[9:13] Good morning. I'd like to welcome everybody this

[9:17] morning. At this time, I call on Miss Blackwell to give a prayer.

[9:24] Dear Lord, we thank you for this opportunity to gather together. May our

[9:30] hearts and minds be united in a common purpose and may we engage in meaningful

[9:37] discussion. Grant us wisdom and discernment and help us to work together

[9:43] effectively. We ask this in your name. Amen. Amen.

[9:49] At this time, I call this meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge of

[9:52] allegiance.

[9:55] I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

[10:01] republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[10:08] justice for all. Thank you.

[10:12] Uh, I'd like to announce that anybody that would like to speak during our

[10:17] public hearings when we get to that part, uh, please sign up on the sheet

[10:21] that's over in the corner over there. I don't want to miss anybody who would

[10:25] like to

[10:29] speak. You have the minutes, board members. You have the minutes to our

[10:32] April 14th uh 2025 board meeting. I'll entertain a motion to approve.

[10:39] So move, Mr. Chair. Motion been made. All in favor say I. Those opposed. The

[10:44] motion carries. You also have the minutes of our April 24th uh 14th uh

[10:50] meeting. Entertain a motion to approve. Mr. Chair, some move. Motion been made.

[10:56] All in favor say I. I. Opposed. The motion carries. Mr. Hendrick, planning

[11:02] and zoning.

[11:05] Mr. Chairman, for a minute. Before I get started, I would like to introduce uh

[11:09] Lucky Carson. He is the county new planner that just came on board.

[11:15] Okay. Welcome. We c certainly welcome you to

[11:19] the county. Good to have you. I think you'll do the county a great job. Okay,

[11:24] the first application we have is a request by Michael Obby for a special

[11:27] exception permit to operate an ATV repair shop on the property. This

[11:32] property identified as county tax number 1420000-

[11:37] A-00481 and partial record number 38416 is owned as agricultural is located on

[11:43] the west side of route 789 B road and approximately a half mile north of his

[11:48] intersection with route 735 White House Road election district 9 county mechan

[11:54] reference the book LR-17-841

[11:59] okay election district does. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to make a motion we

[12:05] accept the special exemption permit application based off the planning

[12:08] commission. Well, we got public hearing. Uh we'll

[12:14] now open the public hearing on this application. Any anybody wish to speak

[12:17] on behalf of the

[12:21] application hearing? None. We'll open the public hearing for this application.

[12:25] Anybody wishing to speak?

[12:30] Hearing none. District nine. Yes, sir. I'd like to make a motion we accept the

[12:37] special exemption permit application based off the planning commission's

[12:41] recommendation.

[12:45] All in favor of the motion? I. All oppose. Motion carries. Thank you.

[12:52] You have an application request by Garland Pill for a special exception for

[12:56] a third residence home on the property. This

[13:00] property identified as county tax number

[13:05] 14500-09-01 and partial rocket number 39332 is zone agricultures located on

[13:10] the east side of route 871 Sandy Fork Road approximately half mile south of

[13:15] his intersection with highway 58 election district 1 county of

[13:18] Meckllinburgg reference the book BNP 163-453 and wheelb WF 20-429

[13:28] okay anybody wishing to speak on behalf of

[13:31] application hearing. None. I'll open the public hearing. Anyone wishing to

[13:37] speak hearing? No one. I will close the public hearing. District one. Yes, sir.

[13:43] I recommend that we receive special acceptance permit for the application of

[13:49] Garnet Pitter uh recommended by the planning commission. Okay. Motion's been

[13:53] made. All in favor of the motion say I. Opposed. And the motion carries.

[14:00] On Monday, May 12th, 2025, it is at his meeting beginning at 9:30 a.m. in the

[14:06] board of supervisors meeting room of the Goose Bank building located 350

[14:09] Washington Street, Boon, Virginia 23917. The Mechmber County Board of

[14:14] Supervisors will conduct a public hearing for the proposed of receiving

[14:17] public comment on proposed solar facility sighting agreement and proposed

[14:21] sighting development conditions between seven bridges solar

[14:25] LLC County to set out perimeters related to his proposed 80 megawatt facility

[14:31] covers county partial rocket 7779. At the conclusion of the public

[14:36] hearing, the board may adopt the solar facility sighting agreement and proposed

[14:39] sighting development conditions as is. may adopt the agreement and conditions

[14:43] with modifications. May decline to adopt the agreement and conditions or may

[14:47] defer actions to a later board meeting. Okay. Anyone wishing to speak on behalf

[14:54] of the application? Clif.

[15:15] All right. Good morning, supervisors, uh, board chair, staff. Thank you very

[15:20] much for giving us this time to you this morning. Um, as you all know, I'm Cliff

[15:27] Sher. I work for Long Road Energy. I'm a development director. We are a

[15:32] developer, owner, and operator of renewable energy projects. Uh we're

[15:38] active across the country and we've been developing the seven bridges solar

[15:42] project uh since 2017.

[15:46] Um as you've gotten uh handouts this morning that include this presentation

[15:52] and also some information on the uh some of the supporters. Um we also have other

[15:58] other supporters beyond those uh emails that are in the uh binder that you

[16:04] received this morning. But first to zoom out a little bit, I just want to uh

[16:08] share some information on solar is that it is a a proven technology. It's in

[16:14] demand by uh utilities, corporate customers, um small businesses and and

[16:21] residences. Uh in 2024, 50,000 megawatts of solar was added to the grid versus

[16:29] only 2400 megawatts of gas. And part of the reason for that is because the cost

[16:34] of solar has fallen over 80% since 2009. So on a a levelized cost of energy

[16:42] basis on average solar uh the levelized cost of energy is solar is lower than

[16:47] any other power generation technology. Now to get more local in

[16:53] 2023 Virginia imported more electricity than any other state. that 36% of the

[17:00] electricity supply in 2023 came from outside Virginia and Virginia energy

[17:06] demand is expected to double in the next 10

[17:09] years. So it seems clear that there's a need for more sources of energy to meet

[17:16] the demands of businesses and residents. Um and as most people know our project

[17:22] is located just over about three and a half miles outside of Chase City.

[17:26] There's existing transmission infrastructure there that is key to

[17:30] connecting to the grid. Now, since 2017, when we first got a contract in place

[17:36] with the land owner, uh the project area has been reduced by 50% incorporating

[17:42] feedback from the community and others. The project itself is is well cited with

[17:49] minimal to no visibility of the solar project from public roads or neighbors.

[17:54] and we've been communicating with you all and with the community as a whole

[17:58] throughout that development time. The uh community feedback that

[18:03] we've received include um well sparked us to do a number of things to address

[18:09] that feedback and one of those things is conserving 250 acres between our project

[18:14] and the South Marin River. Another is that we've we often get the the question

[18:21] um how is this project going to affect my electricity rates? And we sell

[18:26] electricity into the wholesale market. But what we found is a way to help

[18:31] people through a utility bill assistance program that the Ruren Club is already

[18:37] running. We're planning to make a donation to that program to expand that

[18:42] program across Meckllinburgg County. And the thing that we like about their

[18:46] program is that it can be used by customers of Dominion or Meckllinmberg

[18:50] Electric Cooperative. Um, we also added a western

[18:54] access road to uh Highway 49 Courthouse Road to reduce construction traffic

[19:00] impacts on Scott's Crossroad. Um, and part of that relates to there's been

[19:06] talk of good neighbor agreements. you all. Um, I've just submitted the the

[19:10] original hard copy of the affidavit that I shared with the county earlier

[19:14] confirming that we are not utilizing good neighbor agreements on this

[19:19] project. Um, we haven't had discussions on that since early 2024. Since that

[19:26] time, we've added a construction access road to the to the west that addresses

[19:31] the concerns that um people had about construction impacts

[19:36] on Scott's Crossroads. So, the sighting agreement that was uh

[19:40] submitted late last year includes the changes that I just mentioned, the 250

[19:46] acres and the western access road and also includes the commitment that we've

[19:50] made to Chase City years ago to help the town uh through a donation of 500,000 as

[19:57] well as the increased an increase in capital payments to Meckllinburgg County

[20:03] payable uh up all up to within the third 30 days of project operations. So that

[20:10] increases from 2 million to 2.5 million. And then there's revenue share payments

[20:14] as is Virginia law that total more than 7 million over the project life. Now to

[20:20] get into the the details of the project on the top row of pictures here are

[20:26] existing conditions. The bottom is uh simulations of after our project is

[20:32] installed. So you could see the existing access road that would be improved

[20:37] during construction on Scott's Crossroads is the picture on the left.

[20:41] The middle picture is another view from Scots Crossroads. And the picture on the

[20:46] right is a view of a location where there would be that's not along the

[20:49] roads or um or the Scots Crossroad or at South Marin. That's a view actually

[20:55] where there's 150 ft uh setback from the property boundary. So, as you can see,

[21:02] the project is well shielded from neighbors. Uh, this map includes the 250

[21:09] acre uh conservation area on the north side of the project. And you could see

[21:14] on the east there's setbacks of 400 to greater than 2,000 ft from Scott's

[21:21] Crossroads. To the south, there's a 1500 acre timber property that the owner

[21:26] plans to continue to operate as a timber property. and highway 49 courthouse road

[21:32] is threequarters of a mile to the west. So, as you can see, this project is well

[21:38] shielded. And also, um it's worth noting that while our project has been

[21:44] downsized from 942 acres to 435 over the 8-year development

[21:50] timeline, that uh fenced remainder remaining fence footprint would provide

[21:56] approximately 390 acres potentially for sheep grazing. So it would provide uh uh

[22:04] we're working with uh farmers in southside Virginia to provide support to

[22:08] the agricultural community and they in service would help us maintain our

[22:13] project location. Here is another view from the

[22:18] South Maharan River. You can see the hill sloping across the river up towards

[22:22] the project site. That would be in the 250 acre conservation area. So the

[22:27] project is uphill from the South Marin River well screened with a healthy

[22:35] setback. Now since this is the uh discussion on the sighting agreement

[22:40] included here a summary on the economic benefits of the project. During

[22:45] construction the project is expected to support over $30 million in economic

[22:51] output. That includes 17 million in direct spending and 14 million in

[22:57] indirect and induced spending and that's strictly in Meckllinmberg County

[23:02] impacts. Um I mentioned the revenue to Chase City and Meckllinburgg County

[23:07] already. During construction we expect over 150 construction jobs resulting in

[23:14] more than $5 million in labor income. And we also uh plan to utilize solar

[23:19] panels made by First Solar. We have a long-standing relationship with First

[23:24] Solar supported by over 16,000 American jobs across their their company and

[23:29] their supply chain. We have um over our uh Long Road Energy's development

[23:37] career, we've utilized over 1,600 megawatts of first solar panels and we

[23:41] look forward to continuing to do that. So, I'll close with this as you know,

[23:47] just pointing out that we have not just a proven track record in Meckllinburgg

[23:51] County, but listening to communities and answering tough questions and addressing

[23:55] concerns, but also all across the country. So, we look forward to uh

[24:00] having the opportunity to continue to move this project forward and would

[24:04] appreciate your vote in support of the sighting agreement. Thank you.

[24:09] All right. Thank you, Cliff. Um, before we open the public hearing on this, I'd

[24:15] like to remind everyone to please state your name and your address. You'll have

[24:20] three minutes to speak and we uh stick to that rule uh very strictly. Uh

[24:26] please, I'm sure there are different opinions. Uh please be respectful for

[24:32] everyone and their opinion. And with all that being said, I would

[24:37] like to open the public hearing on the sighting agreement for the seven bridges

[24:42] project. Mr. Chair, we have 20 people currently signed up to speak. Um the

[24:48] first speaker is Lori Huber.

[24:55] Good morning everyone. My name is Lori Huber. My

[24:59] husband and I are here. visit 14174 Highway 58 in Boon. We're here this

[25:05] morning to urge the members of the board to approve the seven bridges solar

[25:10] project. I see that you have it split into two parts where it's favor of you

[25:13] approving both of them. Uh one of the first things covered in an economics

[25:18] class is the law of supply and demand. And it says when supply exceeds

[25:24] demand prices fall and when demand exceeds supply prices rise.

[25:30] The price of a gallon of gas right now is is down because the price of a barrel

[25:35] of oil is about $60 a barrel. That's very, very low. In fact, when it drops

[25:41] below $60 a barrel, it folks who are producing the oil for us to use in our

[25:47] car and other things lose money, so they stop

[25:51] producing. That brings things back up again. And that balance between supply

[25:55] and demand, the cost goes up a little bit and they get back to creating the

[25:59] the gasoline we need for our vehicles. The law of supply and demand

[26:04] and applies to everything, food, houses, and

[26:12] electricity. The demand for electricity in Virginia and in Meckllinmberg County

[26:16] in particular is high and getting higher every day. And that's due to the fact

[26:21] that we have data centers and we're getting more of them all the time.

[26:26] Remember, when supply exceeds demand, prices fall. And when demand exceeds

[26:31] supply, prices rise. You can make a good decision here today and approve the

[26:37] seven bridges solar project. A project that will increase the supply of

[26:43] electricity. The project will do this for 30 years or more. The presentation

[26:47] we just heard it cited 40 years. This project will do it without

[26:53] having mining operations for things like coal or for

[26:59] pipelines that can leak for things like gas or

[27:04] oil. It will not depend on the constant replenishing of fuels. It will not be

[27:10] subject to the fluctuations in the price of those fuels driven by supply and

[27:16] demand. Don't lead but don't let demand exceed supply and leave us with high

[27:22] prices for electricity or at work literally sitting in the dark. Thank

[27:27] you.

[27:31] The next speaker who signed up is Derwood Grizzard.

[27:44] My wife Sandra and I live at the intersection of Scots

[27:49] Crossroads and Honey Tree Road. We have 2 and 10 acres which have been in the

[27:54] family for 85 years and our boundary has about a quarter of a mile adjoined plan

[28:03] uh solar project. that plan uh which I've seen

[28:08] several places uh showed 150 ft or 50 yards from our

[28:15] property. They said they would improve this

[28:19] situation. Have I've not seen an improved plan until a few minutes ago.

[28:25] Uh they gave me the approved plan which is 250 ft which is probably 200 feet

[28:33] less than I would like to see. You have probably seen the solar project

[28:39] off road 49 on the way to Chase City. This is one

[28:45] and a half miles from the main stoplight in Chase City. And you if you

[28:52] go there, you can see how bad that looks at about 450 ft from the highway. And

[28:59] you can imagine how it would look 150 feet or 50 yards from our

[29:08] property. Uh I had uh given a a report to the

[29:17] u Mr. Hendris which I won't read now. I think y'all have already it's been

[29:23] distributed to you. But there has been some

[29:27] discussions about good neighbor agreements. Uh there was one at the last

[29:33] meeting here. Also articles have been written in the local paper. Uh I would

[29:41] like to state here that my wife and I have received two of these agreements.

[29:49] Uh the first one we received probably back in about June and uh it was seven

[29:56] pages long and on that one my wife and I were agreed as a uh neighbor and uh

[30:08] uh the longwood draft is at the top of the page. Uh, and this puts a lot of

[30:17] restraints on us if we sign this, which we did not. And uh I might say that I

[30:24] have not been contacted by the solar company

[30:30] personally over the phone to discuss this, but it did show up in my mailbox

[30:37] uh postmarked and it has a lot of

[30:43] uh requirements on us not to talk about this, not to complain.

[30:50] uh the uh setback of 150 ft was in the agreement which now they say they

[30:56] changed it to 250. And also it's a secret thing. I'm not supposed to be

[31:01] telling anybody about this. And uh I'm not bound to that because I didn't sign

[31:07] it. Has a place on here for us to sign. And then on here

[31:13] also it has a place that we can uh return this to seven bridges solar that

[31:22] general council in San Francisco.

[31:28] Uh and also on here the payment to be made to us is two payments, one for

[31:35] $2,000 and one for $10,000. Uh the second one we got

[31:41] uh we got it fairly right after the last meeting we had here. Uh and it's a

[31:49] little bit strange. It's addressed in pencil

[31:54] uh to 63 Scots Crossroads

[31:59] 23194. There's no name on here to say who it's coming to. It doesn't mention

[32:05] uh Chase City, Virginia. Uh it's just crudely like this. And uh Mr. Grizz, I'm

[32:14] I'm going to have to stop you now. I'm sorry. Okay. But uh I will stop. But

[32:21] only thing I will tell you that this went from

[32:24] $12,000 to $100,000 on the money.

[32:31] Our next signed up speaker is Lisa Davis Bishop.

[32:47] Good morning. Good morning. Morning. My name is Lisa Davis Bishop and I live at

[32:52] 1645 Scotch Crossroads. I've lived there all my life. almost that maybe three

[32:58] years I was not there. Um I would ask that each of you please

[33:05] approach this from my point of view. Do unto others as you would have them do

[33:11] unto you. Put yourself in my shoes that you're going to lose your

[33:17] home to

[33:20] this. I ask that you please vote against the solar project on Scotch Crossroads.

[33:25] The reasons I'm opposed are numerous. Solar is not effective or efficient. At

[33:32] most, they are 16% effective, which is dismal. Where would they be disposed of

[33:37] once they're used? No landfill will accept

[33:41] them. Solar projects are paid by the acre, paid for by the acre by the

[33:46] government. So, we all will pay to further enrich the land owner, Dominion,

[33:51] and Long Road or Seven Bridges. uh none of whom need more

[33:55] money. This is being done to provide a thin veneer of green to Dominion,

[34:00] Microsoft, and the data centers. Our electric bills will actually go up. Let

[34:05] that sink in. They will actually go up. We will be subject to brownouts that

[34:11] such as the ones that just occurred in Spain and

[34:14] Portugal. Keep in mind, we now have Amish families who have moved in on 47

[34:18] and Scotch crossroads who will be run down by the work trucks.

