called them 10 times about different things. Each one 10 minutes after the call, if they weren't there, they answered us. They are trying to be really good neighbors. Nobody in the Meadows that I know of is having complaints about this, but we're right next to it. As far as a fire, yes, that scares me. But all these woods, you get a lightning strike, the whole damn thing's going to burn anyways. So, you can't say that this is going to be the only fire that can happen there. I have 55 acres. I'm surrounded by woods. And it bothers me because we have no water there. And the fire department says, "We'll get you out, but we're going to let everything burn." You know, that's just how it is. But going through that property, I couldn't And I don't want houses there. And from what I understand, they could put oil wells there. I don't want that either. So the less of the two evils, I'm going to vote for the soul pin.

Thank you, ma'am.

And I think this is there's one left. That's um Michael Kane. Apologies for my scribbles. Um, good evening, Mr. Chair and members of the commission. Thanks so much for the opportunity to be here tonight. My name is Mike Kaine and I'm the director of conservation at the Pedmont Environmental Council PC. have worked conserving lands in Virginia for 25 years, including the last tenants director of our conservation programs. I'm here tonight to speak on the consistency of the Kaledon solar project with the provisions of the open space easement that was recorded in 2001 and that provides legal protections of the property's significant natural cultural resources as outlined in the letter from the land trust alliance that is included in your packet. The restrictions in the open space do not permit commercial solar generation as presented in the application applicant's proposal. Due to the harmful precedent that may be set in Virginia and nationally if the project is allowed to proceed, PEC is one of the nine Virginia conservation organizations that join the land trust alliance as a signatory to the letter. I encourage you to look at the land trust alliance uh letter. However, I would also like to direct your attention to the determination letter from the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the holder of the easement. This this letter, which is included in Terraform's um application at page 402, also finds that the easement provisions do not allow for commercial solar development on the protected property. We understand that the applicant has previously stated that the project is consistent with the easement referencing a letter from the

the Secretary of Natural Resources with the condition that that uh that uh solar development um may be may be permitted where consistent with the easement. I just want to say that DCR's letter, their determination letter is unambiguous in finding that solar energy development is not consistent with the terms of the easement. The determination is based on the fact that commercial solar energy generation is not among the the permitted commercial industrial uses, that solar panels are not structures permitted by the easement, and that the grading and creation of u of storm water ponds would be a violation of the the grading and and alteration to the topography. to maintain the integrity of the easement provisions that are undertaken in the public interest and to ensure protection of the property significant resources and to safeguard the significant state and federal funding used to secure protection of those resources. We believe that the application really at this time should not move forward. That said, if King George wants to proceed with the application, we recommend that approval at a minimum be conditioned on DCR's approval of a diversion conversion of the easement consistent with the code of Virginia section 10.11704. If that were if that condition were adopted, it would ensure that um the appropriate state um law were followed in the diversion conversion of the open space land use and avoid setting any precedent regarding u inconsistency between the easement and this project. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Thank you, sir.

All right. That concludes the Just just for one one second. One second. That concludes the uh people who were who signed up for uh to do public speaking. The floor is now open for general public. Ma'am, you may now approach. No stranger. My name is Rose Payne, 15123 Hazelnut Lane. I've been through this solar stuff, so I've heard a lot of things tonight about noise and heat and nature. People need to be educated about solar. There's so much misinformation and and if you know you cannot just get up and say I heard about the noise and there was a man that checked it out because he had a CB radio and he said there was no interference whatsoever. He tested it when we were going for solar. So, you know, I think a whole lot of this is just education. We were told, "Oh, the heat would kill the birds." That isn't true. That's not true. On ours, we were going to have animals, but nobody wanted that either. I just would encourage the county, the residents to educate yourself and then make the decision. I you know I know the county is changing and I would love to keep all the rural things rural but if you come down 218 and I travel it all the time because I go to Bethl

Baptist Church you can see tons of trees that have already been taken down. There are houses everywhere. You go 301, you see deer killed all the time. 218. Even up on Owens Drive, nature is losing places not because of solar and not because of data centers. It's because of things that have already happened. So, I was totally unprepared to speak. But because I've been this route and I know where these folks are coming from and your integrity will be questioned because it was before. But these people are good people and I've listened to them tonight and I know Mr. Stewart and I know his property. So, you know, just I just I'm neither for nor against his project, but I respect his right as a land owner, and I keep going back to that, to use some of his land the way he wants to, and I just say, let's all get educated a little bit more. Thank you all for allowing me to speak.

Thank you, ma'am. Thank you so much. All right. Are there any others who wants to approach them? Yes, ma'am.

