Into the light: Changes in the works in Montgomery County for solar farm guidelines

Solar panels are seen at a solar farm under construction by a North Carolina-based firm in the town of Bedford.

CHRISTIANSBURG — Recommended changes to Montgomery County’s Comprehensive Plan and zoning include a desired acreage limit and some new definitions for solar energy facilities.

The draft changes are part of an ongoing effort to provide stronger guidance on the future development of solar farms.

It’s an issue that localities are now dealing with as solar projects increase.

“Right now, we have a draft of an ordinance we’re going to put out for solar projects in the future. We never really had an ordinance. We basically fit all our solar projects into our zoning. It really wasn’t a good fit,” said Supervisor Steve Fijalkowski, whose district covers the eastern part of the county. “That’s when we decided we needed to take a closer look. The whole state, and country, is looking toward alternative energy solutions, and we figured we better be prepared.”

The county’s Board of Supervisors directed their staff and advisory body to begin working on changes earlier this year after they were asked to consider a special use permit needed for a project proposed by Colorado-based Pivot Energy.

The company has proposed to build a five megawatt solar generation farm on roughly 30 acres of land on the historic Fotheringay property just south of Eastern Montgomery Elementary School in Elliston.

The proposal called for roughly 10,500 panels and among the touted benefits was an aim to save ratepayers money on their electricity bills, Pivot Energy previously said.

The company withdrew its permit request amid strong community opposition, but it wasn’t clear if the move spelled an end to its overall plans as an executive told The Roanoke Times at the time that they were anticipating the county to work on changes to the zoning ordinance and Comprehensive Plan, the main blueprint for land use for Virginia localities.

A number of eastern Montgomery County residents told officials earlier this year that the farm would go against much of the environmental conservation measures in that part of the county. The residents raised concerns about the project damaging natural resources, degrading animal habitats, depressing property values and bringing industrialization to the corridor with unsightly facilities.

The proposed changes, which will be subject to further public discussions later this year, appear to address a number of the concerns residents raised.

While residents opposed the placement of Pivot Energy’s proposed development, they said those kinds of projects ought to specifically be pushed to industrial sites instead of open farmland. They also raised concerns about whether the county has clear guidelines on solar farm developments.

Among the recommended changes to the Comprehensive Plan are desired locations for solar energy facilities. The recommendations strongly discourage the projects in what are considered rural and resource stewardship, historic and cultural heritage and growth areas.

The growth areas are where existing and future planned infrastructure is used to facilitate planned growth in the county, according to the draft. Solar energy and related battery storage facilities “should be highly discouraged” within areas with so-called designations of residential transition, urban expansion, village expansion and urban development.

The recommendations to the Comprehensive Plan otherwise encourage the solar facilities on land with “limited development potential,” which the draft further describes as brownfields, reclaimed coal mining sites, abandoned industrial sites or agricultural lands with soil classifications not conducive to active farming.

The proposed changes also include a stated desire for no more than 1,500 cumulative acres of leased area across the county to be occupied by solar energy and battery storage facilities.

Among the proposed ordinance changes for the solar issue is the replacement of terms and definitions for those kinds of projects. The recommendations include definitions for “community” and “utility” scale solar energy systems.

Fijalkowski, who is among those who have worked on the recommendations, said the acreage limit is something he could see further tweaked as a number of citizens have found it to be too small.

The county, however, faces different challenges than other parts of the state when it comes to land due to its topography, much of which is mountainous terrain, Fijalkowski said.

Still, they looked at other parts of the state as they worked on the proposed changes, the supervisor said. The state is looking to have a certain percentage of acreage or square miles dedicated or made available for renewable energy developments, he said – although he couldn’t immediately recall if that is a formal policy or simply a goal.

“We looked at a lot of other counties that have already gone through the process, how they determined things like the maximum number of acres they wanted in their county,” Fijalkowski said. “We kind of looked at that and saw other counties scaled to the size of their county.”

No public hearings have been scheduled yet on the draft language for Montgomery County. A future work session is expected to occur this upcoming to go over additional data and to further review the solar work group’s recommendations.

Yann Ranaivo (540) 381-1661

[email protected]

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