[34:23] Not to mention the trash. Please go down Spanish Grove Road if you want to see

[34:28] what it looks like when the solar panel people come to you a location near

[34:32] you. It's the biggest mess you've ever seen. It's so

[34:37] sad. There will be no jobs for Meckllinmberg County. The workers will

[34:41] come in from somewhere else. They might stay in South Hill temporarily, but

[34:46] Chase City will get nothing but the blight of solar panels that no one

[34:49] wants. No one will go to Graham's Hardware from Longwood for supplies. If

[34:54] solar panels were so great, they'd be having them all over the county,

[34:57] including South Hill and Clarksville, not just Chase City. I'm very

[35:02] disappointed that I even have to come here and talk about this. I thought I

[35:06] had to take off work to be here today. I I I find it unbelievable that I

[35:11] have to come and and and beg to stop outside interests from

[35:16] ruining my home. I need you guys to do that for me. All

[35:21] growth is not good. Please stop it. Remember that trees are green. Cutting

[35:27] down trees and replacing them with solar panels is not green. You'll be creating

[35:31] a small city on the Maharan River. Solar panels will channel water causing

[35:36] erosion and water quality issues. Solar panels cannot disperse water the way a

[35:40] tree can. And I almost forgot, solar panels often spark fires when they

[35:45] malfunction. I get this from a Dominion employee. Uh, catching fire to the

[35:51] grasses under them. Won't that be a mess to clean up for us? Meckllinburgg County

[35:55] will get to clean it up. To me, the solar promise is a beautiful lie. It's

[36:00] too good to be true. You want to believe that beautiful lie, but it's not true.

[36:05] The ugly truth is it doesn't work efficiently. And those who profit will

[36:10] care nothing about the people that live on Scotch Crossroads or Chase City or

[36:14] Meckllinburgg County. You know, the ones that will have to suffer the

[36:18] consequences if this abomination is allowed to continue. Please might save

[36:22] my home on a quiet farm surrounded by peaceful neighbors and other farmers.

[36:27] Meckllinburgg County needs farms. We do not need solar

[36:31] panels. I'm afraid they just want their foot in the door and this thing will

[36:35] expand and blow up exponentially. And if you want to

[36:38] conserve land by the Maharan River, you can conserve all of it by rejecting this

[36:43] project. Thank you so much for your time. Thank

[36:47] you.

[36:52] Let me before our next speaker, let me

[36:56] remind y'all uh please don't have any applause, anything. And uh regardless or

[37:01] you dislike what the person is saying or you totally endorse what they're saying,

[37:06] you know, we're not we're not at a national championship game here. We're

[37:10] here to have a public hearing to uh let people express

[37:15] themselves. So uh please keep that in mind if you would. The next signed up

[37:20] speaker is Susan Mullen.

[37:35] Good morning. My name is Susan Spalding M Mullen and I

[37:41] grew up in Chase City with my parents and both my maternal and paternal

[37:45] grandparents. It was a wonderful place to grow up. But today when I visit Chase

[37:51] City, I leave sad. Coming through Chase City this morning, I see that Pallet One

[37:57] is closing.

[38:01] Chase City used to be the most populous town in the county.

[38:05] But today it's not the same. Clarksville has the lake and good

[38:11] restaurants. South Hill has the interstate and restaurants. Betton has

[38:16] the county seat. Chase City does not have any of

[38:20] that. And the first thing I want to say is Chase City needs additional sources

[38:27] of income for a new elementary school. hopefully with solar panels on the

[38:32] roof, perhaps high teacher pay, perhaps a municipal park, anything to brighten

[38:39] its future. Chase City desperately needs this project. Secondly, I believe in

[38:46] solar power. Solar energy is clean, it's affordable, and it is part of the energy

[38:54] mix we need today. But the fact and and sadly it's so sad

[39:02] that Grasshopper poisoned the well in J City for so long. But the fact that Long

[39:08] Road is still here after eight years is because they know they have the right

[39:14] site and have been willing to work with local residents and officials to address

[39:19] any and all concerns. This is a winwin. Chase City needs it. We need the

[39:26] clean power and we need the revenue for Chase City. In closing, I'd like to

[39:31] leave you with my favorite quote. If God had wanted us to have

[39:37] unlimited free power, he would have put a massive fusion reactor in the

[39:43] sky. I'm closed. Thank you. The next speaker is John Mullen.

[40:03] Good morning. My name is John Mullen. I'm here on behalf of my family. Uh

[40:06] Susan and I reside in Charlotte County. Um eight years ago, we began working

[40:13] with Long Road Energy on the Seven Bridges project. They've been a great

[40:16] partner in addressing concerns raised by the citizens in this portion of in this

[40:21] portion of Meckllinburgg County. Long Road has a contract to purchase 1,250

[40:26] acres of a 7 2750 acre timber track owned by my family in the J City area of

[40:32] Meckllinburgg County. One side of the solar project will

[40:36] continue to be managed as a 1500 acre timber tract and another side will be

[40:41] bounded by the 250 acre permanent easement along the South Maron River.

[40:46] The project also is also adjacent to a 600 acre track owned by Microsoft which

[40:51] has been reszoned for industrial development. Some of the pre-eread

[40:55] material indicated this track contain quote prime farmland. Uh while there may

[41:01] be selected portions that fall into that category, it's been managed as a timber

[41:05] track for over a hundred years because that was the highest and best use for

[41:09] this property rather than farming until the seven bridges solar development

[41:13] option came along. I farm corn, soybeans, and winter wheat in Charlotte

[41:19] County. And I can assure you that the vast majority of this tract is not quote

[41:23] prime farmland close quote. Chairman Jennings um also farms next to the tract

[41:29] and I believe he might agree. Um there are already two transmission lines

[41:33] running through the Mullen family holdings track and we've just signed an

[41:37] agreement with Dominion Power to provide a rightway for a third transmission

[41:41] line. As you know, one of the main requirements for a solar project is

[41:44] access and transmission. So experts knowledgeable about solar think that the

[41:49] seven bridges site is one of the best if not the best solar sites in the entire

[41:54] state. Uh while there's some controversy about

[41:58] this obviously from prior speakers um because of the timber that u is mature

[42:04] that will form the border uh this site actually is probably not visible except

[42:10] by air and traffic congestion congestion during construction will be mitigated by

[42:15] entrances from both Route 49 and Scots Crossroad with Route 49 designated for

[42:20] heavy loads. The seven bridges project is clearly the highest and best use for

[42:25] this portion of my family's holding my family's property and it's been

[42:29] greenlighted twice by the planning commission including affirmation that

[42:33] our 2232 is grandfathered as part of the 2500 acre solar set aside that predates

[42:40] the updated long range plan for Mechenburgg County.

[42:44] We've been good stewards of this property for the past 33 years and I

[42:48] firmly believe Long Road will continue that tradition if this project moves

[42:52] forward. Hopefully the board will recognize the significant personal

[42:55] property rights associated with the quote highest and best use concept close

[42:59] quote particularly given Long Road to Energy's efforts to address express

[43:04] concerns and the long-term investment this project represents not just for my

[43:08] family of Chase City but for mechany's business community and its use of

[43:13] electricity. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you. Next speaker

[43:19] is Joel Cathy.

[43:33] Good morning. Good morning. My name is Joel Kathy. I live in Keysville,

[43:37] Virginia. Um I'm I'm a forest land owner in Meckllinburgg County. Um

[43:45] I've been a forester in Southside Virginia for the past 45 years. Um, I'm

[43:49] past president of Virginia Forestry Association. I served two terms on the

[43:53] board of directors for the Department of Forestry. I've been fortunate to have

[43:58] managed the land being proposed for this solar farm since the Mullen family

[44:01] purchased this land about 33 years ago. I'm probably as familiar with this piece

[44:05] of property as anybody in this room. Long Road has listened to the concerns

[44:10] and feedback from both Charlotte from both the county and the citizens has

[44:14] made numerous changes which have made the layout even

[44:18] better. I've looked at the buffers and the management plans for the buffers.

[44:22] This site will be nearly invisible from the public perspective. I agree with

[44:27] Dominion Power that there's no better site in the state of Virginia than this

[44:32] one. that the economics of growing pine trees on private land have become more

[44:37] and more difficult. Just last week, George Pacific announced closure of a

[44:41] plywood plant in Emporia. The over the last 30 years, the

[44:47] prices that land owners receive for pine logs and pulpwood has not kept pace with

[44:51] inflation. The shutdown will only make matters worse. Yet, property taxes

[44:56] continue to go up. To me, I view this issue issue as

[45:01] one of personal property rights. the fundamental right to make decisions on

[45:06] what is done with the land that you own as long as it doesn't interfere with

[45:13] neighbors. The solar farm on this land will affect no one else. To me, I mean,

[45:18] seven bridges solar provided a lot of money would will provide a lot of money

[45:22] for member county and town of Chase City. This will help keep property taxes

[45:26] down for all the citizens of the county. It's time to move this project forward.

[45:30] Thank you all for your time. Thank you. Next speaker is Cody. Uh, is this Snare?

[45:46] I'm with DevCom Power. We were awarded the job a couple years ago. So, I just

[45:51] wanted to come up here and, you know, tell you a little bit about uh DevCom

[45:56] and uh just how we how we work and um You know, I've been in Solar eight years

[46:03] now. DEPCOM's been around about 15. Uh, it started out as a disabled

[46:09] veteranowned company and it's moved on to other things now. But,

[46:12] uh, at the peak of everything, we'll probably be at about 150 to 175 people

[46:17] out here. Most of the employees hopefully will be slotted from the

[46:22] general area. Um, if we get to a point where we need to expand, then it will

[46:27] expand in Virginia. It will not expand outside of that.

[46:31] We do live our lives and our company from a principalbased management. So we

[46:37] take pride in what we do. Um we are all over the country. We're all over uh the

[46:43] world actually. We've built in uh Puerto Rico and uh I actually am looking at a

[46:48] job down there now. So we're very very good at what we do. Uh we do take pride

[46:54] in in our work and ensuring that the locals

[46:59] are taken care of to the best of our ability and uh yeah I just wanted to

[47:05] come up here and say my piece. I appreciate

[47:10] everybody. The next speaker is Karen Drosiaak.

[47:26] Good morning. My name is Karen Drosiaak. I'm with First Solar. We are the largest

[47:31] American solar technology and solar manufacturing company. We are proud to

[47:36] be a supplier of the solar modules for the Seven Bridges project. Um, solar is

[47:42] very much real. We wouldn't be standing here 26 years later. Um we were founded

[47:47] back in 1999. More than 65% of new electricity generation uh installed last

[47:54] year was solar. And that's because it is affordable and it is the fastest

[48:00] electricity generation that can be deployed. Not only is it um real, but it

[48:06] can be manufactured here in America. And I'm not just talking about imported from

[48:10] abroad and assembled here. I'm talking about a sheet of glass goes in at one of

[48:15] our factories and a completed solar module comes out about three hours

[48:19] later. We're not just manufacturing here, but we've built a domestic

[48:24] American supply chain with uh soda ash and and silica miners supplying the raw

[48:30] materials for the glass that we use in our products. Um, we're creating real

[48:36] long-term jobs all across our value chain which are supporting our

[48:41] facilities and supporting projects like these. Um, our Ohio facilities, we have

[48:47] three Ohio facilities which have received the highest recognition from

[48:51] the Ohio EPA, the encouraging environmental excellence award, uh,

[48:56] platinum award. So, we are proud to be doing solar the right way. We also have

[49:02] been recycling for for 20 years now. So we established the industry's first

[49:07] global recycling program back in 2005 and we've been recycling ever since.

[49:13] Recovering the semiconductor material and reusing it in new panels. Our

[49:18] technology is not a new technology. It is a prudent one which has been safely

[49:23] operating in the field for more than 20 years. It has been installed on drinking

[49:28] water facilities in Berlin, Germany, and is a technology of choice for leading

[49:33] utilities and energy providers. Thank you.

[49:38] Next speaker is Matt Karns.

[49:44] Good morning. Uh my name is Matt Karns. I live at 34 Johnson Road in Falmouth,

[49:50] Maine, but I've spent um a lot of time in Meckllinmberg County since 2017 when

[49:57] we negotiated the land agreement with Mr. Mullen. Um I've had the pleasure of

[50:02] of working with y'all and have uh really appreciated uh the hospitality for

[50:07] investment in this community. Um I think I'm I'm very proud of what Cliff and his

[50:13] team have done here. Um, I liken the seven bridges project kind of like going

[50:17] to the optometrist and when the doctor says,

[50:21] "Is this right or is this right?" We knew the project wasn't right when we

[50:25] started. We had a we came in with whole cloth. Solar projects are never perfect.

[50:30] And then we started listening. And when we started listening, we realized there

[50:35] was concern about Scots Crossroad traffic. So, we made a change. We

[50:40] realized there were concerns about the Maharin River. So, we made a change. We

[50:44] realized there were neighbor concerns. So we shrunk the size of the project

[50:49] 50%. When you go to the optometrists, you hopefully come out with the perfect

[50:53] view and the perfect outcome. These projects are never perfect, but this

[50:58] project is born out of feedback from this community. So we think this is the

[51:02] perfect solar project for this community. It has been shaped by public

[51:06] input from day one. I'll give you two numbers. The first is eight. That's the

[51:13] number of years that we've been working on this project. The second is 10

[51:17] million and that's the number of dollars that we've invested in this project with

[51:22] power investment with long lead ter long lead time commitments and we have

[51:28] invested in this county through the relationships that we formed with

[51:31] neighbors with businesses who we now count as friends. And I think u I just

[51:37] would say this is a project that is about this county now. It is about the

[51:44] fingerprints of local people who have informed what it's going to look like,

[51:49] how it's going to work, and if it's not working, we're going to be here to fix

[51:53] it because we own and operate these projects. So I would just say this is

[51:59] about the perfect moment in time to say we've been at it for eight years. Let's

[52:05] approve this project and move forward because it's by for and about the people

[52:09] of this county. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you. Next speaker

[52:14] is

[52:23] Tom. Good morning. I'm Tom Y. I'm from McKenna, Virginia. Originally from

[52:29] Kimbridge, Virginia, just north of Meckllinburgg. Um, I am on the board

[52:34] member of Evergreen Team. Um, I'm here with Sharon Flowers, um, who is also an

[52:39] employee of Evergreen Team and she's a native of Meckllinmberg County. Um, I

[52:44] formed Evergreen Team in 2012 as an environmental nonprofit land trust. Um,

[52:52] since that time, we have grown to be the largest land trust, private land trust

[52:58] in the state of Virginia. We're very proud of that. We have

[53:02] conserved over 52,000 acres statewide with a focus in Southside Virginia. In

[53:09] Meckllinmberg County alone, we have conserved over 2,400 acres in

[53:13] conservation easements. And that's in perpetuity. That's saving farmlands and

[53:19] timberlands. We work with land owners, military bases. We're very close

[53:26] partners with the Ward Burton Wall Foundation. We work with veteran groups

[53:30] and we have environmental education programs for

[53:34] use. We have also evaluated renewable energy projects throughout the state of

[53:39] Virginia and Pennsylvania. Many many projects that include both solar and

[53:45] wind turbine projects. Most of those we would say we would not approve and um

[53:51] have have worked against those because of numerous environmental issues.

[53:58] But after evaluating this long road energy

[54:01] project, we say they are doing it correctly. They are helping the

[54:06] environment through many different ways. Through thorough and thoughtful

[54:11] planning, they're minimizing environmental issues. They're enhancing

[54:15] biodiversity and wildlife corridors. And they're accounting for aesthetics and

[54:20] visual integration. They do this in numerous

[54:23] ways. One, as Cliff had said, they are conserving 250 acres of land between um

[54:32] the solar panels and the South Maharan River. And that's where Evergreen is is

[54:36] helping. We are going to help them conserve that in

[54:39] perpetuity, never to be developed, always there as a buffer past even past

[54:45] this project that exceeds the state

[54:50] guidelines. We're proud that it protects wildlife

[54:54] and biodiversity through habitat conservation and

[54:58] mitigation. Evergreen team will also use that 250 acres to do recreation with

[55:04] wounded warriors. We do a lot with wounded

[55:07] warriors from hunting, fishing, and camping. Other ways this helps the

[55:14] environment is that it is reducing chemical chemicals and it uses

[55:19] sustainable ground cover management. We have reviewed the erosion control

[55:24] measures and has done very well. And what we really like about this

[55:30] project is that U Long Road Energy is with this project and committed to this

[55:35] project from start to finish. We think this project will

[55:41] contribute well to the local community and it will be an asset to the

[55:44] Meckllinburgg County and the environment. Thank you.

[55:50] Next speaker is Matt

[56:07] English Matt English um 246 Dean John's Place

[56:13] Appamatics. Ladies and gentlemen, the board staff, it's good to see everybody

[56:17] again. I think I visited y'all. Uh I think it was sometime back in the

[56:22] winter. I come here today um and tell you that uh Seven Bridges is

[56:29] probably one of the most proactive professional organizations that I've

[56:33] ever dealt with. I come to you today to tell you that I'm a farmer like many

[56:37] people you sitting on the board, many people out here in the audience. Anyway,

[56:41] several years ago, I had the opportunity to farm under solar. I didn't know how

[56:47] that was going to go. Neither did Solar Company. And several years later, I

[56:53] recently got awarded the Climate Smart Award program award. That award is given

[56:59] to one out of 150 recipients in the nation and I am one of 150 and I take

[57:06] that proudly as a seventh generation farmer anyway to receive that award.