Hi, Lori Schlleam, 10290 Kaledon Road. I've lived in the county for 42 years. I was the one behind Lake Kaledon that just 465 acres just became part of Kaladon State Park. But as you said earlier, Mr. Fox, fundamental fairness. I thought it was a terrific um about the solar. I am not against solar at all. But there's two things that well one has been brought up. The easement it says no solar. It says no solar. And the people here who knew Jim Nash, he didn't like people. I knew him well. He loved nature. He loved his land. He did everything in his power to save that land. And he would be turning over in his grave if he knew what was the future of even 120 acres of that land.

Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. There any others?

Yes, sir. Uh Lee Hernandez. I live at 12286 Kaledon. Um my only concern with some of this because of uh rules in government that I work with is sometimes language that's put into some of these documents and some of these agreements can mean something one day and then something completely different the next day, let alone 10, 40 years from now. Um I guess my request to this panel is to to make sure that when we sign on that dotted line that We agreed to terms that all those things are clearly ironed out. So there is not room for interpretation which can potentially happen and take away a preserve from you know the the symbol of this country which is that bird that eagle preserve that is in that that area. Um I had something else cooked up but I totally forgot. So totally I apologize for that but oh yes if if you guys have the the power or the ability to also request from these uh uh companies similar projects in other places that have had the same type of effects. What data do we have to compare and contrast where how this would actually affect? So, we're not just talking about hearsay or or hypotheticals. We actually have, you know, other solar farms and stuff that we can compare some of those uh studies with if possible. That's all I have.

Very well said. Thank you. Right. Are there any others who wish to speak at this time? Um, Mr. Chris, is there anyone online who wishes to speak? No, Mr. Chairman.

Very well, sir. Thank you. All right. Seeing that there are none online, nor anyone left in the room who wishes to speak, the public hearing uh session for Z-20224-00240 Kaladan Solar is now closed. So what I'm going to do at this time is I'm going to uh I'm going allow the applicant to to approach and speak once more and after that I'll open the floor for the panel for questioning. I appreciate that, Mr. Sharer. Um, and I and I appreciate everybody coming out and um, and speaking on behalf of the project. It's clear that um, I mean, I obviously care about this project, but it's clear that a lot of other people care about this project as well and King George County. So, um, always always happy to have feedback on that front. Um, I'm going to go through just a couple of things here. First, um, Mr. Mr. Burkel, I I appreciate your attendance at our first community meeting as well as as your comments tonight. Um I I would just like to reassure you of um some things about the noise in the facility. Um the inverters we've conditioned to be internal to the site, so over 500 ft from the property line. Um that's because, you know, as far as loud equipment, that's the loudest equipment that there is. And if you're standing on top of it, it's about 60 to 65 dB. And what that equates to is at the property line it reach it reaches background levels and is in disccernible from the natural environment. Um so I appreciate your your comment on that. In terms of the easement I appreciate um Mr. Kaine and Miss Reese for for coming out. Um but just want to state that we have approval from DCR and the necessary

documentation has has been shared with the county attorney. DCR. We approached DCR prior to even coming before King George County with this process. Um, acronym DCR. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Um, the Department of Conservation and Recreation. So, they're the easement holder of record for the open space easement. So, do we have that letter? It was package. What What page is that letter, please? You refer to I'm I'm gonna ask We're going to hold all questions until he's done. Okay. All right. Continue. and and I would defer to the the county attorney on um on that as well. Um if if possible,

Mr. Chair, at this point, I would just I would just let him continue to speak and we can pick that up. Correct. Correct.

And then the the last comment uh was made about um about fire risk. And I would I would just like to to assure everybody that that fire risk at at solar facilities are extremely rare, but we obviously take fire very seriously. And so um through through this process, we've as part of the review process have been in communication and review has been made of the application by the fire and rescue chief. Um and we will continue to work with them through this process and up to site plan approval. Terraform actually trains fire departments on the sites that we own and operate to make sure that at and through site plan approval their um their comments and recommendations are taken into consideration that everybody understands the proper emergency protocols uh and how the site is accessed and laid out prior to even operation. And that kind of concludes my comments. Um but more than happy to um to take questions from you all. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. So the the the floor is now open for the uh committee for the question. I think Mr. Nicely had a a question.

She's still looking. I don't remember seeing that letter. You please give me the page number in the package. I'm sorry. Yes, sir. Mr. Nicely, it is in a appendix B of the special exception permit narrative. I don't have a a page of the PDF

and and and we don't get anything that tells me where appendix B starts. The way this package is put together. Yeah, this is not from the DCR. This is from Secretary Z. It's not it's not DC. So, Commission, I want I want to remind you uh question is about the easement should be restrained.

