County of Pittsylvania issued the following announcement on Nov. 17
After months of consideration, the Board of Supervisors approved several changes to the County’s Solar Ordinance. In short, these changes include increases in buffering and landscaping requirements to reduce the visual impact as well as a reduction to the required distance between solar projects.
You can view the updated solar ordinance here.
“We have heard the concerns of our residents regarding the visuals of solar projects, and we believe that these adjustments to our ordinance allow for solar development to occur without negatively impacting our community,” said Bob Warren, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors. “These updated regulations will better protect County tax dollars and our citizens that live around these projects.”
Pittsylvania County's zoning ordinance has a variety of requirements and regulations for utility-scale solar facilities, including limits on the zoning designations where solar can be developed, decommissioning bond requirements, and setback and buffer regulations.
The County Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals – the two advisory bodies that consider special use permits for solar projects – both recommended that these changes be approved.
As companies have applied to develop utility-scale solar projects in Pittsylvania County over the past several years, one concern brought forth from County residents has been negative visual impacts. Many of the updates to the ordinance address these concerns. For instance, the required landscaped buffering area must be at least 100 feet wide, whereas before it was only 15 feet wide. Additionally, language was added to ensure that the landscaping area should consist of evergreen plants, with at least one row of plants that reaches minimum heights of 25 feet.
The updated ordinance also requires that any applicant for a utility-scale solar facility should initiate negotiations with the County for a siting agreement, as authorized by the Code of Virginia, before beginning to apply for rezoning or a special use permit. The updated ordinance also reduces the allowed distance between solar projects from a minimum of five miles to a minimum of one mile.
Original source can be found here.
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