[57:11] Still three of us foreman. We farm in four counties. Closest here will be

[57:16] Charlotte County. When I come out of the Charlotte County forum, I look and

[57:21] there's a sign right there and way and it tells how far it is from Chase City.

[57:25] Man, I like take a left, come over here and form. I hope y'all give me the

[57:29] opportunity to do it. Several people spoke in opposition and said they're

[57:34] taking away the farmland. All this land under solar

[57:38] panels will be formed. I hope with my sheep, maybe some other

[57:44] neighbors. There's a lot of land. It's good fence. Bow string tight. The

[57:50] livestock don't get out in the highway. Stop the school buses and you'll commute

[57:53] to work. The grass is better than most of

[57:57] our farms cuz these people got pockets deeper than mine. And they can afford

[58:00] better grass, better fertiliz, and better lime than I can and many other

[58:04] folks can too. If you want to preservate farmland in the

[58:11] community and help local farmers and wounded warriors come and

[58:16] hunt and fish, then you do your obligation, what

[58:21] you were voted on to do, and you approve this. Hopefully next time we'll meet up

[58:27] there at the forum and I'll show you some sheep and beautiful

[58:30] grass. Thank y'all. The next speaker is Brenda Walker.

[58:53] Good morning. Morning. Hope everyone's having a good day. And I just come as a

[58:58] resident of Meckllinburgg County. I've lived here all my life. And I hope each

[59:03] and every one of you will think about this deeply before you make your

[59:08] decisions. This is a big thing for the county, but we want to save the

[59:14] agriculture, too. We don't want to waste the lands that we

[59:19] have. God doesn't make more land. This is all we have. And we are here and we

[59:25] are to preserve it and we're here to take care of it. And I would like to

[59:29] speak against the solar project as I did when they tried to get it on 3362 Old

[59:36] Cox Road. It's a mess. You can look at the

[59:40] others. There's not a good result anywhere that I've seen. And I've seen

[59:46] all the trash and all the trashy people that come in to work these projects and

[59:52] all the mud and the dirt that they bring into the businesses in Chase

[59:56] City and they could care less. So please take this deeply and ask

[1:00:03] as we would ask Jesus, what would you do? This is your land. Thank you.

[1:00:12] Next speaker is Charles

[1:00:25] Jackson. I just brought this with me. I don't have anything written down.

[1:00:29] Morning, Mr. Chairman and board. Um I'm not a great speaker, but I'm just here

[1:00:34] to oppose the solar project. Um, I've got solar panels on my house. I

[1:00:41] had them on six years ago. I got talked into it by a slick talking guy. And the

[1:00:47] day that they come and put them in, I couldn't find him. Uh, I couldn't find

[1:00:51] anybody. They did a mess. I regret it, but I got talked into

[1:00:57] it. I think you need to do a lot more thought and, you know, discussion about

[1:01:03] these. It might be a good thing, but I just I'm here to oppose it and I wish

[1:01:08] you would think about it real hard before you make your decision. Thank

[1:01:14] you. The next speaker is Judy Brothers.

[1:01:28] Hello, I'm Judy Brothers. I'm president of the Friends of the Maharin River

[1:01:32] Group. put my eyes on

[1:01:35] here. The sighting for this project is completely inappropriate for a lot of

[1:01:40] the same reasons as the Antlers Road project was.

[1:01:45] Also, the Maharin River is the municipal water supply for Emporia, Virginia. In

[1:01:51] 2022, I spoke with an employee for the town who stated that the reservoir was

[1:01:56] already 25% silted out and creating issues for the town water supply at that

[1:02:02] time. The erosion issues are real. And

[1:02:05] recently, the Foxhound Project, which is Long Road Energy in Halifax County with

[1:02:10] 53 failed water ponds, hired the erosion company, which cites

[1:02:18] renewables with a picture of solar panels on their website as one of their

[1:02:23] selling points as to what they do. Um and it says there that uh if not it's

[1:02:30] not if but when problems will arise. So uh the thousand foot buffer is

[1:02:36] not enough as the neighbor to Grasshopper had erosion

[1:02:41] issues and damage to their ponds and it was many more than a thousand feet away.

[1:02:48] And we know that Butcher Creek has been putting out a plume of silt into the

[1:02:52] lake some 10 miles away with no fix in sight. And we have drone footage of

[1:02:57] that, by the way. Um, in 2012, the Scenic River

[1:03:02] report lists that the Maharin is a threatened and endangered species water

[1:03:09] on the western mo most end, which is where this project is, and is rated by

[1:03:14] the VDGIF that uh this section is contains

[1:03:19] two state and globally significant natural heritage resources that occur at

[1:03:24] three locations along the study segment. Um the historical significance of this

[1:03:30] area has been vastly understated. We have Spring Bank and

[1:03:35] Ravenscraftoft Plantation which used to attach to the Maharin. It's within a

[1:03:41] mile or so from this site. Um and there are five historical gris mills

[1:03:47] associated with this area as well. We have Burwell's Mill, Rocky Mill, Reeks

[1:03:52] Mill, Hepern Mill, and Mill Grove. Uh, Colonel Burwell was a resident at that

[1:03:58] home. He also uh was a prominent figure along with Colonel Oliver and Bacon and

[1:04:05] with their headquarters were scattered throughout the area too. Those are on a

[1:04:09] map you can see. Um, Colonel Burwell also built Stone Land which

[1:04:15] burned down. This was on the other side of this project more south. when

[1:04:20] Stoneland burned down later all those stones were moved to Macallum and that's

[1:04:24] what they made Macallumore out of was those stones. So there's a significant

[1:04:30] it's a lot of history in that area that goes with all this uh something maybe

[1:04:34] that the county could use for uh future you know visitors to come and see. Um

[1:04:43] and again the sighting for this project is totally inappropriate. It endangers

[1:04:48] the community and its resources with admitted forever chemicals in the solar

[1:04:53] panels plus the erosion issue. Please vote no on this project. Thank you.

[1:04:58] Thank you. Next speaker is Monty High Tower.

[1:05:10] Well, thank you ladies and gentlemen of the

[1:05:12] board high tower 247 Autumn Lane Chase City and for those who don't know where

[1:05:19] Autumn Lane is is off of Spanish Grove. Uh I walk over my back door. I'm 400 ft

[1:05:25] from the Otter Creek Solar Project. Uh, as that project was being built and

[1:05:31] is now being operated, I have had no issues whatsoever. Uh, other than a

[1:05:38] light shine through the window, I went to the contractors, asked them if they

[1:05:42] could, uh, move the light. No problem. 10 minutes after I

[1:05:49] talked to them, the problem solved. Uh I know that the

[1:05:57] uh blue stone project and the grasshopper project were one of the best

[1:06:04] projects in the world the way they were built. But uh the Otter Creek project is

[1:06:10] living there beside it. I've seen no problem. No, no problem with the traffic

[1:06:16] on Spanish Grove. Uh, no problem with the site

[1:06:21] itself. Also, and I've been working with Long Road for probably eight years. Uh,

[1:06:29] when they first came into the area, they came talked to me.

[1:06:33] Uh, started talking to me about honeybees. They want to know how many

[1:06:37] honey bee hives that project would support. I recommended that they were

[1:06:45] talking about the uh using pollinator habitat

[1:06:51] uh over seven years. Everything I have uh mentioned to them to improve the

[1:06:56] project like coming out 49 they have uh worked into their

[1:07:04] project. So uh I think they have done their due diligence on this project and

[1:07:11] probably the best that you going to be able to

[1:07:13] find. Also with the uh signing agreement, the $500,000 that

[1:07:21] would come to Chase City would be greatly appreciated and needed

[1:07:26] because I've been a business owner in Chase

[1:07:29] City. Uh we're celebrating our 50th anniversary. So I know how hard it is to

[1:07:37] keep a business going in Chase City. And if y'all been through CHC, y'all can see

[1:07:41] how how Main Street is going down. I think this project will bring a influx

[1:07:49] of business to town which would be fatally needed. And thank y'all. Thank

[1:07:55] you. The next speaker is Woody Moore.

[1:08:04] Morning board, Mr. Chairman. My name is Woody Moore. I live at 5189 Country Club

[1:08:09] Drive on the Dirt Park. Um I'm against this uh being uh uh okayed and the

[1:08:17] reason being is uh everything that I have seen. I hate to see people deceived

[1:08:21] and I hear all this stuff that's being talked about with solar. I used to think

[1:08:25] it was a big it was the best thing coming. I have done a lot of research on

[1:08:29] solar and I've done a lot of research on what's happening right here in this

[1:08:32] county and I can tell you right now it's it was stated earlier 17 18% is

[1:08:39] very probable that's all you'll ever see out on one of these sites when it says

[1:08:44] 80 megawws uh whatever that is supposed to mean I think they made a typo there

[1:08:49] um there is no way that it will even come close to it and if you don't

[1:08:53] believe me check the grid on what comes out of the ones that's already there and

[1:08:57] what's being produced is nowhere near what they claim that they're supposed to

[1:09:00] produce. Okay, that's one. Two, and I know Monty, I love him, but over on

[1:09:06] Spanish Grove Road, I'm glad that he had a good experience, but I've been over

[1:09:09] there and seen and been across a couple of the farms that have are affected by

[1:09:12] the ones that are there. One, the one project overhead doesn't work because it

[1:09:16] came all to pieces, just like Grasshopper has messed up and doesn't

[1:09:20] work. Furthermore, the erosion problems over there and uh we were roadcrop to

[1:09:26] farmers. We never got by by with that stuff. We had to deal with making sure

[1:09:29] we covered that erosion situation. Erosion over there. I've been over there

[1:09:33] when a big storm came through on that man's farm and the solar farm is behind

[1:09:37] him more than a th000 ft if not more than that. The water was coming out of

[1:09:42] it acrossing his driveway and into his pond over three foot deep with red mud

[1:09:47] rolling. And we know this is a red mud county. Everywhere it goes the red clay

[1:09:51] is going with it. And I don't see any way that it had holding ponds and all

[1:09:55] this other stuff and told me, "Oh, that takes care of it." I got pictures where

[1:09:58] it was running around the s the the holding ponds and so it was not and I oh

[1:10:04] we going to do it better. Uh I would hope that would be the case but I'm

[1:10:08] saying it doesn't work and um I'm totally against it in that way. I also

[1:10:13] have uh as many have said about that. I understand it's going into where

[1:10:17] Timberland was. Uh but Timberland's green even though you cut it and replace

[1:10:21] it. is still green. The solar farm is not green. There's nothing green about

[1:10:25] it. There's chemicals in it that do will at some point be an issue to deal with

[1:10:30] if it don't ever leak out. The other one is nobody has mentioned much about and

[1:10:33] I've seen a lot of stuff on this lately which I hadn't seen and I'd asked

[1:10:36] questions about is fires and there are those that have had fires with them and

[1:10:42] we talk about what happens the chemicals that's in it. what happens with the air

[1:10:46] around the folks that live near it when that chemical gets in the smoke or

[1:10:49] whatever if it does burn. And two, how do our local volunteer fire departments

[1:10:54] gear up to be able to handle those chemicals or whatever it may be when

[1:10:57] they go in to deal with it? And I know this from a tank farm near where I

[1:11:01] pastor the church. They have to have special foam and other things to be able

[1:11:05] to go in there and they have to have a way to get in the fence to be able to

[1:11:08] deal with it because these places get locked down in fences. So, it's a lot of

[1:11:11] issues that are negative in my book and so I I'm against this old

[1:11:19] farm. The next speaker is Melanie Woods.

[1:11:29] Okay, we have Paul Brer.

[1:11:34] Okay. And James Jefferson.

[1:11:39] Good morning, members of the board. My name is James Jefferson. Um I reside at

[1:11:44] 1437 Edlas Road uh in Biton. Um the first I want to uh say I'm gratified

[1:11:50] that um recently there was an application denied to uh produce solar

[1:11:54] farm on on that road which is really right down the road from where I live

[1:11:58] and uh I was kind of happy about that. Uh I've heard a lot of the pros and

[1:12:01] cons. I heard the numbers back and forth. Um, one thing I do know about

[1:12:05] life is time really will be the uh best assessor of whether this a good deal or

[1:12:10] not. Um, again I heard the numbers I I can't say whether they good or not. Um a

[1:12:15] lot of times numbers are uh often put you know given to uh to get the will at

[1:12:21] uh what they attempting to do. But um for me

[1:12:25] um when you get right down to it at at what point or what does it stop at far

[1:12:30] as for solar farms here in Minburg County and tying up you know the the

[1:12:34] land real estate with that down the road when it's all over and done with um I

[1:12:39] think I hear some numbers what 25 30 year or whatever the project life is. uh

[1:12:43] what happens then to that property? Uh what happens to the uh the soil, the the

[1:12:47] the animals that that would have inhabited that area? So for me, um I say

[1:12:51] I'm against it and you know, if I don't fight it now, you know, next day it'll

[1:12:56] be in my back door. So I rather, you know, attempt to stop it now. Thank you.

[1:13:00] Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is the last person that pre-signed up to speak on

[1:13:05] this topic. Okay.

[1:13:11] Uh

[1:13:19] So, um, I certainly want to give anybody that had, uh, wants the opportunity to

[1:13:24] speak to go ahead and speak.

[1:13:34] Brandon Estus, 31257, Highway 49, Chase City,

[1:13:38] Virginia. Why am I here? Um there's, you know, unlike it seems like

[1:13:45] 99% of folks that are, you know, here might have uh something to

[1:13:50] gain or maybe lose. I don't gain any money or lose any money with this

[1:13:56] project or any project. Uh I'm here because I believe that this is wrong and

[1:14:03] I have from the beginning. And you know, uh there's folks that have

[1:14:09] connections that stand to make money on things and we come up here and you know

[1:14:14] it's understandable that we would want to support our interests, right? But uh

[1:14:20] I live here. I've lived here most of my life and uh I just I I I'm trying to

[1:14:26] find reasons to stay here. Uh I don't you know I don't want to see my entire

[1:14:32] county gentrified. I stayed here because I

[1:14:35] didn't want to go to the big city. I didn't want to be surrounded by

[1:14:40] corporations. And let's not, we don't have to be naive about this.

[1:14:44] Corporations don't have morals. They don't care. They don't give a rip about

[1:14:48] any of us in this room. They come here to make money. And the people that they

[1:14:54] send to talk to y'all, that's what they're here to do. They're here to tell

[1:14:57] you whatever is necessary to get you to vote for something. They're not here to

[1:15:04] tell you what might be true. We have people in we have 10 different land

[1:15:08] owners in Louisa County who are litigating against solar farms because

[1:15:12] of what it's done to their land. We have uh at least one in our own county who

[1:15:18] has won a lawsuit over the erosion issues that are supposedly non-existent.

[1:15:26] So again, he who speaketh with fork tongue,

[1:15:32] he always shows his face. They come, they want to do

[1:15:37] whatever is necessary to get the the government money because like I've told

[1:15:43] y'all before, it's a,000% subsidized from federal government money. That is

[1:15:48] what these companies are here to do. What Meckllinmberg County is a ripe

[1:15:52] morsel for the taking to be picked off the vine and to be squosed dry and for

[1:15:58] them to then leave as all the other sol they told us that they would sell the

[1:16:02] project after they're done or other this is the typical thing that other

[1:16:07] uh that other project starters will then sell it to other solar companies. They

[1:16:13] don't they don't care. They just need to they just need you to be sweetened up

[1:16:18] enough to pass it and then they can get their cash and run. And that's all I

[1:16:22] have to say today. Hope youall have a blessed day. Thank you.

[1:16:27] Anyone else would like to speak concerning the sighting agreement.

[1:16:32] Okay. You come to the podium. State your name. I signed up on the other

[1:16:43] you Either one. Either one is fine.

[1:16:50] Good morning. My name is Deborah Dantis and I reside at 885 Scots Crossroads.

[1:16:55] I'm here today to vehemently oppose the Seven Bridges Solar Project. So, let's

[1:17:00] talk about the truth. The main entrance to this prop project is across the road

[1:17:06] from my yard. I have spoken with several employees and even invited them into my

[1:17:12] home on two occasions. Howal McCabe has visited me at my home on three separate

[1:17:17] occasions and he has called me no less than six times. The latest call was on

[1:17:22] March 27th, 2025 after the planning commission granted them permission to

[1:17:27] proceed with the project. He called to inform me that VOTE had mandated all

[1:17:32] 18-wheeler traffic would use the Highway 49 entrance. Prior to that, he called me

[1:17:37] on October 29th, 2024 to inform me of setbacks and modifications they had made

[1:17:43] to the original plans. On his first visit to my home, I

[1:17:47] spoke with Hal and another man and respectfully listened to them trying to

[1:17:50] sell me on the solar project. They in turn listened to my long list of

[1:17:55] concerns and mentioned a good neighbor agreement without going into much

[1:17:59] detail. They left and stated that they would be in touch. About a month later,

[1:18:03] Hal arrived at my home and handd delivered to me the Good Neighbor

[1:18:10] agreement. He handed me the four-page agreement and told me to call him when I

[1:18:15] was ready to sign. After reading the agreement, I knew that I would never

[1:18:19] sign it due to the content and restrictions. This legal document

[1:18:23] offered $2,000 within 30 days of the developer receiving a signed agreement

[1:18:28] as well as an additional 10,000 as long as the neighbor compi complies with the

[1:18:33] obligations under the agreement. Neighbor could not oppose

[1:18:37] construction or development etc etc. neighbor releases and forever discharges

[1:18:43] developer together with its affiliates and employees, contractors, etc., etc.