Okay. That are not easement related. Not easement related. I do have some that are, but I can start with those that are not. I think um All right, at least so um Miss You have the floor. All right, let's start with um I noticed that you said that your uh weather apparatus would be above 15 feet, but it didn't say what the maximum height would be. Do you have any uh idea what you're asking for exemption from the height that it would be over 15 feet, but it doesn't say what it will be? Most likely 20 to 25 ft.

Also on the map, can you explain the difference between the exclusion area and the special exception area?

Yes, ma'am. And are we able to pull up the uh presentation? This is probably the best way to look at it. The exclusion area is specific to the open space easement. So it is the area that is excluded from that and that is orange right here. You can see that follows right there. So, the special exception permit is being requested in the purple. So, within the exclusion area per the open space easement, we are requesting a special exception permit area from King George County or a special exception permit rather in the area that's purple.

So, in order to just enhance my education on this, it's a special Sorry, it's an exclusion area from conservation easement from the natural area. Natural area preserve. Okay. And I have to say I don't have a lot of knowledge about what that means and how it pertains to the project. So if somebody could kind of give a rough broad explanation that would be great.

Yes ma'am. Um the exclusion areas in the open space easement natural area preserve are the areas in which oil and gas exploration and development were originally put in the open space easement by the original easement donor in 2001. And this area so this area is an area where that type of development that type of energy development would be permitted. It's also the area in which solar energy development is permitted, not outside of that area. And the road that uh accesses the opposite side um that goes through the wildlife corridor, is that in the special ex exception area? Are you talking about this area right here?

No, I'm talking about the road that connects where the uh you have to go across the wetlands. Yes, ma'am. So, is that in the special? Everything is within everything for the project is within this area right here. So, that existing that construction road will go across the wetland area. I mean, the wildlife corridor.

Um, it will cross an existing Yeah. Yes, ma'am. the the wildlife corridor and existing wetland and RPA is right here on the project. So all of this is wetland and stream. And when you and I were out on the property, we were standing on that substantial culvert. The road existing road goes like this and then it crosses the stream right there. So that is an existing crossing. We will not be impacting a resource protection area or a wetland or stream on site. It's existing and so that it would be exempt from any type of impact that's within that's within the special exception permit area and within the exclusion area for the Eastman.

So as currently is being used um probably for farming equipment or or something like that. But when you're doing construction, uh, what kind of equipment are you going to have? That's I mean, if it's crossing the wildlife corridor, what kind of equipment are you going to have going across that bridge? Any construction?

Yeah. And and so, you know, when you and I were out on the property, it's it's grass right now. There would obviously be gravel that was put down on that area to access the eastern panel area, but it would be, you know, equipment that's necessary for the installation of the piles and and the um the movement of the of the racking and panels. And then, you know, during the operational life of the project, it would just be routine mowing and other type of vegetation maintenance and and monitoring. Did that answer the question that you're asking? Are my questions?

Mr. Fox, you have the floor. Thank you. I just have a few questions. Uh since you're on that slide, uh the area in in purple there, the bluish area in between that is currently resource protection act wetland area. Is that is that right? the the area in in between the two green sections you see that sir going through. Yes, sir. So that's RPA wetland area. Yes sir. And if you So this is showing the areas of the RPA everything in dark green. Correct. Areas of the RPA that we're committing to reveate.

And are you overlaying your uh uh wildlife uh access areas over that RPA area? Yes sir. Okay. Have you engaged a third party to do an environmental impact assessment for this project? Yes, sir. It was submitted with our application. Uh what's the name of that third party? And they're our third party, correct? Yes, sir. I believe it was Verdantis.

Okay. And did they have an opinion about uh the proximity of those panels to that resource protection area as well as having wildlife now use that as a as a corridor as well as the impact to the potential to the eagle population from the panels as well as having a state park literally next door to the project. Is all that covered in the EIA? I believe so. Yes, sir. Okay. I'll have to go back and take a look at that. Uh, did they uh recommend any mitigations that you're putting into the project structure?

Uh, I I don't believe so. We're not impacting any streams or wetland on site and and all of the project equipment is forcing all the wildlife to now use the RPA as the carter. That's a big change. That's not a small change. So, I'm just wondering, did they recommend any mitigations at all that are now a feature of your plan? as you may be aware. I I don't quite recall, but I I could call up um one of our engineers, Bobby Jo, here.

