Planning Commission For Solar SUP Opens Public Hearing For Project On 2/4/2021

Redfish Solar Partners has applied for a special use permit for plans involving the construction of a renewable energy facility on 96.6 acres of land currently zoned as agricultural land on Catharpin Road in Locust Grove.

The Orange County Planning Commission will hold an open, public hearing on the SUP at its Feb. 4 meeting, and will continue to accept written comments until Tuesday, February 23rd.

The company suggests the project will have a minuscule impact on county services, and infrastructure including emergency services, schools roads, water, and sewer.

The application, which is nearly 100 pages long, suggests that the project would not be producing noise, dust, or vibration, have a limited environmental impact and have little to no impact on traffic, and would not present safety hazards to surrounding properties. Currently, there are no buildings on the parcel and none have been proposed.

If the operation is approved, the applicants suggest that the project will end up generating “about 10,290 megawatt-hours of clean renewable electricity each year, which is equivalent to 840 homes’ energy use for one year, 1,572 passenger vehicles driven for one year, and 7,276 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions avoided.”

In the past few weeks, the Orange County Board of Supervisors has continued to discuss solar farms during the “board comment” portion of the meeting, including concerns over the proposed project and one in the neighboring county of Spotsylvania that originally spawned the Orange board to file suit.

Any written comments that are sent to the planning commission should be no more than 500 words and remain on a single sheet of paper. Comments can be submitted by mail to Sandra Thornton, 128 W. Main Street, Orange, VA 22960; or by email to sthornton@orangecountyva.gov. All comments must be received no later than noon on Tuesday, Feb. 23. Application materials can be viewed at orangecountyva.gov. For more information, call (540) 672-4347 or email zoning@orangecountyva.gov.

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