[1:18:48] from and against any and all complaints, claims, liabilities, etc. of any nature

[1:18:54] whatsoever which are based upon arising from or relating to the location of the

[1:18:58] project, construction, development, permitting of the project, including but

[1:19:02] not limited to noise, dust, and traffic. Both parties agreed to keep this

[1:19:07] agreement and the contents, including the payment, strictly

[1:19:10] confidential. I called Hal and told him that there was no way that I would ever

[1:19:14] sign that agreement. He replied that he knew that I would not sign because of my

[1:19:18] previous concerns and stated that he would pass along this information to his

[1:19:23] boss and stated that between you and me, this is negotiable.

[1:19:28] I did in fact receive a phone call from his boss, but I immediately told him I

[1:19:33] was opposed to the Seven Bridges Solar Project and that nothing he could say

[1:19:37] would make me change my mind. The truth is Long Road Energy did have a good

[1:19:42] neighbor agreement. It was not implemented because no one accepted it.

[1:19:47] The truth is those that support solar are benefiting

[1:19:52] financially and they also do not have a solar

[1:19:56] project in their front yard or on the road that they live

[1:20:01] on. Also, the electric companies receive, and this figure may be off, but

[1:20:05] it's very close, $56,000 per acre of solar and subsidies from the state of

[1:20:11] Virginia. They in turn offer thousands of dollars to nonprofit organizations in

[1:20:16] your area, to schools, small towns, and offer bribes in the form of good

[1:20:21] neighbor agreements. They are making these donations with our tax money. And

[1:20:28] guess what? Our electric bills keep going up. I leave this with you this

[1:20:33] final thought. If solar is so great, why is it

[1:20:38] necessary for them to bribe their way into our communities? Thank you.

[1:20:44] Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak on this?

[1:20:54] Good morning. My name is Pauline Keaton. I reside at 121 West Third Street, J

[1:20:59] City. And I stand before you as a product of Meckllinmberg County, a

[1:21:06] resident of Chase City, and a member of Chase City Town

[1:21:11] Council. I've seen the community go from thriving

[1:21:16] to fairly existing sometimes.

[1:21:21] Um there's sometimes very little traffic in and out of the town. Uh things have

[1:21:28] changed a lot from the times that Chase City was the thriving community, but I'm

[1:21:34] here today to solicit support for endorsement of the solar projects that

[1:21:39] are here for your vote today. We live in an area with limited,

[1:21:45] very limited resources. And these resources come mostly from taxpayers

[1:21:50] dollars and these monies can only go so far. By the time we cover maintenance

[1:21:56] and repair cost, there's very little left for much needed improvements and uh

[1:22:04] modernization. Revenue from outside sources is welcome and needed to help

[1:22:09] keep things afloat. This project has been supportive

[1:22:13] of activities in our town and promises to continue to support us in the future.

[1:22:20] I strongly encourage the board to approve the solar initiative as this

[1:22:25] would be a plus for the town and for the county. And as you vote today, please

[1:22:30] remember that a vote for this project can have positive implications for

[1:22:35] Meckllinburgg County. Thank you for your consideration and for allowing me time

[1:22:40] to speak. Thank you.

[1:22:50] Good morning. I'm Jeannie Gohagen. I live in I own a home in Chase City. I

[1:22:56] work for John and Susan Mullen and I have worked for them for 35 years plus.

[1:23:02] I've known Susan and John all my life. They are good people. They would not put

[1:23:07] in something that would harm the area. They have studied this as well as y'all

[1:23:13] have, as well as Seven Bridges has. They know it's the right thing to do. They

[1:23:19] also have solar in their home. It is supported by 180 kilowatt field. It is

[1:23:26] right behind their house, you see it. If you go by their house, it is not bad

[1:23:31] looking. It enhances the area. There's nothing wrong with it.

[1:23:39] they support it. I'm just here to say I've seen in Chase City the activity

[1:23:45] that's created from the other solar farms. Yes, they were not done

[1:23:50] correctly. There are some problems. The um Grasshopper went in on

[1:23:55] a year where we had eight floods. So, you can imagine any construction site

[1:24:00] during a period of eight floods is going to cause problems. Your home

[1:24:05] construction site can cause the same kind of problems.

[1:24:09] I've gotten to know the people at Seven Bridges. They're good people. They've

[1:24:14] been here. They've been working hard to support this

[1:24:17] project. I, for one, thought, "Oh my god, Chase City is going to be the

[1:24:22] hottest town on the planet." I had no clue. I started coming to these meetings

[1:24:26] and I learned so much. It's not that way. And with the Microsoft coming in

[1:24:34] and the strain on the power grids, we've got to have alternate uses. We've got to

[1:24:41] find alternate power. And to me, harnessing the sun is a no-brainer. So,

[1:24:46] please think about it good and hard. Yes, take your time, make a good

[1:24:51] informed decision, but believe in solar. Thank you. Thank you.

[1:25:01] Good morning. I think it's still morning, isn't

[1:25:04] it? Hey y'all, board of supervisors. Glad to be in front of you. I have to

[1:25:09] say first, I'd like to thank you again for your support of the Mecca Theater in

[1:25:13] Chase City, my life's mission. Today though, I'm here to support Seven

[1:25:18] Bridges and their tireless mission to see their project a reality in Chase

[1:25:23] City. They have responded positively to every

[1:25:27] complaint and want to partner with us in bringing solar to our community. Keyword

[1:25:32] partner. We will need every source we can get for the Microsoft project.

[1:25:38] Traditional solar and nuclear. And just remember, if we don't

[1:25:44] do solar, we're going to need more nuclear.

[1:25:47] Also, I now have fear that we will finish the theater and have no town

[1:25:55] left. In recent months, we have lost stores like roses and now another

[1:26:00] business is closing. As you've heard this morning, pallet one. I think there

[1:26:04] 38 jobs that are going by the wayside. And I frankly don't know what those

[1:26:08] people are going to do to live. If we have no jobs, where will the

[1:26:13] folks work? The cost of living is increasing because of Microsoft and

[1:26:18] there are few job fewer jobs by the day. We need partners in the rebuilding of

[1:26:23] Chase City. Now, Seven Bridges is reliable, trustworthy, and innovative.

[1:26:29] Please vote yes today. Bet on Seven Bridges. Please bet on Chase City. I did

[1:26:35] bring with me three pages of uh for you, which are a petition. I did one in Chase

[1:26:42] City. my cousin Elellanar Washington who lives on Scott Cross state one in her

[1:26:48] area showing support. The last thing I want to say is I know it's difficult

[1:26:54] being in your position but remember remember how difficult it was with the

[1:26:59] high school making decisions but also go back to something

[1:27:04] bigger which may have been appropriate balance. Can you imagine how difficult

[1:27:09] it was to vote the damn into this area? Important things are hard to

[1:27:16] decide on. I leave this with you. I know that

[1:27:20] you will vote with your brain and your heart. Thank you.

[1:27:25] Thank you.

[1:27:35] My name is Ryan Brankley. I've been a citizen of this county for 40 years and

[1:27:40] Chase City uh specifically. I've seen a lot of change in this county in the last

[1:27:47] 15 years. I think we all know that there's there's a power issue in this

[1:27:51] county with with the advancements of Microsoft. Um I also think we know that

[1:27:56] this solar project is not the answer to those power issues that we have. I would

[1:28:02] uh appreciate your opposition of this. I've watched a lot of people get up here

[1:28:06] today who are not from this county and who are not do not reside in this county

[1:28:12] in support of this and I would really appreciate y'all taking that in

[1:28:16] consideration in y'all's vote. Thank you. Thank

[1:28:20] you.

[1:28:24] Anyone else wishing to speak on the sighting agreement in this public

[1:28:28] hearing?

[1:28:36] Good morning, Dusty Forbes, the town manager at Chase

[1:28:39] City. This subject is a sticky one and I know it's

[1:28:46] going to take a lot of thought and consideration from the board on this.

[1:28:50] Yes, the gentleman was correct. There are people who are going to receive a

[1:28:54] financial benefit from this solar project. And yes, Chase City looks to be

[1:28:59] one of the recipients of that financial benefit. Chase City's operating budget

[1:29:05] is about $3.9 million a year for everything. South Hill's operating

[1:29:13] budget this year is $41 million.

[1:29:18] Clarksville's operating budget is $10 million. And I hesitate to say that the

[1:29:25] county's operating budget is over $100 million. So when you think that $500,000

[1:29:32] won't make an impact on Chase City, you're wrong. It will. And I know that

[1:29:37] there are people opposed to this. And yes, I hate that we have to look out for

[1:29:41] external dollars, but Chase City just does not have the funds or the money any

[1:29:47] other way. We can't tax our way out of it. We can't increase rates because

[1:29:51] people can't afford to pay the increased rates that we have to charge in Chase

[1:29:55] City. The infrastructure is 100 years old. I have water leaks every week. I

[1:29:59] have sewer leaks about once a month. We have to fix those things. And without

[1:30:04] the funds to do it, we can't operate the town. And if we don't operate the town,

[1:30:08] it goes away and then it becomes the county's problem. Thank you. Thank you.

[1:30:18] Anyone

[1:30:21] else? Hearing no one, uh we will close the public

[1:30:27] hearing. This is election district 7. It is my

[1:30:33] district and after conducting a duly advertised public

[1:30:38] hearing, I would like to make the motion that it is hereby resolved by the

[1:30:42] Meckllinburgg County Board of Supervisors that the sighting agreement

[1:30:45] with Seven Bridges Solar LLC for the Seven Bridges Solar

[1:30:51] Facility, which sighting agreement set forth certain conditions profered by the

[1:30:57] applicant as part of the negotiation between the County and the applicant

[1:31:02] pursuant to Virginia Code section

[1:31:10] 15.2-2316.8 is rejected in the form this day

[1:31:15] presented to my other board members. That means a yes

[1:31:20] vote rejects the sighting agreement. Any discussion from the

[1:31:26] board?

[1:31:33] Jenny, hearing no discussion. Roll call. Miss Miss Black,

[1:31:40] um I know this has been a rough topic and um I've been all over the map on it,

[1:31:48] against it, for it, for it, in the middle. When solar was first

[1:31:55] introduced, as with that's made. It was not done

[1:32:01] correctly, but improvements have been made. And one of my questions that I

[1:32:07] asked was, can the soil be returned to uh

[1:32:13] farming? And I was told no, but and this is per um Virginia Tech, it can be

[1:32:22] amended again deep tillage and amendments to return it to production.

[1:32:29] And my interest with um the camp with Southern Bridges is that it was a

[1:32:36] collaboration between Southern Bridges and um Long

[1:32:41] Road and they listened to the community and what they wanted and they

[1:32:52] responded and I really commend them for that because in the future we are solar

[1:32:58] is not going and it will be taken out of our hands.

[1:33:03] How much? I don't know. But we can use the partnership between

[1:33:11] the community and Longwood as a model for doing it correctly.

[1:33:18] But the key thing that has um that I look at is that property

[1:33:26] owners have the right to use their property as long as it's legal and it's

[1:33:35] within the bounds of ordinances. So consider you have

[1:33:41] property owners that have leased their land for towers.

[1:33:48] and receive compensation. Consider you have

[1:33:54] agricultural land owners who have used their

[1:33:59] property for for their use. And last week I was just in writing

[1:34:06] lately, you look at the amount of timber that has been

[1:34:10] cut. The land is bare. Uh it affects the wildlife.

[1:34:18] habitat. It's not It's unsightly. It's, you know, it'll take if if it's going to

[1:34:23] they're going to regrow the timber, it's going to take a while. But still, that

[1:34:28] was that land owner's right to use his property. And I look at it the same way.

[1:34:37] The land owners where the uh for the proposed site of seven bridges have the

[1:34:46] right to use their land. and they have gone out of their

[1:34:53] way to ensure that it will not be visible to

[1:35:01] those who uh travel up and down um Scott's crossroad.

[1:35:07] And recently I went and looked at another solar

[1:35:11] site where they are going to hope to develop and looked at the full grown

[1:35:20] trees road back into that development proposed development and there's no way

[1:35:25] anyone is going to see it. Whether we want to or not, change is

[1:35:33] coming and you can't stop it. Like I said, it's going to be taken out of our

[1:35:39] hands. To what extent, I don't know.

[1:35:44] But everyone has the right to use their property if it is not impacting others

[1:35:55] negatively. Anyone else? One thing I I think also we

[1:36:03] need to be mindful of is I believe per emergency services and the

[1:36:08] fire chief's association that if we have a wildfire break out into a solar

[1:36:15] facility, the county's policy is to surround it and watch it burn. We don't

[1:36:20] have a it is it's a solar facility and it's electrical compound that produces

[1:36:26] electricity and it's not safe for our volunteers to enter such. With that

[1:36:32] being said, when you have those panels and the chemicals that make up those

[1:36:36] panels and you introduce fire in something like that, we don't know what

[1:36:40] the longterm effects may be. They may be fine in the county, but when

[1:36:46] you introduce something like fire, we don't know. That's the general consensus

[1:36:50] that I think. And fire is a realistic, as we've seen in California. I think

[1:36:56] they've got a big wakeup call. It can happen just when you think it can.

[1:37:05] Okay. Anyone else?

[1:37:09] I would remind again since we've had discussion

[1:37:13] that a yes vote is to reject the sighting

[1:37:18] agreement. Jenny, you want to do a roll call? Mr. Brinkley? Yes. Mr. Grabbit?

[1:37:25] Yes. Mr. Spence? Yes. Mr. Harrow? Yes. Mr. Wilkinson? Yes. Miss Blackwell? No.

[1:37:35] Slundy? Yes. Mr. Tanner. No.

[1:37:41] Mr. Jennings. Yes.

[1:37:45] Okay.

[1:37:49] Mr. Hendrick, you're up next. The next item is the special exception

[1:37:54] permit by Southern Bridges Solar LLC for a special exception permit to construct

[1:37:59] an 80 megawatt utility scale solar facility up to 435 acres out of 1,249

[1:38:06] acres to be located on county tax map number

[1:38:10] 01300- A-001 partial rocket number

[1:38:15] 7779. This property is owned as agriculture is located on the west side

[1:38:18] of route 633 Scotch Cross Road and is intersection with 681 Honey Tree Road in

[1:38:24] Lexon District 7berg County.

[1:38:28] Okay, Cliff, are you going to speak on behalf of this application?

[1:38:57] Good morning, chairman, supervisors. Thank you again for your time

[1:39:00] considering this application. Really appreciate

[1:39:04] it. My name is Darren Lawrence. I work for Long Road Energy. I'm the vice

[1:39:07] president of environmental. Cliff is in charge of the

[1:39:11] whole project development. I'm in charge of implementation. So when Cliff says,

[1:39:16] "Here's a plan and here's what we're going to do." I get to make sure that we

[1:39:21] execute everything that we say we're going to do. And this really comes from

[1:39:25] one of our founders since we started this company.

[1:39:30] His comment was this is our motto. We make and honor our commitments. And my

[1:39:35] presentation today is really two things. One, I just want to talk about our

[1:39:38] compliance with the special exception permit. And two, I want to provide some

[1:39:42] examples and other places we built to give you more confidence that we are not

[1:39:48] like the other developers. We have a great reputation in this industry. When

[1:39:53] Cliff and I first came and met in the county back in 2017 with Mr. and Mrs.

[1:39:58] Mullen and with leaders here, Long Road did not have any projects. We didn't

[1:40:03] even have any projects in construction. Today, we are the 15th largest renewable

[1:40:09] energy company in the United States. And I attribute that to our tenacious and

[1:40:16] resilient commitment to following through with doing what we say we're

[1:40:21] going to do. That's just who we are. It's how we're branded. It's how we

[1:40:24] think. It's in our DNA. So, when we say we're going to do something and we make

[1:40:28] these promises, these are promises that we keep.