Uh Mr. Fox, um the wildlife corridor is act corridor is actually a recommendation from the Department of Wildlife. So that is there's a a set of guidances that the Virginia Department of Wildlife puts out for specifically for solar um facilities. One of that is the use of wildlife corridors through the the center of the property. DIA looks at um the current condition of the site. Um it looks at the eagle population and how a solar facility might impact those. Um typically the mitigation is um is discussed and permitted through the permit by rule process which starts after um this local use process uh occurs. And and the reason for that is uh D de D de D de D de D de D de D de D de D de D de DEEQ who runs the PBR process gets a lot of inbound solar.

I appreciate that. But you did a third party private sector EIA. The question was simply whether or not they made any recommendations that you're currently mitigating in in in your design of the project. The EIA is an impact assessment. It doesn't provide any mitigation.

Okay. Understood. So let me ask another couple of questions if it's okay with you. uh you've mentioned that uh essentially and correct me if I'm wrong uh that uh in effect doing solar on this site is a good thing because otherwise you could potentially do oil and gas drilling on the site. Is it your understanding that that could be done without any further approval today? Okay. And they could just literally go start drilling for oil and gas without getting any further approvals of any kind. That that's not something that correct. We have been No, go ahead. I'm sorry.

I was just going to say that that's something that I'm not aware. I'm not aware of. No. Okay. Because you had said essentially that well it's a it's a good use because otherwise they could come in and do oil and gas drilling on the site. It is. It is a permitted use on that area of this within this exclusion area of the easement. Yes, sir. Well, that's what I was asking. When you say permitted use, you mean it's approved? It's explicitly allowed. Yes, sir. Explicitly allowed as of today. Mr. Fox, I think your your question would be more geared towards the administration. Trying to understand what his answer is to that because he's I can only understand what he tells me.

It's explicitly allowed by the by the conservation ement. That's that's the extent of is the land that the solar site is on is that within this is a question for staff if you don't mind perhaps you could just clarify is it within the open space easement does it exist within the open space easement

the to tell you exactly Mr. Fox, we would need to go and look I I would need to go and look exactly at the easement. I I've done some look at it as we have discussed and and and we've discussed through confidential memoranda, but I I couldn't give you a solid answer to that. Now, I know there's an exclusion zone and that is where they intend to site site the project. And and to follow up on that, I I have read the easement and oil oil and gas are are are mentioned in the easement.

So we don't just to confirm staff is not sure at the moment whether or not that exists within the open space easement or not. I believe it exists in the open space easement. Yes. But it's it's listed as an exclusion zone. I I can't speak for I can't speak for all staff at this point, Mr. Fox, because I haven't looked at I haven't looked at that particular thing. I can certainly do that and get back to you at a later date, but as of right now, I don't have an answer for you. I don't know if engineering does. They they very well might, but but I I I don't have that information right now.

Okay. My last question is uh it's it's been suggested by some other people that came to the podium that uh some consideration be made perhaps of this uh diversion concession section 10.1-1704 type of thing. Uh is that something that you've considered at all or would consider potentially? Um no sir, we don't believe that that's necessary. We have the necessary approvals from the easement holder for this use

and the easement and that that approval is this letter. Is that what you're telling us? The letter that was handed up from your your colleague the from the Commonwealth of Virginia Office of the Governor dated July 26, 2024. Is that your so-called approval? and and the Secretary of Natural Resources presides over a number of different state agencies including the Department of Conservation and Recreation. So that's a yes. Yes, sir. But I would I would defer to um to the county attorney again on on any type of

I'm just I'm I'm not pining on it. I'm just wondering what you're saying is the quote unquote approval for the project uh in that regard. So it's again it's the Commonwealth of Virginia letter from the office of the governor uh from Mr. Travis Voy dated July 26, 2024. That right? Yes, sir. And and I might actually to continue answering that question, I might call um our VP of development up really quickly. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it. That's all I have.

Mr. Fox, while he's walking up to one of your pre Mr. Fox, while he's walking up to one of your previous questions mentioning the specific statute, they they were there were some there was some public comment about including that as a condition that in order to amend that easement that that they would ask the commission to include that as a condition. It wouldn't need to be. It's in state law. I if if it were to be amended, if it even needs to be amended, they would have to follow state law in doing so. It wouldn't have to be a condition. Thank you.

Well, now I'm a little bit confused. I mean, uh, if if I don't want to put words in anybody's mouth again, but my interpretation of what was said is that this letter from the Commonwealth of Virginia was an approval that would obiate the need to to to go down that path of 10.11704. Do I have that right or are you going to go down that path of 10.11704?

