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Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers after midnight. Low near 35F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers after midnight. Low near 35F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%.

The Halifax County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors consider a conditional use permit application for Sedge Hill Solar, LLC at a joint meeting Tuesday evening. The planning commission voted to recommend approval of the CUP to the board of supervisors, with supervisors expected to take a final vote on the application at their Jan. 3 meeting.

Al Zimmerman, who owns property at the site of the proposed Sedge Hill Solar facility, speaks in favor of a conditional use permit application for the project at a Tuesday evening joint meeting of the Halifax County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors. The proposed location of Sedge Hill Solar is one and a half miles north of the town of Halifax, on 11 parcels of land on Howard P. Anderson Road, Dudley Road, and L.P. Bailey Memorial Highway.

The Halifax County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors consider a conditional use permit application for Sedge Hill Solar, LLC at a joint meeting Tuesday evening. The planning commission voted to recommend approval of the CUP to the board of supervisors, with supervisors expected to take a final vote on the application at their Jan. 3 meeting.

A green energy project, Sedge Hill Solar, LLC, got the green light from the Halifax County Planning Commission at a Tuesday evening meeting.

Commissioners approved the conditional use permit application for the proposed 80-megawatt solar facility, with Commissioner Dustin Francis casting the only vote in opposition. Sedge Hill Solar’s proposed location is about 1.5 miles north of the town of Halifax, on 11 parcels of land on Howard P. Anderson Road, Dudley Road and L.P. Bailey Memorial Highway.

Drew Chandler, project management developer for Fayetteville, North Carolina-based Pine Gate Renewables, gave an overview of the Sedge Hill Solar project. Pending approval, Chandler said construction on the solar facility would begin in 2024, and the project would generate $10.8 million in revenue to Halifax County in its 40-year lifespan.

The solar project would encompass approximately 1,061 acres of land, with 550 acres used for the solar panels. The land is zoned agricultural, and the current land use is timber production.

“We’re going to be able to preserve a significant amount of the forested area around the project,” Chandler shared. “We will have four wildlife corridors. Those are corridors that would not be fenced off and would allow passage of wildlife from east to west through those areas.”

Detrick Easley, planning and zoning administrator for Halifax County, also noted the Sedge Hill Solar project meets the county’s solar density requirement. He explained the county allows 5% of solar to be developed within a 5-mile radius, meaning within a 5-mile area, 2,500-odd numbers of solar panels can be developed.

Density concerns related to Sedge Hill Solar had been expressed because both the Crystal Hill solar site and the Sunnybrook solar site on Clays Mill Road are within a 5-mile radius of the proposed Sedge Hill site, Easley said.

Public reaction to Sedge Hill Solar project was mixed during the public hearing at Tuesday’s meeting, with one of the applicants speaking in favor of the project and two neighboring property owners speaking out against the project.

One of the property owners expressing concerns about Sedge Hill Solar was Bill Abbott, owner of Abbott’s Farm Supply and a farmer in the Winns Creek community.

“If you don’t watch out, in that 5-mile radius it could be 10 more solar farms of smaller size that would still really change the looks of our neighborhood,” Abbott expressed. “All of this land that they’re proposing at Crystal Hill and at Clays Mill, we have hunted and fished on it all our life…I would like to make sure that you all keep your finger on the pulse and look at the 5-mile radius and not let it get too concentrated in one spot.”

Al Zimmerman, who owns property at the site of the proposed Sedge Hill Solar facility, speaks in favor of a conditional use permit application for the project at a Tuesday evening joint meeting of the Halifax County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors. The proposed location of Sedge Hill Solar is one and a half miles north of the town of Halifax, on 11 parcels of land on Howard P. Anderson Road, Dudley Road, and L.P. Bailey Memorial Highway.

Abbott also shared his trepidation about the solar project’s potential disruption to wildlife in the area.

“Terrible Creek is a great wildlife habitat. It’s a great flyaway for ducks,” Abbott pointed out. “I know that solar farms don’t make any noise, but they do disrupt the wildlife. They are taking green trees and shrubs out and replacing it with glass.”

Charles Fears, a member of the Winns Creek community, reiterated Abbott’s concern about too many solar facilities being concentrated in the same area.

“They’re getting on top of us,” Fears said, of the solar facilities. “I’m in the middle of the one on Clays Mill Road and this proposed one. The infrastructure is already tearing Clays Mill Road all to pieces.”

Al Zimmerman, on the other hand, said he would welcome the Sedge Hill Solar facility as a “neighbor” even if he did not benefit financially from the project by having a portion of it on his land.

“To me, these things are a thing of beauty. I say this because of what they do — they sit there and generate electricity,” Zimmerman said. “They don’t make any noise, they have no moving parts, they don’t pollute the air, there’s no mining of uranium for a nuclear power plant, there’s no destroying mountains in West Virginia for coal…There’s no killing of birds with windmills. There’s no drilling, fracking or digging pipelines across the state. There’s no ash disposal. There are no particulates in the air. And they don’t use any water.”

After the public hearing and presentation by Chandler, commissioner D. Will Reese Jr. made the motion to approve the CUP for Sedge Hill Solar, adding the condition that the project managers increase the setback of the facility from the proposed 25 feet to 75 feet from all adjoining property owners.

Miranda Baines is a staff writer for The Gazette-Virginian. Contact her at mbaines@gazettevirginian.com.

Miranda Baines is a staff writer for The Gazette-Virginian. Contact her at mbaines@gazettevirginian.com.

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