[1:40:35] Maybe maybe the place to focus here about the special exception permit

[1:40:40] application is we started off with a project years ago and we listened to the

[1:40:45] community and we modified it and we've gotten to the point where the planning

[1:40:49] commission has recommended approval of this special exception permit. And not

[1:40:55] only that, the planning commission has deemed that we are in substantial accord

[1:41:02] with the comprehensive plan of Meckllinmberg County. And I want to

[1:41:05] spend just a moment on what that means. We have read the comprehensive plan. We

[1:41:10] have read the ordinances. We have talked to the people to understand what did you

[1:41:15] really mean when you said this is what you have to do to be spaced out farther

[1:41:19] or we need a buffer or we want to make sure that you're maintaining the rural

[1:41:24] nature of this county. We have digested that and thought about it and turned

[1:41:28] that into our application to make sure that we are adhering to everything

[1:41:33] that's so important to you who live here in this county. And

[1:41:38] so if we are a land of laws and we are in compliance with the laws, the

[1:41:44] ordinance, the rules, the regulations of this county, then isn't it a right of a

[1:41:49] person who owns a piece of land in compliance with those laws to be able to

[1:41:53] go ahead with a plan that they have spent time and millions of dollars

[1:41:57] developing? Or would you take away that right for what reason if there isn't one

[1:42:02] that ties back to being in compliance with the law? And I think that's a

[1:42:06] fundamental threshold question about your voting today is whether you believe

[1:42:10] that the law guides what we're allowed to do on our private lands or

[1:42:14] not. That is the

[1:42:18] question. The second thing I want to bring up is at the planning commission

[1:42:23] hearing there was discussion about whether solar was a proven technology or

[1:42:28] not. And I've done a lot of thinking since then. That was back in March. uh

[1:42:33] just to try to think about well how do I explain that this isn't just something

[1:42:37] that you know kind of works sometimes or doesn't work sometimes

[1:42:41] um Meckllinburgg County has been exceedingly unlucky with the projects

[1:42:47] that have been built here so far um you have ended up with Edouls not Fords and

[1:42:54] Dodges and Chevys and I know you know better than I do all the problems that

[1:42:59] have happened in those other projects. Um, broadly in the United States, the

[1:43:06] largest new energy generation is solar energy. 50,000 megawws. Seven Bridges is

[1:43:13] 80 megawatts. Imagine how much solar that is. That is the predominant

[1:43:17] selection for energy that's put on the grid because the sun shines and the

[1:43:21] panels collect electrons and they put it out to the grid and it is the cheapest

[1:43:25] form of electricity you can get. Now, I know there's this talk of subsidization.

[1:43:30] as far as we're concerned, get rid of it. But if you want to get rid of it,

[1:43:33] get rid of it for oil and gas and coal, too, because they have been getting it

[1:43:37] since 1921, back when they first got their

[1:43:40] research and development subsidization and tax credits. And they still get that

[1:43:44] today, as well as many more. So, if you want to do a fair cost accounting, get

[1:43:50] rid of all subsidization. We are in support of that as a solar industry. We

[1:43:54] think that that would be the right move to do and we'd like to see that happen.

[1:43:58] But given the conditions we have today and the reality that you buy electricity

[1:44:02] in a competitive market, we have fixed power purchase agreements. If gas goes

[1:44:06] up, your price goes up. Solar doesn't go up. We have a fixed price for the 30 or

[1:44:12] 40 years life of the project. It is fixed and is not going to

[1:44:15] change. Second point I'd like to make is we're enjoying the air conditioning in

[1:44:20] this room today. 36% of that energy is coming from another state. Do you want

[1:44:26] to send hundreds of millions of dollars to other states to build energy over

[1:44:31] there to then keep the air conditioning on here? Or would you rather invest that

[1:44:35] money in this county to make it stronger and have the energy that is fueling this

[1:44:40] air conditioning right here coming from Virginia and even from here

[1:44:44] Meckllinburgg County. To me, it seems like local sourcing is just so much

[1:44:49] better than trying to get it from someone else.

[1:44:53] So Cliff did a really nice job talking about and working with all the changes

[1:44:57] that we've had in this project. When we started it was 942 acres. We're half the

[1:45:02] size of that right now. We have put in screening and buffers. We've got a new

[1:45:06] access road. We'll have sheep grazing. We're maintaining a a special amount of

[1:45:11] logging and agriculture forestry around the whole project. Hunting and fishing.

[1:45:16] This project's going to be really diverse and it's going to have a lot of

[1:45:19] really unique benefits to it. while we're also building a solar plant. And

[1:45:24] as you mentioned, the Maharin River, 250 acres put into an in perpetuity

[1:45:29] conservation easement to protect it forever. And that's because we've

[1:45:33] listened to the community. We understand your concerns. The Maharin River is

[1:45:38] designated scenic 10 miles down river. We're adjacent to the South Maharin

[1:45:42] River. It's not designated as scenic, but we still think it is a really

[1:45:47] valuable protected resource that we want to be really careful about. That's why

[1:45:51] we have offered this 250 acre conservation

[1:45:55] easement. Cliff mentioned, you will not see the project from the Marin River. It

[1:46:00] is really well screened from the terrain and because we're set way way back and

[1:46:04] on the other side of a transmission line at the top of the

[1:46:08] hill. So when I mentioned implementation,

[1:46:11] um the key part here is we have a plan to screen it. We developed a forestry

[1:46:16] plan to make sure that the cutting that might happen in the buffer regenerates

[1:46:21] young trees that have lower branches that maintain the screening. So that for

[1:46:24] the life of the project, you're not going to be able to see it from any of

[1:46:27] those public viewpoints. We will be decommissioning

[1:46:31] the project at the end of life. And we'll be decommissioning essentially

[1:46:35] taking all the metal out of the project and you're going to have a meadow that

[1:46:40] will have had 30 years to develop an organic horizon and healthy roots and

[1:46:44] healthy soil. And it can be farmed, it can grow trees, it can be whatever you

[1:46:48] want it to be. This just a summary of the many

[1:46:53] different ways we thought about how do we add value to this project.

[1:46:57] conservation pollinators got sheep grazing timber and we know that in those

[1:47:03] other projects other people built those they didn't use our panels that are true

[1:47:10] time and test as you heard from first solar today they don't use our trackers

[1:47:14] we use the good tried and trueue tested trackers in our systems we know that

[1:47:19] when we have a project that's going to work and in our entire portfolio of more

[1:47:22] than 5,000 megawws they all work we don't have any of the project problems

[1:47:26] that you've seen in this county. Very unfortunately over at Foxhound, we had

[1:47:32] the D on site many, many times during these many storms that we had that

[1:47:38] caused a lot of a lot of water to come down on a site. Quote, from one of their

[1:47:42] reports, one of the best pollution prevention plans I've seen in

[1:47:45] construction general permit," unquote. We are also committed to hiring a

[1:47:49] third-party compliance manager who would report to the county and be able to

[1:47:53] continue to tell you here's how it's going and if you have problems, we will

[1:47:57] address them. The last point I'll make is we we

[1:48:02] are innovators at Long Road. We solve problems. We solve hard problems. We are

[1:48:06] a tenacious, resilient company that is here to make and honor promises that

[1:48:11] we're making to you. And if you don't believe just me, you can go around to

[1:48:15] our sites around the country. In Maine, we have the largest solar site ever

[1:48:19] built in the state. And the D uses our site to do trainings not only for their

[1:48:24] staff, but for other developers. At Foxtown Solar, we're the

[1:48:29] first only Pollinator Smart Certified by Virginia project, large scale solar

[1:48:33] project in the state of Virginia. And lastly, one of my favorites, the work

[1:48:38] we've been doing with wildlife and the west has gotten the attention of

[1:48:42] National Geographic. March of 2025, we are mentioned in National Geographic for

[1:48:47] the good work that we're doing with solar and wildlife at our sites. So, I

[1:48:51] ask you very respectfully to approve the special exception permit application

[1:48:56] that we have before you. And again, thank you very much for your time.

[1:49:02] Okay. Thank you. Uh we will now open the public hearing for the

[1:49:08] special exception permit. I have 20 people signed up on this

[1:49:15] sheet. Okay. There may well be other people in the room who did not sign it

[1:49:19] up. The first speaker on this is Deborah

[1:49:22] Dantis.

[1:49:31] Okay. My comments are going to be about the same.

[1:49:34] Um, my name is Deborah DeSantis. I reside at 885 Scots Crossroads. Um, I

[1:49:41] just want to talk about I mean I I do realize that they come into my home and

[1:49:45] how McCay listen to my concerns and they've made a lot of changes to what

[1:49:51] their original plan was and we appreciate that. Um, I do want to state

[1:49:56] how much that I love a rural way of life and that is why I remain in Southside

[1:50:03] Virginia. Um there is too much uncertainty about the solar in regards

[1:50:08] to our waterways, wellwater, soil, and wildlife, not to mention who or how

[1:50:15] these monstrosities will be maintained and repaired and disposed of in the

[1:50:20] future. Um, I just want to ask you all, like I said before, um, everybody that

[1:50:28] votes to allow these solar farms to come in, every single person that votes for

[1:50:33] that, yes, is rewarded financially in some way

[1:50:38] or another. Um, I know that Chase City, the town needs needs a lot need a lot of

[1:50:46] money. um they're doing the best they can, but at what cost do you sell your

[1:50:53] soul to these solar companies. Um we don't know what's going to happen 10

[1:50:58] years from now after it's built. We don't know what's going to happen 20

[1:51:01] years from now. Um I was offered a good neighbor agreement. I flat out turned it

[1:51:07] down because I was not going to take any money for me to have to sit there and

[1:51:13] put up with the construction, the dust, the noise, and whatever would happen in

[1:51:18] 10 to 20 or 30 years because you can't come back in 10 years or 20 years after

[1:51:24] signing this agreement and say, "But but but you poisoned my wellwater, but but

[1:51:29] but you know, you've you've completely obliterated the wildlife in the area or

[1:51:34] or whatever the the cause may be. You can't once you sign it, that's it.

[1:51:39] You've signed your soul away. You cannot go back and say, "Well, you didn't tell

[1:51:46] me, you know, or you didn't know. It doesn't matter. It's it it's finished.

[1:51:50] You you you have no recourse at that point." So, like I said, I know Chase

[1:51:55] City needs I know Meckllinburgg County needs

[1:51:58] funding. We've got to figure it out in other ways. The majority of us here

[1:52:04] today We live here in Southside Virginia because we do not want to live in

[1:52:11] Northern Virginia in the Tidewater area. Yet those

[1:52:16] areas need the electrical grid coming from us. We need to look out for

[1:52:22] ourselves. Yes, land owners should be able to do

[1:52:27] within reason what they want with their land and their

[1:52:33] property, but you all sitting here can make a decision to say no, this is not

[1:52:40] in the best interest of the county. And I would hope that you would

[1:52:47] oppose and not let any more solar come into the county. I think we've had

[1:52:51] enough. We've seen enough. Um, yeah, they're learning from their mistakes,

[1:52:56] but there's always going to be more mistakes. The other companies, they

[1:53:00] promised this and they promised that, and they didn't fulfill those promises,

[1:53:05] and now the neighbors there are having to deal with these issues. So, I thank

[1:53:11] you all for your consideration. Thank you. The next signed up speaker is

[1:53:15] Pauline Keaton, who I believe has departed. Yeah.

[1:53:21] and as did Beverly Wood. So, the next one we have is Lori Huber.

[1:53:32] Thank you for putting up with me a second

[1:53:34] time. I am disappointed that so many of you felt like you had to vote against

[1:53:40] this last vote. Um, a couple things strike me. One is emergency services,

[1:53:47] wildfires, what can come off the panels? We actually do know what the result

[1:53:52] would be. When EPA defines what a hazardous waste is, one of the tests

[1:53:57] they do is called a toxicity extraction procedure, TCLP. They're looking at the

[1:54:02] leeate that comes from something that contains is either entirely hazardous

[1:54:08] waste or contains something that would be hazardous waste if it became a waste.

[1:54:12] These panels are so large, they have so much glass, they have so much other

[1:54:17] inner material. the very very very tiny bit of toxic materials that are in these

[1:54:23] panels isn't anywhere near enough to cause harm. You say they're very large.

[1:54:28] There's lots of panels. You'd have to take all of them, not break them in half

[1:54:33] and burn them, which in fact melts metal and glass and would seal it even more.

[1:54:39] You'd have to grind it into a powder and drink it for decades before there would

[1:54:43] be enough of those toxic materials to harm you. that's just not going to

[1:54:48] happen. So, I'm I'm disappointed hearing people bring that up again and again.

[1:54:54] Also, storm water erosion control. I'm very concerned

[1:55:00] about that. I've called Mr. Hendrick and complained about how brown the water

[1:55:04] looked driving in over 58 into Clarksville a year or two

[1:55:09] back. I'm not supportive of anything that would contribute to this. What

[1:55:14] creates erosion? farming, timber

[1:55:19] removal, data center construction, solar farm construction.

[1:55:25] All of those things potentially contribute. But we say yes to farmers.

[1:55:30] We say yes to timber harvesting. We say yes to data centers. Why is it all of a

[1:55:36] sudden a problem with a solar farm? A solar farm that's under construction for

[1:55:40] a year or a year and a half and then it's there to be what? grazed by lambs,

[1:55:45] flowers, vegetables grown. That's not cutting down trees. That's not tilling

[1:55:50] land. That's not building a data center. Everybody's under a lot of

[1:55:55] pressure here to vote against this. I get it. Some of the stories here have

[1:56:00] been very heartfelt and are valid and should be listened to, but looking at

[1:56:05] what's best for everyone and what's wise in terms of what's coming. You talk

[1:56:10] about wildfires, there's a lot coming in terms

[1:56:15] of demand for electricity, scarcity of electric sources. People talk about

[1:56:20] nuclear. My god, what kind of hazard is a potential emergency condition with a

[1:56:27] nuclear power facility? Please think this through,

[1:56:32] please. Thank you. The next uh signed name on here is Susan

[1:56:38] Mullen.

[1:56:54] Well, thank you for listening once again.

[1:57:00] Um, the thing about solar is, you know, people say, "I don't want to see it."

[1:57:05] Every time I pass a solar field, I smile. I think, "Yes, this is right.

[1:57:12] This is the right thing for energy today. We need it. We have got to have

[1:57:17] solar. You can build this and you can. It's on. You got it. You get it quickly.

[1:57:23] It's cheaper than any other source of power. It is clean. It is what we ought

[1:57:29] to do. And I say, I love solar. I'm

[1:57:33] environmentalist. I was on the board of the Southern Environmental Law Center

[1:57:37] for 22 years and we've done an awful lot of work and thank God I sleep much

[1:57:43] better because I know that they are out protecting air, water and soil. We need

[1:57:51] solar. Solar is it's all almost the only answer right now. So I encourage you all

[1:58:00] really, you know, you've s you know a lot of this that we've been hearing the

[1:58:05] complaints. You know they're not accurate. You know that there's a lot of

[1:58:08] false information out there. Solar is the way to go. We need it. And I y'all

[1:58:16] already know how I feel about Chase City. So I think Chase City needs it

[1:58:20] too. And so I would certainly vote ask all of you all to vote for this project

[1:58:27] because J City needs it, the community needs

[1:58:32] it, the the climate needs it. Thank

[1:58:39] you. Next name is John Mullen.

[1:58:52] I'll be very brief because uh doesn't sound like it would do much good to

[1:58:56] repeat my earlier remarks. Um I think one thing that the supervisors um should

[1:59:03] think about is the planning commission has approved this project twice. Uh

[1:59:09] including after the modified long range plan was put in place. Uh I was told a

[1:59:17] year or so ago by one of the supervisors, why would we have a

[1:59:20] planning commission if we don't pay any attention to them? They've obviously

[1:59:24] done a lot of research on this. I don't know after time we really had to think

[1:59:30] this through, but uh clearly if the planning commission thinks it's okay uh

[1:59:36] and has voted for it twice, I would hope you keep that in mind. And I do think

[1:59:41] that the personal property rights issues are very import. I mean

[1:59:47] um the fact that that is in compliance with every thing that's uh it has to be

[1:59:54] in compliance with and is approved by the planning commission I hope would

[1:59:59] hold some weight with this uh commission. Thank you.

[2:00:03] The next speaker is Karen Drosiaak.

[2:00:19] Thank you very much. I'm Karen Drosiaak with First Solar. I'd like to address

[2:00:23] some of the concerns about the safety of our technology. Um the beauty about

[2:00:28] having a proven technology that has been safely operating in the field for more

[2:00:32] than two decades is that it has been extensively studied and tested. Whether

[2:00:37] it's breakage, whether it's fire, natural disasters, you name it. So let's

[2:00:43] start with the with the materials. It has a scary name, but it is very

[2:00:48] different from elemental cadmium. Much like H2O, water is different from

[2:00:55] hydrogen a gas. So this matters. This means it is extremely chemically stable

[2:01:01] and thermally is thermally stable. So, in the event of a fire, worst case,

[2:01:08] assuming all the CAD tell were to be emitted from the from the panels, which

[2:01:13] is highly unlikely, and I'll explain why in a second, assuming that worst case is

[2:01:19] a 100,000 times less than routine cadmium emissions from coal and oil

[2:01:24] power plants. So, why is this worst case scenario unlikely? Because cadmium

[2:01:30] teleride has an extremely high melting point and boiling point 2,000 degrees

[2:01:35] Celsius or two sorry Fahrenheit. Um that's well above your typical grassfire

[2:01:42] temperatures. What happens is the glass melts around and encapsulates the

[2:01:47] material 99.96% of it. This is why it is safe in

[2:01:54] the event of a fire. It is safe in the event of breakage because there are no

[2:01:58] liquids or vapors that can leak out and it has been proven for more than two

[2:02:04] decades and there have been not a single reported instance of concern of

[2:02:11] environmental contamination in the field over these

[2:02:15] two decades it has been deployed across more than 45 countries around the world.

[2:02:20] 60,000 megawws have been deployed. Thank you. Thank you. The next speaker is Joel

[2:02:27] Cathy.

[2:02:40] Hello, I'm Joel Kathy again. I appreciate y'all allowing me to speak.

[2:02:44] Um, I just want to reiterate um private property rights. Um, this is

[2:02:51] a practice the state of Virginia is mandated to Dominion Power that certain

[2:02:55] amount of their electricity is going to come from renewables. So, it's a state

[2:03:00] instigated process. Um, it's a legal process. It's been proved that it's not

[2:03:06] harmful and land owners ought to be allowed to make decisions on their own

[2:03:10] property. I mean, that's what this country was built on. Thank you,

[2:03:16] Matt KS.