So, I'm happy to to to address that. My name is Jeff subtle, vice president of development for Terraform based in Charlottesville. The entire team here is all based in Virginia. I appreciate the the question tonight and and appreciate everyone's time. So, uh the the short answer to that question is no. We we haven't contemplated going through the I think um she referred to it as the 1704 process. Right? So that is required. My my rough understanding is that's required if you're pulling land out of a conservation easement. That is that's not what's happening here. Um portions of this property are under conservation easement. portions are excluded from from certain requirements of those conservation easements, including the project area, the full extent of the project area uh that that we're proposing here. But um I I understand and appreciate uh the the position of Environmental Council and and others that are here tonight. We have engaged with them repeatedly over the last 12 months. They're not the decision maker on this. We are not the decision maker on this. The Department of Conservation Recreation is. And they don't like that the answer that that they've gotten from Virginia DCR, which is why they're here this evening. Okay. It's an entirely separate this this is a this is a separate process. This is this is between the Department of Conservation Recreation and a private land owner. that that's where that's where the conservation easement comes into play. And

I was just wondering if this site is actually on an open space easement or some part of it and we we're going to I guess get further clarification on that from staff. I'd be happy to to answer that. The the platment the natural area preserve dedication both submitted with the application. Those plats are included I believe in appendix B though I don't have the nar the narrative and appendices in front of me. It was before the conceptual site plan. There are a number of different plats that show the exclusion areas as outlined by the open space easement and the natural area preserve. Exclusion area six, which is what's shown here in orange, is that

all 200 and some odd acres is exclusion area. Yes, sir. There's at least six of them. There might be seven. So that entire orange area is an exclusion area from the natural area preserve. Okay. But that's exclusion areas are always tied to certain uses like out buildings, barns, so forth and so on. Are you saying that is that the case in in this instance? Yes, sir. And the answer to that question is the oil and gas development and extraction and solar as a permitted use. Solar was a permitted use in the original exclusion area or it was added

later because this is the it was added to the management plan as well as by letter from the secretary of natural resources. So that's the letter we've been talking about the uh the from Mr. Boils at the

Yes sir. But to to the point that Jeff was was making these are these are separate processes like the open space easement and any type of discussions. We started that conversation even before we started conversations or you know us and our lander started conversations with the department of conservation and recreation as the easement holder of record and the decision maker of record for something like that. So that is a kind of that is a a title issue if we were going to distill it down to something that's very simple and we are here in this forum for land use approval from King George County which is

I appreciate what you're here for. I'm just trying to understand uh the nature of that land. You know, we have a zoning ordinance here in the county and uh the zoning ordinance actually uh by its text uh requires us on some level to consider uh the preservation of agricultural, forestal and special uh special uh environmentally sensitive lands. So that's that's where the probing is coming from from our our duty under the zoning ordinance. Yeah, understood. Yes, sir. Mr. Nelson, you have the floor.

Okay. I have a number of things from the conditions that that concern me. One, uh, Miss Flattley has already addressed, which I think needs to get nailed down, which is the height. If you decide to put your weather veins on a 200 foot tower because you got trees around you, we need to have a definition of what your max height that you're actually requesting for any structure to be. Okay, that needs to be codified in the conditions. There's another one in the conditions that say you're not going to use any concrete footers unless you need concrete footers. It's kind of I'm sorry, my my language is very common common language. I'm going to say that's that we would always consider that a weasel cause. I'm not going to do something unless I need to do something. So, you need to clarify. Are you going to use concrete footers and how much disturbance is that going to be when you do the decommissioning of the land? Now you're going to be now you got to be digging holes for concrete footers and pulling all that up out of the ground. And I'm not sure how we do that without disturbing a whole 122 acres when you when you put these in. So that needs to get clarified. Third one, I like the recommendation of the county that you need to do the phase one architectural study. that needs to get added. I think I personally don't like the five-year soil testing. I know that's what's in our ordinance, but there's enough people to Mrs. Payne's comment. There's enough people that have got concerns and I want to make sure that those people don't come back after us and go, "Oh my gosh, there's cadmium, which I know is in the solar panels and other toxins that are in these solar panels and what happens when the hail storm comes and it breaks open your solar panels?" Your soil testing doesn't include anything about hazardous materials. It

talks about soil conditions, phosphate, nitrates, you know, normal soil testing that you would do if you were a farmer to tell what chemicals you needed to add. Didn't doesn't talk about testing for toxins. You don't talk about water testing in your conditions. I've seen nothing in your plan here about storm water management. No, no conceptual plan. Where are they? You're surrounded by RPAs. Where is your storm water management ponds?

Excuse me. Uh this was the conceptual storm water management plan that was submitted as part of our conceptual sheet set done by Huitt Solutions. Um you could see that the basins are in light blue and um it's showing all of the the basin areas of where those drainage areas are. Those basins were designed for what water conditions is that for aif is that for a fiveyear or the normal 100year what is what is the rain conditions that that was designed for? It's designed per DEQ regulations as according to every other types of development that um has to submit a storm water management plan to the county or uh department of energy or department of remote quality.

And how many acres of land disturbance is the storm water management ponds going to? Well, this is this is a preliminary uh storm water management plan. Obviously, as you get further into the design of the facility, the exact footprint of the panels will change per DEQ guidance. Um, panels are considered impervious. Uh, they're considered that, but I know of I know of many instances, and you can find them online, where solar panels have been damaged by large hail. And I I do think

I'm talking specifically for I didn't mean to cut you off, Mr. Nicely. I I apologize, but uh uh we're talking about storm water management, not not hail damage. Uh so, you know, that the size of the panels and location may change. So, as you get towards final site plan approval, you enter the storm water management process with the county and DEEQ, uh some of the numbers and sizes of the of the basins will will change. So, it's hard to tell you an exact number right now.

Okay. Next next one for me is what do you plan to do for clearing of around the solar panels? I know you've talked about and I I fully support the the pollinator program, but if you leave something unmodeed for 40 years, flowers are not going to keep sweet gum trees and popppler trees and many other invasive species from coming into that 120 acres. What are you going to do to keep that mode down? Flowers aren't going to keep trees from growing in 40 years.

So to to maintain vegetation on the site for the life of the project, it would it would be mowing um mechanical weed eating. Um just pretty typical ways of of keeping vegetation down to a minimum within the project area. And that's usually done once, sometimes twice a month to make sure that it's being taken care of appropriately. But obviously we want to make sure that everything is, you know, the pollinators are getting established in an appropriate manner to to to stabilize the site. And so, you know, there's there's going to be a little bit of a give and take there to make sure that that everything is um is establishing and um yeah, stabilizing the soil appropriately. Some of this is some of this is softball questions to throw to you because they're going to be things that people are going to be thinking about. They think, "Oh, they're just going to plant pretty flowers and that's all they're ever going to do." And then when they start hearing lawnmowers out there mowing around all the time, they're going to wonder, "Well, why didn't they tell us about that process?" So, it's just it's just a matter of full disclosure. I don't have a problem with you mowing. I think you're going to have to. I just wanted to be upfront with people more than just planting flowers for 40 years. Okay. And my last one, I'm not going to get into all the open space easement stuff, but I am very, very concerned about the precedent that would be set for land that has been set aside. Land owners get public money and grant money for setting their land aside and then they decide to come back and do a commercial industry on it. I'm very concerned about setting that precedent. And I agree with Lori Schlim. I didn't know Mr. Nash as well as many of the other people in this audience did. But I don't think this was his intention when he set this land aside in an open space easement. He intended it for it to never be developed. I know you're concerned, ma'am, about you'd rather have solar

panels and than subdivision. You would never get a subdivision in this space either. That was permanently set aside.

No, this this was a permanent this was a permanent easement. and that was specifically excluded. I personally feel that this should be kept in in the open easement. That's not I'm not a party to this and I'm not a lawyer. So, all right. So, um questions. Let's keep it to questions. We'll have our comment period a little later. Are there any? I think um yes, absolutely. Mr. um um Palavado, you have Thank you. Um the sighting agreement, I think you you quoted $580,000 uh benefit to the county. Is that in real estate taxes or is that um the people tax or how how is that how does that come to us?

MVO that'll be negotiated with the board at this stage. It wouldn't be appropriate to take it up. Well, he presented a number in the in the in the outline. He's certainly welcome to to comment on it if he wants, but that's negotiated between the board and the applicant at the appropriate time. Okay.

That that $580,000 number was inclusive of the year one payment across the board. And so what that includes is $25,000 per megawatt. So that would come out to $550,000 for the 22 megawatt facility. And then it also included real property tax at the new rate for the solar facility as well as the higher of the two either energy revenue share or machinery and tools tax which in everything but I believe year 11 or year 10 energy revenue share taxation is the higher between those two taxation types.

You had you had mentioned that the uh power would go just to King George County. um how how how do you determine that?