[2:03:21] Supervisors. Uh Matt Karns, I head up development for Long Road. Um I

[2:03:27] understand that you're in a difficult spot here hearing all kinds of um

[2:03:33] theories and ideas about solar. Um I think what we can say though is with the

[2:03:39] recommendation from the planning commission those are specific standards

[2:03:44] that this project after 8 years multiple changes that were made to

[2:03:50] accommodate specific concerns they agreed with the recommendation to move

[2:03:55] forward with approval. So it wasn't a it wasn't a project that was just kind of

[2:04:00] jammed into a permit application. This project has been tailored to meet the

[2:04:04] needs of and and with the input of people who live here. Um I take the

[2:04:09] supervisor's point about about fire issues and I really appreciate that

[2:04:13] question. We work in every major uh market across the United States. We work

[2:04:18] very closely with fire departments and do uh coordinated response and

[2:04:22] education. So that is an area that we would be very quick to coordinate on. Um

[2:04:29] I think also just you don't have to make the decision based on uh guessing or

[2:04:35] supposition or rumor or internet theory. There are standards that apply. There

[2:04:41] are standards that the public the planning commission applied. Specific

[2:04:45] standards, state, local and federal rules all apply here. We will not be

[2:04:52] impacting wetlands above a particular point. We are not allowed to. we have

[2:04:56] these uh areas are carefully engineered with respect to flood water and with

[2:05:02] storm water. They are better engineered than many many other land uses that we

[2:05:07] see. Um so I think what I would ask is that you make the decision based on the

[2:05:14] recommendation from the planning commission. You can defer to their

[2:05:17] expertise. You can defer to the federal government in certain cases with respect

[2:05:22] to what navigable waters of the United States. These standards are in place for

[2:05:25] a reason. And Virginia now has a lot of experience with solar and a lot of that

[2:05:31] has been folded back into the Department of Environmental Quality process, the

[2:05:35] the PBR process. And so all those lessons learned are now baked in. So we

[2:05:41] can be the capstone. We can be the premier solar project and be proud of it

[2:05:48] because we've been working on it for eight years with you, with the

[2:05:51] neighbors, with a variety of folks who have weighed in, have come to us and

[2:05:56] said, "Let's make this the best solar project in the Commonwealth." We can do

[2:06:01] that. And I would ask you to approve the SCP. we can move forward separately on a

[2:06:07] separate discussion about the sighting act or the sighting agreement. Um but I

[2:06:12] truly appreciate the opportunity to invest in this county. We have been

[2:06:16] trying to do it for eight years. We would love to um meet you at the ribbon

[2:06:20] cutting. So thank you. Thank you Tom.

[2:06:32] Thank you. I'll just take a quick minute since I already spoke for three minutes

[2:06:36] before. Um the Evergreen team, again, I'm with the Evergreen team. We believe

[2:06:40] in conservation. Our motto is keeping the country country. Um we believe that

[2:06:46] really the the only way that you can really lose the country and the rural

[2:06:52] the rural um um culture of your county is through subdivisions. So that's why

[2:06:58] we are looking at at trying to work any way we can to save land in perpetuity.

[2:07:04] Um so we always say that that a any land eventually whether you're talking about

[2:07:10] you know 10 years or 100 years or a thousand years will always go towards

[2:07:15] subdivision because of the four Ds and one of them is divorce uh debt death and

[2:07:24] excuse me dumbass decisions. Um so we are are always working hard to work in

[2:07:29] to save land in perpetuity which this pro project would do. Um also I heard a

[2:07:35] number of um you know great great points on both sides. I would say that several

[2:07:40] people that are against it are talking about um people that are associated with

[2:07:45] a project are is because of money. And we would I would say that the Evergreen

[2:07:50] Team, which is an environmental nonprofit, we believe in a triple bot

[2:07:54] bottom line, which is people, planet, and economy. You got to have all three

[2:08:00] of those to save the environment. I've been I'm an environmental engineer. I've

[2:08:05] dealt with contamination my whole my whole life. I've traveled to third world

[2:08:09] nations and when you don't have a strong economy, the environment goes downhill.

[2:08:14] We work um extensively with land owners up and down Virginia and Pennsylvania

[2:08:20] and in areas where that is hurting economy. The environment looks terrible.

[2:08:27] Trash, uh water pollution, surface water contamination. Um economy is a good

[2:08:34] thing. It helps people and it helps the environment.

[2:08:38] Thank you. Next speaker is Matt

[2:08:50] English. I'm going to make it brief. Rain's

[2:08:53] coming. Daylight's getting short and I don't know where y'all going to

[2:08:57] vote. But, you know, think of all these businesses that y'all

[2:09:03] have approved here in the last few years. How many is going to support a

[2:09:09] farmer? How many is going to support wounded

[2:09:13] warriors? Did the data center down here? Did they say we're going to take a

[2:09:16] couple hundred acres and we're going to let wounded warriors come in here and

[2:09:19] hunt and fish? Did some of these other businesses

[2:09:22] say, "Hey, we're going to get as many farmers in the Southside area to to come

[2:09:26] together and farm on us. We're not going to use mowers and bush hogs and

[2:09:32] chemicals. We're going to let local farmers come

[2:09:36] and use our land and if they need anything, we'll

[2:09:40] take care of them because we support them. Just keep that in mind. Lastly,

[2:09:46] I'd like to end with this. Several people on both sides aisle, forward or

[2:09:50] against it, come to me and they said, "Matt," they said, "How come you ain't

[2:09:52] farming up here?" He said, "You know, it's one right up your road. It's one

[2:09:55] back over here in this community. You know, that's halfway to you." And well,

[2:09:59] you know, happy Mother's Day, ladies. Anyway, my mama always said, "If it's

[2:10:03] not something nice to say about somebody, don't say nothing about them

[2:10:06] at all." And that's all I'm going to say about

[2:10:10] those other companies. They're just like plumbers, policemen,

[2:10:16] politicians, you name it. And where it's good ones and it's bad ones. Why do you

[2:10:21] think I jumped over those sites to try to come on this

[2:10:26] site? These are the most proactive people I've ever dealt with.

[2:10:31] And I've gone back to the companies I work with and I've told them some of the

[2:10:34] things that anyway this company's trying to do and I'm like, "Hey, you know, we

[2:10:38] need to wake up." So that's all I'm going to say. Thank y'all and thank you

[2:10:42] for the time,

[2:10:46] Brenda

[2:10:51] Walker. Okay. Charles

[2:10:57] Jackson, Glenn Bernie.

[2:11:12] Good morning. Good morning. Bernie, 449 Fairy Hill Trail,

[2:11:18] Clark. I'm a member of the Clarksville Riverton Club.

[2:11:22] One of our projects we have is uh rent and utility bill

[2:11:28] assistance which we spend about $30,000 a year on that

[2:11:32] program. It benefits the needy people in the Clarksville area only right now.

[2:11:39] Long Road Energy has pledged to donate $150,000 to our club to be used for

[2:11:48] electricity bill systems. And we would take that money

[2:11:54] and use it over a 10-year period to supplement what we already do. and it

[2:12:00] would help us be able to expand our electric bill assistance program

[2:12:05] from Clarks area only to residents of the entire

[2:12:09] county. So just a benefit from Long Road for

[2:12:14] our county and some of the most needy people. So I ask in conclusion that you

[2:12:20] take that into account in the final vote.

[2:12:26] Monty High

[2:12:31] Tower. Ladies and gentlemen, the B. Oh, Monty High Tile, 247 Autumn Lane, Chase

[2:12:39] City. And

[2:12:43] um for some of y'all don't uh know me, my my family has been in Mechanburg

[2:12:48] County since at least 1750. It's for Mechmber County, Looney County. So, uh,

[2:12:55] I'm not somebody just came here. Uh, 90% of the farmers that were here 40

[2:13:04] years ago are not here. Now, farming is just as much an industry as any other

[2:13:10] big uh, factory.

[2:13:15] uh monocropping thousands and thousands of

[2:13:19] acres of soybeans which have no value to the pollinators.

[2:13:27] All the soybeans are

[2:13:32] uh wind pollinated. The

[2:13:37] uh pollinator habitat that the solar farms could be putting up be used by

[2:13:45] bees, bugs,

[2:13:48] insects. Uh the pine trees they cutting down had very little pollinator value.

[2:13:55] Pollinators are are the foundation of our whole ecosystem. In fact, the

[2:14:00] pollinators uh the birds eat the bugs to feed the

[2:14:06] baby birds. Uh it just starts and builds up.

[2:14:12] So the saying that the cell phones are bad for nature is not. I'm a certified

[2:14:20] Virginia master naturalist. I have never heard any

[2:14:25] complaints through the master naturalist against solar farms and Virginia master

[2:14:32] naturalist or citizen

[2:14:35] scientist. People say solar doesn't work. Well, if it doesn't work, ask

[2:14:40] eight people living on the International Space Station how they live. All that

[2:14:45] power comes from solar.

[2:14:48] Um, and for everybody complaining about the solar farms, how would you like if

[2:14:54] if your neighbor comes in and tells you, "I don't like the color of your house."

[2:14:58] You got to paint your house. I don't like the flowers you you planted. You

[2:15:01] got to cut your flowers down. Uh, I don't like that tree you

[2:15:07] planted. Remember, uh, everything goes in a circle. So if

[2:15:13] every if one person can't do something then why can somebody else not have the

[2:15:19] same complaint and thank

[2:15:23] you next speaker is Woody

[2:15:31] Moore greetings to the board chairman Woody Moore 5189 Country Club Drive City

[2:15:39] uh you've already heard me say what I said earlier on it Um much of what I

[2:15:45] have seen and done the bigger issue is one more time and it was just stated

[2:15:50] again. Yes, solar works. How well it works is a different

[2:15:55] ball game and uh somebody's home and individual home or things like that that

[2:16:00] they can put it up and usually get by with it. Although I've heard a lot of

[2:16:03] mess about that that it's not working or people are having problems with the

[2:16:05] companies put it in. But it's my understanding I this is just what I've

[2:16:10] been told by the what's been handed down from the data centers and some others

[2:16:14] around here that what's already here wouldn't fund wouldn't fuel power for a

[2:16:20] third of the the data centers that's already here much less what's coming

[2:16:24] which that's a whole another issue and so what it sounds like to me is

[2:16:30] um I understand they've done a great job of wanting to come in and and set it up

[2:16:34] environmentally better and all this stuff that nobody else has been able to

[2:16:37] do which is weird. Uh over and above that if it what it sounds like in order

[2:16:43] to have the power that's going to be necessary and the power that is claimed

[2:16:46] that they produce everybody's land around here will be covered in so solar

[2:16:50] panels. It's not going to happen just a little bit like what we've seen. This is

[2:16:53] going to expand and expand and expand in order to meet the need of power that is

[2:16:58] out there. It is not efficient. I'm sorry. It's just not. Um and and again I

[2:17:05] I've been with the guys up in Buckingham looked at the p what the power is

[2:17:08] producing out of the ones that's up up off of Cumberland line of Cumberland

[2:17:12] where you can see on the grid what's coming out of these others that are in

[2:17:14] Chase City that are working the percentage is not there. It's not even

[2:17:19] 50% fe people and most of the time it's even under

[2:17:23] 20. It just does not commute compute to me. I I don't I don't understand it. Uh,

[2:17:30] I was all for it years ago. Until I see what it actually produces, it's a

[2:17:34] different ball game. At any rate, again, I'm against it and and um just take that

[2:17:39] into consideration. Thank you. The next sign up is Brandon Estes.

[2:17:49] Okay. Uh Melanie

[2:17:54] Woods. Paul Brer. Oh, Jean Gohagen.

[2:18:06] Genie gohagen. Hello again. Um, I'm not going to get into any big discussion,

[2:18:12] but I do want to mention a statistic I saw the other day. Five lakes in

[2:18:18] Virginia, including Bugs Island, Kur Lake. Kur Lake is the most polluted from

[2:18:24] agriculture. Thank you.

[2:18:28] That's everyone who's signed up. I don't know if there's anybody else. Okay. Uh

[2:18:32] any anyone else wishing to speak uh during this public public hearing for

[2:18:37] this special exception permit?

[2:18:53] Okay. Lisa Davis Bishop again. 1645 Scotch Crossroads. U I remain against

[2:19:00] the project. Um I one more point that I I wanted perhaps I didn't come across

[2:19:07] well with before. I'd like to point out that solar panels

[2:19:12] um shed water like a roof. Think about it. All that water is going to go off of

[2:19:18] that. It's going to be channeled unnaturally into a place it

[2:19:24] was not designed to go into and that will cause erosion that will leech down

[2:19:29] into the soil and it's going to cause issues.

[2:19:35] Um, please put yourself in my shoes again. Please save our home from

[2:19:41] this. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to

[2:19:49] speak before we cliff?

[2:19:59] Thank you, Chairman Jennings, members of the board. Um, I just wanted to come up

[2:20:05] and and say a few words. I mean, I know become a familiar face over the years.

[2:20:12] Uh and the um the thing that we've been actively

[2:20:19] doing is addressing tough questions throughout the development of this

[2:20:23] project. You know, we've addressed tough questions on related to the South

[2:20:28] Maharan River and we've addressed uh tough questions related to

[2:20:34] visibility and that's something that we've proven to be good at and

[2:20:41] uh would look to continue to do here in Meckllinburgg County.

[2:20:47] I've listened closely to all the speakers today for and against and you

[2:20:52] know we've submitted a substantial amount of information to the county and

[2:20:58] while there's been uh certainly concerns mentioned

[2:21:03] today between the various things we've done to address concerns like related to

[2:21:08] Scott's crossroads and the the questions about good neighbor agreements. We've

[2:21:12] submitted a signed sworn affidavit clarifying that we're not pursuing good

[2:21:17] neighbor agreements and haven't since early 2024 related to uh the visibility

[2:21:24] and um from public roads, you know, Scott's crossroads from every different

[2:21:30] direction short of as Mr. Mullen said, if you're flying in an airplane or a

[2:21:34] helicopter, then you'd be able to see the project. You've seen simulations.

[2:21:38] Some of you have been out to the site and seen it firsthand. the drive that

[2:21:42] you need to take back to the uh back through the woods to get to the site.

[2:21:48] Um, some of you spent time on farm fields next to the site and we've worked

[2:21:53] hard to uh address concerns that have come up in this community and I believe

[2:21:58] we've done a a uh sort of a great job of that and I appreciate the time that

[2:22:03] you've spent uh listening to me over the months and I would ask that you take

[2:22:07] into account in your vote today the uh three pages of of signatures in support

[2:22:14] that were submitted earlier. Um, I would estimate that's probably 50s something

[2:22:19] signatures in support. Those came from Chase City, Scott's Crossroads, the

[2:22:24] areas right around the project. And that should be a meaningful consideration in

[2:22:30] your vote. And so I appreciate your time today and we'll ask that you take that

[2:22:35] into consideration uh with your vote on this on the Seven Bridges Solar Project.

[2:22:41] Thank you. Thank

[2:22:44] you. Anyone

[2:22:49] else hearing? No one. Seeing no one, I will now close the public

[2:22:56] hearing on the special exemption permit for seven bridges solo.

[2:23:03] After conducting a duly advertised public hearing, I make

[2:23:09] the motion, it is hereby resolved by the Meckllinburgg County Board of

[2:23:14] Supervisors that after considering the staff reports prepared by the zoning

[2:23:19] administrator and after considering comments made in the public hearing and

[2:23:23] after considering other matters deemed revolent by the board, the special

[2:23:28] exemption permit application submitted on September the 10th, 202 24 by seven

[2:23:33] Bridges Solar LLC for the proposed 80 megawatt Seven

[2:23:40] Bridges Solar facility is hereby denied for the following reasons, each of which

[2:23:46] was set forth in the staff report. The site will be

[2:23:51] utilizing 1,249 acres of prime farmland of

[2:23:56] statewide importance to develop a 435 acre solar facility. A small portion of

[2:24:04] the land scores class three or class 4 on the Virginia

[2:24:09] conservation vision agricultural model. The property has moderate, high, very

[2:24:15] high, and outstanding forest conservation values on the Virginia

[2:24:19] conservation vision forestry conservation values model. A number of

[2:24:25] proposed panels on the submitted concept plan are situated in areas designated as

[2:24:32] very high or outstanding. The property registers as

[2:24:36] having high ecological cores on the Virginia natural landscape

[2:24:41] assessment. Portions of the property are on the Virginia natural land network.

[2:24:48] The applicant provided a construction route that all loaded commercial

[2:24:53] vehicles would use Highway 49 construction entrance and other

[2:24:58] construction traffic would use Highway 633 Scots Crossroads to include unloaded

[2:25:06] commercial vehicles. However, the applicant has not provided a total

[2:25:10] vehicle count that would be utilizing the construction routes.

[2:25:16] The project is being developed within the proximity of South Mahar River which

[2:25:21] flows into the Maharin River. These waterways could be affected if any

[2:25:26] contamination were to leave the site. Additionally, the Maharan River has been

[2:25:31] designated by the Virginia General Assembly as the state scenic river

[2:25:36] section

[2:25:39] 10.1-418.3 of the code of Virginia. As the Virginia Department of Conservation

[2:25:45] and Natural Resources noted, a good portion of this land is tumble land and

[2:25:49] has ample forest buff buffers which provide a sense of isolation and

[2:25:56] remoteness. And the Maharin River corridor contains few signs of housing

[2:26:02] or industrial development. Several houses and cabins may be seen along the

[2:26:06] route, but they are few and far between and often veiled by foliage. The

[2:26:13] sighting of these structures well away from flood zones, high on the banks and

[2:26:18] behind vegetative buffers does not significantly compromise the sense of

[2:26:24] isolation on the water or the aesthetic quality of the court. An industrial

[2:26:30] development would be contrary to these statements. A yes vote for this motion

[2:26:37] would be to deny the special exemption permit. Any discussion from board

[2:26:43] members?

[2:26:46] Only thing I would say, Mr. Jenn, is without the sign or approved sighting

[2:26:52] agreement, it would be fiscally irresponsible to approve this. I agree.

[2:27:00] Jenny, you want to make a roll call vote?

[2:27:03] Mr. Yes. Mr. Grabbit. Yes. Mr. Spence. Yes. Mr. Harbrook. Yes. Mr. Wilkinson.

[2:27:12] Yes. M. Blackwell. No. Mrs. Lundy. Yes. Mr. Tanner. Yes. Mr. Jennings. Yes.

[2:27:24] Okay. I will welcome everybody to stay for our rest of our meeting. Anybody

[2:27:29] that wishes to leave, I'll give you a couple of minutes to go.

[2:27:37] Y'all want to take five minutes? Russell, what? Russell. Hey, Russell.

[2:27:45] I'm try to get in front of We're going to take a fivem minute break. Wish you

[2:27:48] would.

[2:35:23] Where we going? Kevin, I think you up next. We We didn't got to the easy part

[2:35:28] here now. Kevin said next time. Move him to the

[2:35:32] front. Mr. Excuse me.

[2:35:38] Yeah, you had one. Robert has one one more item to update you on.

[2:35:44] I have one update for the board. Um, oh, the planning commission held a comp plan

[2:35:50] review for analyst row, which is RWE on that 2232. Mhm. The planning commission

[2:35:56] benied the application. So on May 5th, they filed an appeal to the board of

[2:36:03] supervisors. So you all would need to make a decision on um when y'all want to

[2:36:08] hold the hearing date, public hearing. I think they have to do it within 60

[2:36:14] days. Yeah. July. Yeah. You can do it in in June or July.

[2:36:21] Either one. Is it 60 days from their appeal? Yes. In which case we can't do

[2:36:27] July. Oh, the dates too. Yeah. We meet on second Monday. 60 days would be July.

[2:36:35] So, we can't do it June. Be June. Okay.

[2:36:44] That's all I have. Okay. Thank you. All right. Kevin,

[2:36:50] July meeting.

[2:36:58] Do I need to go first? I do. Yeah. The first thing I wanted would be Kirk's

[2:37:04] report from this morning. All right. Kirk. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[2:37:09] The secondary roads committee met on Monday, May 12th, 2025 at 8 a.m. in the

[2:37:14] board of supervisors meeting room for Virginia. Members present Kirk Rav,

[2:37:17] chairman Sterling Wilson, David Franklin, Andy Harwood. Others present,

[2:37:22] Jim Jennings, Dennis Spence, Tom Tanner, Alex Scott, county administrator. Judy

[2:37:26] Smith, Sheffield, assistant county administrator. Jenny Wimmore, clerk,

[2:37:31] Kevin Smith, VOT, assistant resident, engineer. Chairman Gravit called the

[2:37:35] meeting to order. Mr. Gotchalk stated at the last board of supervisors meeting

[2:37:39] held on April 14th. The board voted unanimously to advertise a public

[2:37:44] hearing to consider adding Fineywood Road, Hilltop Road, the Grand Road,

[2:37:49] Wheatland Road, and Turkey Road to the six-year plan. The public hearing was

[2:37:54] open. Greenwood Road residents JA Jordan, Matt Clark, Carolyn Evans, Hbert

[2:38:02] Overton, and Margaret Smith. addressed the committee asking for

[2:38:08] Greenwood Road to be placed on the six-year plan. They explained that the

[2:38:12] road count was redone in 2023 and that the board was not notified by VOTE that

[2:38:18] their count went from 40 to 70 due to new growth and development. The

[2:38:22] residents complained about dust erosion and boardwash. The public hearing was

[2:38:26] closed. The committee discussed adding a revenue sharing project for 2029 to the

[2:38:32] advert to the advertised six-year plan. Upon motion of Mr. Hargrove, the

[2:38:37] committee voted unanimously to add Greenwood Road to the V. FY 2026 through

[2:38:44] 30 2031 six-year plan that was previously advertised as a revenue

[2:38:50] sharing project. And Mr. Mr Chairman, I believe we may need to stop here and

[2:38:56] have a public hearing about amending. Okay. So, I will declare a public

[2:39:03] hearing open for the six-year plan. Anyone wishing to speak?

[2:39:08] Sure.

[2:39:13] Everybody else left. It's your chance.

[2:39:18] I I I just scanning the crowd. I don't see any dirt road complaints here, but

[2:39:24] Okay. Hearing no one, we'll close the public hearing. And

[2:39:28] thank you, Mr. Chair. Upon a motion of Mr. Harrove, the committee voted

[2:39:31] unanimously to recommend approval of the FY2026 through 2031 VOT six-year plan as

[2:39:39] follows. Uh, Lono Road 2026, Lambert Road 2026, Bowowers Road 2027, Wilson

[2:39:45] Newton Road 2027, Twin Cedar Road 2028, and Reicho Road

[2:39:51] 2028. Luck Circle 2029, Dixie Bridge 2029, Hilltop Road 2029, Green Green

[2:39:57] Greenwood Road 2029, Lrand Road 2031, Weedman Road 2031, Turkey Road

[2:40:05] 2031. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to put in formal motion. Okay. Motion being made

[2:40:10] to approve the six-year plan. Uh, any more

[2:40:14] discussion? All in favor of the motion say I. Opposed? The motion carries.

[2:40:20] There being no further business, the meeting will adjourn. Okay. All right,

[2:40:24] Kevin. All right. Should be brief. Our monthly report, you got it in the

[2:40:30] package. Couple couple things I want to hit on. We are safety mowing

[2:40:34] intersections right now. Primary mowing is scheduled to start this this week.

[2:40:39] Um, of course, weather permitting. They're calling for some rain. Uh, and

[2:40:43] then the only thing we've got coming up, Route 733,

[2:40:47] um, MT Hayes Road. Uh we're we're planning on closing that this week for a

[2:40:52] pipe replacement detour be in place. Weather permitting. We'll get it done by

[2:40:56] the end of the week. That's all. Okay. Is that all you have?

[2:41:00] Yes. All right. Nobody has anything. And we'll move

[2:41:05] right along to the property committee. You done yet?

[2:41:10] I'll do my best to brief. I'm terrible. I wish it was.

[2:41:16] Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. A meeting in the property committee was

[2:41:20] held at the end for the county of Mechenburgg on April 14th, 2025 at 1

[2:41:24] p.m. in the board of supervisor meeting room with the good bank building. I call

[2:41:27] the meeting to order. I do a roll call. Myself is here. Claudia

[2:41:32] Londe, David Branklin.

[2:41:38] No, they were here at that meeting. This was I see Andy Harro, Dennis Spence also

[2:41:44] present. Jim Jennings, Tom Tanner, Russell Scott, Brent Evans, Brian Do

[2:41:50] Scott Warner, Judy Sheffield, and Jenny Wood. He was calling the door. Close

[2:41:53] session. C1, Jefferson Street property. C2, Highway 92 property. C3, Lacrosse

[2:41:59] Elementary School site selection. Upon a motion of H Andy Hoger, the board voted

[2:42:04] yes to convene close session pursuant to section

[2:42:09] 2.2-3711-8.3 of a code of Virginia. Discussion or consideration of the

[2:42:14] acquisition of real property for a public purpose or the disposition of

[2:42:17] publicly held real property where discussion in an open meeting would

[2:42:21] adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public

[2:42:24] body. Sterling Wilson, Claudia Lundy, David Franklin, Andy Hallrove, Dennis

[2:42:29] Spence voted I D. Open session. Upon a motion of Andy Hallrove, the board voted

[2:42:35] unanimously to reconvene in open session. Sterling Wilkinson, Claudia

[2:42:39] Lumi, David Franklin, Andy Harrove, Dennis voted I D1 is the certification

[2:42:45] resolution. Upon a motion of Sterling Wilkinson, the board voted unanimously

[2:42:49] to adopt the following certification resolution. Sterling Wilson, Claudia

[2:42:54] Lundy, David Brankley, Andy Hallrove, Dennis Spence voted

[2:42:57] I certification of close session. Whereas the MacBook County

[2:43:03] Board of Supervisors convene to close session on this day pursuant to an

[2:43:06] affirmative record vote in accordance with the provision of the Virginia

[2:43:10] Freedom of Information Act. And whereas section

[2:43:14] 2.2-3711 of the code of Virginia requires a certification by the

[2:43:17] Mugenburg County Board of Supervisors. As such closed session was conducted in

[2:43:21] conformity with Virginia law. Now therefore be resolved that the Mugenberg

[2:43:25] County Board of Supervisors hereby certifies that to the best of each

[2:43:29] member's knowledge only public business matters lawfully exempted from open

[2:43:32] meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the close session to

[2:43:36] which the certification resolution applies and only such public business

[2:43:40] matters as were identified in the motion pertaining to close session were heard

[2:43:45] discussed or considered by the Mber County Board of

[2:43:48] Supervisors. C1 the Jefferson Street property Upon a motion of Andy Hogrove,

[2:43:54] the board voted unanimously to authorize advertisement of a public hearing to be

[2:43:58] held on May 12th, 2025 on the proposed conveyance to David Crowder,

[2:44:03] approximately 150.5 square feet of real property known as the county public

[2:44:08] parking lot located on Jefferson Street, Boon, Virginia 23917, and identified on

[2:44:14] the Megmer County tax map as TMP 1110 A07-

[2:44:21] A-065. Parcel record number 19916. Sterling Wilkerson, Claudia

[2:44:26] Londy, David Brankley, Andy Hogrove, Dennis Spence voted I. And I pause here

[2:44:31] need to have a public hearing. Okay. Uh we'll now open the public hearing for

[2:44:35] the conveyance of real property to David Crowder. Anyone wishing to

[2:44:40] speak? Hearing no one, we will close the public hearing. What are the wishes? I'd

[2:44:46] like to make this in a form of a motion to approve this uh time. Motion's been

[2:44:52] made. Uh all in favor say I. Those opposed. The motion carries. That's all

[2:44:58] I have, Mr. Chairman. Okay. Budget finance. Mr.

[2:45:03] Harrow an important part of the meeting. Nobody

[2:45:08] meeting of the budget finance committee was held in and for the county mur on

[2:45:13] April the 30th at 6 pm in the board of supervisor meeting room at the Google

[2:45:17] school building school bank building um the roll call was myself chairman David

[2:45:23] Franklin Wilson Tom Tanner Brenda Blackwell also Jim Jennings Krabbit

[2:45:29] Marsha Seamus Brent Evans Justin Burch Judy Sheffield and Jenn

[2:45:35] Whitmore This is Michelle Gordon, clerk of the circuit court is requesting that

[2:45:39] that the her current budget to be amended based on the TTF money received

[2:45:44] from the state compensation board in the amount of

[2:45:48] $45,963. These funds would help pay to digitalize additional records, redact

[2:45:54] records and yearly maintenance and current SR and SCV records. PAR will be

[2:45:59] used on new equipment for PLA scanning. Uh, please appropriate

[2:46:04] $45,963 from the funded to line item

[2:46:10] 021700-3500 for records of digitalizations. Upon the motion, well,

[2:46:15] let me stop here and make this uh upon a motion uh Mr. Tana board voted

[2:46:20] unanimously to recommend approval of the supplemental appropriation in the amount

[2:46:24] of $45,963 to the circuit court clerk

[2:46:29] budget line item records digitizations. Uh myself, David

[2:46:34] Brankley, Sterling Wilson, Tom Town, and Brendan Blackwood both I uh I would like

[2:46:39] to put this in the form of a motion that we uh render to the uh state

[2:46:44] compensation board in the amount of $45,963.

[2:46:49] Okay, everyone's heard the motion. All in favor say I. I. Oppos. Motion

[2:46:54] carries. Mr. Gotcha. Brie review the bud the budget amendments previously sent to

[2:47:00] the committee. Upon motion of David Brinkley, the board voted unanimous to

[2:47:05] approve the proposed budget amendments as presented. Myself, David Brinkley,

[2:47:10] Sterling Wilson, Tom Tan from the Blackwood voted I. Upon the motion of of

[2:47:16] Sterling Wilkerson, the board voted unanimous to receive approval of the

[2:47:19] recommended FY 202526 budget uh to the full board. Myself, David Brankley, St.

[2:47:27] Sterling Wilkerson, Tom Tann, and Brendon Blackwell voted I. Uh I would

[2:47:32] also like to put this into a form of a motion to receive these um these voted

[2:47:38] for for budget amendment and also for the approval of the amendment for 25 and

[2:47:43] 26 budget. Okay, everyone's heard the motion. Any discussion?

[2:47:50] They were just placed into the proposed budget. So they included Yeah, the

[2:47:54] amendments are good to go. Yeah. Yeah. We need to adopt the tax ordinance, the

[2:47:58] budget ordinance. Well, we need roll call for those. We don't need it for

[2:48:01] that. What he just made the motion, do we? What I made for that is doing that.

[2:48:07] I'm sorry to say that what you read brings the those ordinances in front of

[2:48:13] this body to vote upon. Right. That's what So there is no motions. We can just

[2:48:18] vote on that and then everything else got to have a roll call. Am I correct on

[2:48:22] that there? No, you don't have to vote on anything that he just did. Voting on

[2:48:26] the ordinances is does all of the above. Does all the above. Okay. Well, good.

[2:48:31] So, we need roll call on that, too. Okay. All right, Jenny. All right. So,

[2:48:35] we'll do the tax ordinance first. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Mr. Brankley. Yes. Mr.

[2:48:41] Grabbit? Yes. Mr. Spence? Yes. Mr. Hardro? Yes.

[2:48:46] Mr. Wilkinson? Yes. Miss Blackwell? Yes. Miss Lundy? Yes. Mr. Tanner? Yes. Mr.

[2:48:53] Jennings? Yes. Okay. The next one we will do for budget ordinance. Budget

[2:48:58] ordinance, please. Mr. Brankley. Yes. Mr. Grabbit. Yes. Mr. Spence. Yes. Mr.

[2:49:04] Harro. Yes. Mr. Wilkinson. Yep. M. Blackwell. Yes. Mrs. Lundy. Yes. Mr.

[2:49:10] Tanner. Yes. Mr. Jennings. Yes. And then our capital improvement.

[2:49:16] Mr. Brinkley. Yes. Mr. Grabbit. Yes. Mr. Spence. Yes. Mr. Harro. Yes. Mr.

[2:49:23] Wilkinson. Yes. M. Blackwell. Yes. Mrs. Lundy. Yes. Mr. Tanner. Yes. Mr.

[2:49:29] Jennings. Yes. The next one is Chaseet Elementary GMP. Pursuant to uh

[2:49:38] 56-575-16.5 of the code of Virginia, the Mechburg County Board of Supervisor

[2:49:42] hereby authorizes the Merkburg County School Board to enter into a

[2:49:46] comprehensive agreement to set in 56-575.9 of the code of Virginia with

[2:49:53] Blair Construction for the rehabilitation expansion of Chase Hill

[2:49:56] Elementary School at a construction guaranteed maximum price of 34,752,800.

[2:50:06] 76 motion. I would like to put this as a motion uh to receive that school board

[2:50:13] receive the uh BL construction rehabilitation of the school for 34

[2:50:18] million of best price. Okay, everyone's heard the motion. All in favor say I. I

[2:50:24] oppose. The motion carries.

[2:50:28] Is that all? Okay. All right. Public comment. I assume we had have none. I

[2:50:33] think we all through all of that twice. Yeah. Well, they got tired of talking.

[2:50:38] We're not going to let them talk. I'm okay. Um, Alex,

[2:50:46] we just have your stat reports in here. Uh, the only thing I'd highlight is we

[2:50:51] received the uh transformer system uh that's necessary to power our expansion

[2:50:57] of this building here. So, hopefully that work will progress uh smoothly. We

[2:51:01] were waiting on that part. Okay. So, that's it. You all right?

[2:51:08] Chairman's report. We've got an appointment on the library board.

[2:51:17] Um, so we've got one that's eligible for reappointment.

[2:51:24] Um, Mr. Christy Russell was appointed to serve the unexpired term of Miss

[2:51:30] Borhees. I'm not sure how you say her name, but anyway, u she's eligible for

[2:51:37] reappoint. Anybody like to make a motion for that? So, move. All right. All in

[2:51:42] favor of the motion say I. Motion carries.

[2:51:46] And then we've got a resignation with two years left on the

[2:51:51] term with Miss I mean, yeah, Amanda Bowen resigned

[2:51:57] and she's got two years left on that term. So, we've got to appoint somebody

[2:52:03] for that. And we've got Mr. Marcus Broadwater. I don't know him. I guess I

[2:52:07] see the bio in there.

[2:52:12] Anybody have any comment on that at all? What are you saying? I thought we just

[2:52:16] um put one person in, is Christy Russell, one's resigning. Well, one's

[2:52:21] resigning, too. Miss Bowman, who's resigning, but where are you now? At

[2:52:25] Southside Planning, or you have another one for I got another one for Okay.