So, separate from larger facilities that would interconnect at the transmission level and and send power large farther distances, excuse me. Um we're interconnecting at the distribution level, so 345 KV. And the power therefore isn't going far, but it's being consumed in the area approximate to both the project and the substation. Okay, nice. And to the gentleman that had a concern about the noise, we have a noise ordinance in King George County. So, um I don't I don't think their equipment is going to come anywhere near that, but if it if it did for some reason, um it's against our ordinances which would be enforced. I think that's all the questions I had.

All right. All right, Mr. Lisley. Question. I just I just have one fallback engineering question for you. It's more of a technical question. You you stated that this is going to be a 22 megawatt facility. Is that at peak or is that including the capacity factor? It's typically only 25% of the peak rating is the actual amount of energy that's on average produced out of a solar farm. So is your 22 megawatts peak or accounting for the capac the capacity factor? I appreciate the question. I'm not an engineer, so I'm going to call an engineer up to answer an engineer's question.

Typically, solar facilities are rated by the MVA capacity of the transformer. So, it's the maximum output of the facility. Um, you know, at any time the actual output fluctuates given environmental conditions, but uh that is the uh rating of the transformer, right? So when you estimated that this would potentially power 25 3500 homes, was that assuming 22 megawws or was that assuming more like five megawws once you factor in that you're only 25% producing power?

What we do is some preliminary modeling uh with a program called PVC that looks at a preliminary layout calc and looks at environmental data sunlight throughout the year predicts uh a facility output and an average. So we took that average, we plug it into an EPA equivalency calculator and it it gives us an approximate number of homes that are that are powered by the project. Okay. So it sounds like it takes into account kind of the fact that the sun doesn't shine all the time and weather. Correct. Yeah, it's a it's a it's a number uh it's it's a generalized number, but it's a little bit more accurate than than just

All right. Any more questions from the commission? Seeing that there are none, the um question and answering period to the applicant is now closed. Thank you so much for your your responses. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So, at this time, we're going to open the floor for discussion.

Mr. N. Well, I I I'd already sort of said my my piece on where I consider this. As many of you know from previous meetings with previous solar projects, I'm a I'm a proponent of solar. I'm just of the opinion that this is not the appropriate place to put a solar farm given the and and we got to stay away from the legal assessment of it. They have their opinions, but as we all know, you get 20 lawyers together, you'll get 40 opinions. So, um, at least, Mr. Nicely,

at least. So, I don't even want to go there. I just don't want to get the county embroiled in a whole bunch of legal uh lawsuits and and setting precedents that could impact and discourage other people from wanting to put their property in conservation. Right. Mr. Fox, we go down the line. Sure. That's fine.

I would really just echo very nearly nearly nearly exactly what my colleague Mr. nicely just said and I'm not really reaching into the whatever legal categorizations were are at play here. I would still like to know whether it's technically in the open space easement or not or port for a portion of it. Uh but I also and I'm also a proponent of solar. In fact, I've developed solar commercial utility scale solar projects to completion. Uh so I I am a proponent of solar but I also feel that this is a very delicate site in a in a sensitive area and uh I'm also uh you know wary about uh creating a precedent where uh easements and so forth can be potentially trampled on in some way or uh negated in some way. So for that reason I I think this is also bottom line for me is that again as Mr. Nicely suggested it's a a good project in the wrong place and therefore I'd be it'd be difficult for me to support it.

So I I definitely uh understand that there's some pros to this project. um the the flatness of the land, the fact that it doesn't seem to have a big impact on the neighbors. Um however, I I do know that we have a big responsibility to uh to provide for the uh preservation of the agricultural um forested lands uh in the county. And so I'm struggling with this being in such close proximity to uh Kalan State Park. Um that being said, if I if somebody said what what would make you be okay with the solar project, the remoteness of it and the consolidation of it, um I I consider favorable.

Yeah. Yeah, I'd just like to um I think I'm I might be in the minority here, but um the county could certainly benefit from the electrical uh power generation in the county. It'd be nice if we could have been energy independent. Um if we turn away these u these projects um you know, we're we're um approving other things that use electricity. And um I I think um the representative from Dalren uh mentioned it would have been nice if we could have had that bigger solar uh plant that would have generated a lot of power uh which is is very important. Uh me and Roger received a letter um from a Rebecca Browning um she's an engineer on base and uh she's wrote to u express her support of this project. Um she she's mentioned that we have engineers right here at DAR that have obtained patents um and um that it helps helps our deployed troops. Um anyway, her she she writes in support of it. The project's um immediate neighbor is in support of this. Nobody will see this from the road. Uh this this is not public property. You can't just walk down there and take a stroll through that. It's a conservation easement. Um and it's specifically exempted this area of the property that they could still um um do some things with and it's beyond it's beyond the scope of our planning commission to interpret, you know, civil civil dealings. they got a contract. You know, are they right or wrong? It's it's not up to us to to pick that. I imagine a judge will decide it if it

it's that serious. Um I hear a lot of people talking about the solar energy and they say it's it's not a very good business plan. Um I'd point out that we're not picking winners and losers in the market. you know, if they got a business plan and they want to try it and they can they can make money, then then so be it. Um, it is listed, it's a they need a special exception from us. If they want to have some oil rigs out there, they need they would have to come to us the same way. Um, it is zoned for that special exception. It is zoned correctly. that if you want to do a solar plant in King George County is correct zoning. We can we all of them have to ask us permission. Um I I heard people speak about the noise. I think that um I hope that we alleviated their concerns, but the zoning ordinance prohibits that noise. Uh this brings money to the county. It's no burden on our our school system. Um, I think I think it's a good project.

Thank you, sir. Um, this is one of the most difficult projects that I've ever had to kind of examine and see. And I've always asked myself two simple questions. Does it benefit the county? Is it profitable for the county? Is it safe for the environment? Right? If you meet those two requirements, it's it's it's usually pretty simple for me. However, this isn't quite so simple in that I have concerns for the environment, right? We know Mr. N is an engineer. We know Mr. B, he's a realtor. Everybody knows I like to fish. Everybody knows I'm from Tennessee. conservation is only conservation if you're exercising it, right? So, it's it's it's a nice word when it when it's it's it's not being challenged or when it's not it's it's it's not convenient or it's not an inconvenience, I should say. um this this area this this land was was dedicated and protected um with a vision of I don't believe a solar project or anything else other than birds, bees, flowers, wildlife. um the applicant has has gone through great lengths to um appease and to to um litigate any concerns. I get that. I see your efforts. I applaud them. But the conservation

conservation is within myself. It's it's a really really it's a really really big price um to pay for unknowns. Yeah. We can we can we can do everything that we know to to alleviate or to to prevent things from happening. Um those wetlands are protected for reasons that that's why they're they're under protection. And in my opinion and in my feelings is that when you introduce something like this, even though you're you're mitigating the impact as much as you possibly can, you're still impacting it. Um so, um and again, I I see the benefits in which it it offers the county. I I certainly do. Um, however, like I said, I I you know, call me a true hugger that's if you wish. Um, but I think that lands that are that are in place and protected should be should remain protected. That's that's my that's my opinion. That's um that's my two cents. All right. With that being said, I think we all have shared our opinions and so uh I am looking for a motion. So I just want to say outside of uh easement or no easement, this project affects uh the natural environment. Um so this this verbiage that I'm going to use comes directly from the purposes outlined in our our ordinances. Um, so I move to forward the application Z2024-0000240 to the King George County Board of Supervisors with an unfavorable

recommendation for the following reasons. It's not compatible with our responsibility to provide for the preservation of agricultural and forestal lands and other lands of significance for the protection of the natural environment. Motion's been made and seconded. Mr. Kenny, if you can give us a roll call. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Nicely. I Mr. Fox. Hi, Mr. Flattley. Hi, Mr. Pavota. Nay,

Mr. Chairman I 41 passes.

All right. So the motion passes with a recommendation of uh den now to the board of supervisors. Um board thank you so much for your consideration. I we thank you for your for your application. Right. Okay. So, next on our agenda, it looks like old business, which we have none. Then there's new business, which is none. And then we have a staff staff report for September 20 25th of the direct or the director's report. Is that Do we have that? Is it It's in your um It is in Okay.

Yes, sir. All right. Um let's see. I don't have a committee report or I'm sorry or is there a committee report? Do you have a report or anything? I think you the only one that was appointed to a committee. say they didn't say at any of their meetings what they would would do. I don't I don't Oh, this is this is with respect to I missed part of to the down the uh zoning change. Yeah.

Having a combined meeting. So, we asked for a combined meeting. We did. And we have we have Mr. Mr. Chairman, a poll was put out to the board members about dates. As soon as that comes back, we'll get that to y'all so we can find a date y'all can get together. Very well, sir. Thank you so much. We appreciate that. There you go. We appreciate that. Right. Um, no commission report from me. Um, nothing other future business. So, next is the favorite part of the meeting, which is the adjournment. If I can get a motion and second a motion. A motion that we adjourn the meeting till the next regularly scheduled date.

Second. Motion's been made and seconded. All in favor show hands. All right. Motions. I mean, ladies,