[2:52:29] Okay.

[2:52:34] Do we know anything? I don't know. I don't know anything about

[2:52:39] on Tom. You know, I do. I do not. Does it have a resume? Yeah, it's on

[2:52:46] there. It's not coming up. school with

[2:52:56] I mean if you got somebody willing to serve and they qualify let them go. It's

[2:53:00] kind of way I feel about it. The branch is you know recommended he's a patron of

[2:53:04] this and they have changed their bylaws so that um they need at least um each

[2:53:11] branch does need at least like one patron. So this guy would meet those

[2:53:14] requirements. Okay. Anybody like to make a motion point this me? Okay. Motion

[2:53:20] been made. All in favor say I. I. All right. All right. Let me get to this

[2:53:25] one. Next one here.

[2:53:37] You all still making motions. All right. We've

[2:53:40] got appointment to safe behavioral health board and um

[2:53:47] Calhoun I think is the one we've got to buy. I think would probably be a very

[2:53:52] good candidate. Absolutely. Anybody like to make that motion?

[2:53:58] Miss Tana made it first. I think she got you by the nose. Be hidden. Yes, ma'am.

[2:54:03] Who was on? It's been so long. It's been I can't even remember. Oh, okay. Okay.

[2:54:09] All right. All in favor of the motion for Miss Calhoun, say I. I. Motion

[2:54:13] carries. All right. Let me get to the next one.

[2:54:24] See,

[2:54:30] what is this on the safe side planning district right here? What?

[2:54:35] I don't have anything on that. Let me look at a couple page. Mr. Chair, uh Mr.

[2:54:40] Simmons's term expires in June. Okay, I got it now.

[2:54:46] Oh, his term expires. Yeah. June of 25. So, we need somebody

[2:54:51] else on that, right? He's eligible. He's eligible for reappoint. Okay. And he's

[2:54:56] the citizen at large member of that board. So, that's Claus. Will you want

[2:55:00] to make that motion? M. Okay. All in favor of the motion say I. I. The motion

[2:55:07] carries. I'll entertain a motion to u approve the consent calendar.

[2:55:14] So move, Mr. Chairman. All in favor of the motion say I. I. I. Motion carries.

[2:55:21] Okay. Board me mouse. Misspense. You want to go? I

[2:55:28] can. Um I just had couple of thank yous. uh recognize a couple of different

[2:55:35] organizations. Um we attended the Meckllinburgg fire

[2:55:40] chief's uh invite um with with a great meeting. Uh great dinner. Um very

[2:55:48] informative. Um gave us a lot of insight I think on where the cost of equipment

[2:55:53] and what whatnot has gone to. U which I thought was very important as we move

[2:55:58] forward. uh considering different pieces of equipment like we've already had to

[2:56:03] consider ambulances and things of that nature. Uh we really do need to

[2:56:08] understand uh what the cost of things are u today

[2:56:14] and how they continue to increase. And I thought that was uh a very good um

[2:56:20] presentation that uh the fire chiefs made and and I I greatly appreciate the

[2:56:25] invite. uh greatly appreciate them uh putting on that u presentation. Um I

[2:56:33] call it that because they had the equipment laid out and much of the

[2:56:37] equipment had price tags attached to it so you could see exactly what that

[2:56:41] individual piece of equipment costs. Um so greatly appreciate them doing that

[2:56:47] and I would encourage them to do that for the public. I think uh it would be

[2:56:51] uh very informative for the public. Also want to thank the uh Mechanburg County

[2:56:56] uh school board. Uh same thing. We we uh had a meeting and a dinner with them. Uh

[2:57:03] had a chance to uh to visit the Clarksville Elementary School. Uh again,

[2:57:08] very informative. They did a great job of u hosting us and showing us around

[2:57:15] and explaining things and um looking forward to seeing that school uh up and

[2:57:21] operating. Nice facility. That's all. Okay. Miss London Ditto.

[2:57:26] Plus the play at the high school was last week, last Friday night evening and

[2:57:34] Saturday at two. The play Charlotte Brown is a good person and it was

[2:57:39] excellent. They did an excellent job. We did a very excellent job. Okay. You

[2:57:44] should have seen it. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, first I

[2:57:51] want to thank this board and employees for everybody's thoughts and prayers

[2:57:55] when my mother passed away a few weeks ago. It was greatly appreciated. Um, as

[2:58:01] far as the budget goes, thank you to Alex and Judy and all

[2:58:06] of the staff for all of their hard work on that. I know it's been a multi-month

[2:58:10] process, but uh I think it's definitely going to show our commitment to all our

[2:58:15] employees that, you know, we we're standing with them. And um on the school

[2:58:22] board side, thank y'all for the invite. Clarkville Elementary is a very

[2:58:26] beautiful building. Looks very nice. Uh and again, the fire department put on a

[2:58:31] really nice educational uh thing the other day. Um one of the

[2:58:36] things I went to a couple HOA meetings around the lake because of course that's

[2:58:40] where the the new uh convenience center is being built. And uh one of the

[2:58:45] questions that I got asked there was what about small amounts of

[2:58:51] construction material and I think from the landfield committee side I think

[2:58:56] it's something that we may need to look at because you know some of them had the

[2:59:00] questions of okay if I tear my toilet out can I take my toilet or do I have to

[2:59:05] take it to board you know stuff like that and I think Judy and I talked about

[2:59:08] it the other night too. I think um Alex and him had talked about this summer

[2:59:12] having an intern work on like a a county newsletter type of thing for the year

[2:59:18] and possibly if we mail that out maybe putting some more information in there

[2:59:22] about the convenience centers and stuff like that and times what we can take

[2:59:26] there what we can't and just stuff like that. Um the other thing as far as the

[2:59:32] uh solar project that we dealt with today, um I would say I think one thing

[2:59:37] we heard out of it was Chase City's need for some type of support. Um and I think

[2:59:45] in speaking with Mr. Godchock that the three projects that we currently have,

[2:59:50] we get funding from them. Um, I don't remember the amount off the top of my

[2:59:55] head, but um, I do think that Chase City, from everything we've

[3:00:01] heard and everything else, these solar farms kind of surround Chase City. I

[3:00:06] think if we do have a means from the projects that are currently in

[3:00:11] production that we could take the three representatives

[3:00:16] that are from Chase City and have y'all talk to Alex, see what the amount is,

[3:00:20] maybe come back to the board and say, "Hey, we would like to use that money to

[3:00:24] try to help Chase City." I just think Chase City needs something. Um, I mean,

[3:00:29] I know from like they said riding through there, there a lot of

[3:00:32] storefronts and stuff like that and every town is facing

[3:00:36] um aging infrastructure and everything else. But I think if um since we don't I

[3:00:43] don't think we're going to move forward with any more projects. We're going to

[3:00:46] stay where we at. I think it would be a good uh use of that money to at least

[3:00:50] benefit those citizens in that area uh for what we have approved

[3:00:55] anyway. And that's all I got, M. All right. Thank you, Mr. Mike. Well, that

[3:01:01] feeding off what Tom said, can you come up with that amount of money that we get

[3:01:05] per year off of those three projects? Yes, we do have the uh revenues that we

[3:01:10] get from those projects, they are not significant. I mean, they're more than a

[3:01:14] homeowner, of course, but they are not large because we did not have the

[3:01:19] sighting agreements in place at the time. So, we have no upfront capital

[3:01:23] payments from them. nor were we allowed to impose uh the revenue sharing amount

[3:01:28] on it, the $1,400 per megawatt that is now allowed by law. So, um we pretty

[3:01:34] much only get the real estate uh revenue off of it. Um we don't even get

[3:01:39] machinery and tools tax rate because of the magnitude of the projects. The code

[3:01:44] of Virginia has a um special provision in there that if you're over a certain

[3:01:49] amount of megawws, you're taxed at the real estate rate and not the machinery

[3:01:53] and tools rate. So, we get that 36 cents per hundred on um the improvements on

[3:02:00] the land as well, but it's only the real estate tax rate. So, there is a revenue

[3:02:04] that comes in from it. It's part of our overall um revenue picture. Um and we

[3:02:10] could certainly um designate those funds to support

[3:02:16] other activities. Um but it's not going to be um

[3:02:21] significantly lifealtering for economic uh changes in that community. Now, do

[3:02:28] they do they get any of the money from the the 92 project or Microsoft is right

[3:02:34] there? Will they don't get No. Chase City is a partner. Well, the Chase City

[3:02:40] IDA is a partner as well as the Clarksville EDA in the Lakeside Commerce

[3:02:45] Park development um next to Okanichi. And so they will get a share of the

[3:02:52] proceeds from that development. So there is a dedicated revenue source related to

[3:02:57] data center development that will funnel back into Chase City. Um that site is

[3:03:02] not currently at the point of having active building. um right now, but at

[3:03:08] some point in the near future it will and they will start generating some um

[3:03:12] direct revenue based on that. But the ones that are immediately in the

[3:03:16] vicinity of Chase City, no, those were not in the town limits. Um they were in

[3:03:20] the county and there was no partnership um that was provided by the town towards

[3:03:26] its development. Now they are um given the water and the um well not the water

[3:03:32] the the wastewater um services and they will get some plant upgrades

[3:03:38] accordingly. Um so there is a net benefit to the town aside from being

[3:03:42] just a customer um as a result of that particular development being located

[3:03:47] where it is situated. So when they get built and all, is it possible we could

[3:03:52] look at what that one facility will they break it down where that we could see

[3:03:56] what that one facility is generating moneywise and maybe look at sharing that

[3:04:02] with them in a a certain amount or something. Um that's a possibility. Um,

[3:04:08] there's also the possibility that you could retain that revenue and direct it

[3:04:12] on your own accord for projects that you deem to be beneficial in that area

[3:04:16] rather than passing it through to another party, right? Because you know

[3:04:22] the the mud or everything that Chase it is dealing with that not not so much the

[3:04:26] county and everything and all and all. So you brought that

[3:04:32] and I'm I'm sorry I missed that clause on elementary meal and tour. Um I hope

[3:04:36] we will have another one. I'll come if you don't have a meal but if you do have

[3:04:40] another one I'll come to that but uh and do that and uh yeah the

[3:04:45] the the fire department what they did in here um at board and that that that was

[3:04:49] great real eye opening. Again I think the public needs to see some of that and

[3:04:54] all too and do that. Well we um of course we

[3:04:59] did the seven bridges today. We analyst is coming back again to we'll have to

[3:05:05] hear that. Where are we at with the like the Finnywood? Have they provided

[3:05:09] anything or going forward? Because I know we talked about they got a certain

[3:05:12] amount of days or something to do something and have we heard anything

[3:05:15] from them? They ha we have heard from them. Um they did previously agree to

[3:05:21] extend uh the period of time in which we have to hear uh and make a decision on

[3:05:28] their project. They have not submitted um a revised sighting agreement and they

[3:05:34] have not given us an indication that they wish for their hearing to be

[3:05:38] scheduled at this point in time. So how much longer do we wait because I think

[3:05:41] we got some things in place of moving the cap down.

[3:05:45] You know we voted on that. So, how long do we wait for them to come? September

[3:05:50] 24th. Mhm. I made that motion to vote to to

[3:05:55] cap it at where it's at. Yeah. Once once these go through. Yeah. So, the period

[3:06:00] of time in which they have agreed to is um in the late summer. So we we will

[3:06:06] have to they will either have to indicate to us affirmatively that they

[3:06:11] um wish to have that hearing or else um that period of time is going to elapse.

[3:06:17] Okay. So in September. Mhm. Okay. So by September by September it

[3:06:25] will by September there will be one way or the other. Okay. That's all I got.

[3:06:31] I'm sorry Mr. Fargo got overlooked again on his road, but I mean we want to kind

[3:06:35] of keep that going. It's a lot of fun. You I I guess he's just trying to

[3:06:39] preserve the rule integrity of your own 60

[3:06:45] year 60. Well, you know those are silver

[3:06:51] it thank you. I don't have a lot. Um just glad to see you know about the

[3:06:57] budget. Thank y'all for all y'all's work. All, you know, one one of this

[3:07:01] size that we're all in agreeance on most things says a lot about our board and

[3:07:05] the county. We got sort of same vision going forward and um that's a good

[3:07:09] thing. It could certainly be another way. So, we should all be thankful for

[3:07:12] that. And um you know, I'm glad to see we can step

[3:07:16] up, you know, helping out and paving some of these roads. You know, I mean,

[3:07:20] it the 60-year plan, as you just said, I mean, it seems like it just takes

[3:07:24] forever. And for us to have the ability to expedite all this, I mean, people

[3:07:27] need to recognize that, you know, that's a part of some of the growing pains with

[3:07:31] the industry in this county, but that would not happen. That was just a small

[3:07:33] example or an investment in all employees, which is a good investment,

[3:07:37] but I'm just saying people really need to recognize that. Um, and you know,

[3:07:42] going back to Chase City, I think we should I don't know the correct route,

[3:07:45] but we should try to help in any way we can. It all seems like they're all

[3:07:48] basically due to infrastructure. that's where they're all focused, you know, and

[3:07:52] I understand that, you know, but, you know, we really need to do what we can

[3:07:56] to support them and and I hope that people in that area don't take it

[3:08:01] personally the votes that we did today for the solar. You know, we're not

[3:08:05] trying to hurt them, not support them in any way. It's not about that at all. You

[3:08:09] know, I I personally feel like it get voted down for other reasons, but I just

[3:08:13] hope that that residents will realize that. So, that's all I

[3:08:19] The two Elementary is very nice. The building

[3:08:23] and the campus um fire department. The meal was

[3:08:27] delicious and um display of equipment shows exactly what is needed and what

[3:08:34] improvements have been made. Thank you to Alex and Juny for your work on the

[3:08:40] budget and a great big thank you for Alex for his leadership.

[3:08:46] Um the investment is in you is well worth

[3:08:59] I mean I mean yeah everything everybody said spot on. I couldn't agree more. And

[3:09:04] I just want to do I just wanted to also go ahead and apologize for not being

[3:09:08] able to come to the elementary school. I was trying to get off work as as much as

[3:09:12] I could, but the boss wouldn't let me off so that I might get fired, so I

[3:09:18] didn't get fired from my job. But, uh, like I say, I I I drive by it often and

[3:09:25] I know they're making wonderful progress. The facility from the outside

[3:09:28] looks beautiful from my, you know, from my perspective. Um, but other than that,

[3:09:34] everybody be safe, right? I'm the only standing between us

[3:09:39] at lunch. So I promise you I brief let Miss

[3:09:45] Oh yeah, I forgot about you over I started like this right here and

[3:09:51] I forget I skip over him right hand man over I had the right name for he been

[3:09:58] writing over there for 30 minutes take my time up I had the right

[3:10:02] I had the right hand over I'm telling you when I get in a hurry

[3:10:06] man I'm in a hurry he's thinking about his food. I really get things done.

[3:10:10] Yeah, it's raining. You know, I I really was appreciative. I was at a funeral one

[3:10:15] day and someone walked to me and said, "Well, we interested in some property in

[3:10:19] Palm Springs and I didn't want to worry him and and chase him off." So, I called

[3:10:24] him a couple of times and and so I he got my phone number and he's supposed to

[3:10:28] call me back to put a convenience center over there. Uh, and I haven't heard from

[3:10:33] him since Saturday, and I'm trying not to dial his number, but I'm, you know,

[3:10:38] kind of fidgety. So, I do want to try to for

[3:10:42] Wayne and us to go over and take a look at it so that we can try to acquire it

[3:10:46] while he's while he's has the intention um for the budget. Thank you, Alex, and

[3:10:52] Miss Judy and so forth for doing the budget and whoever else is affiliated

[3:10:55] associated with that. I do appreciate I do appreciate that. Uh, Mr. Bailey came

[3:11:01] and sat last Saturday and did a CPR class for us from the EMS. Miss David De

[3:11:06] set him up and Mr. Justin was also aware of that and I think that's his name, Mr.

[3:11:11] Bailey. Is that correct? Okay, Mr. M. And so he did a CPR class and it was a

[3:11:16] wonderful thing that he taught. Now I would advise uh if you need a CPA CPR

[3:11:22] class taught to get with Mr. Justin or Miss David to have one set up. They are

[3:11:28] very informative and is something that I believe every organization needs to be

[3:11:32] aware of because you never know when you will need that time for it to to um to

[3:11:36] accelerate on your experience of EMS. And

[3:11:40] also that's another concern is that um I I think the reason why that we do what

[3:11:47] we do here as far as solar is because of but the lack of trust from the public.

[3:11:54] Um the public right now they say this, they say that and everybody makes

[3:11:59] promises until the actuality come in and then that's when the promises are really

[3:12:04] really being revealed. And thus far the last three entities has not revealed the

[3:12:12] positivity that they proclaimed. And so someone that come in whole is trying

[3:12:18] that public don't trust right now because they've been bit three times. So

[3:12:22] you can't tell me that the dog going to bite and get it bit three times. So and

[3:12:26] this is f where I think what we stand at right now and and and it's it's harmful

[3:12:31] for Chase said it do need something to help them. Uh and that was one of the

[3:12:35] reason why I believe the first time we approved it because they said this is

[3:12:39] going to happen. Uh and it it affected some but it didn't do a whole lot of

[3:12:43] change because nothing last over a period of time. And also the elementary

[3:12:48] school is a wonderful school and we thank you for having us there. And the

[3:12:52] real reason why you had dinner there because you were hoping Mr. Brinker

[3:12:54] would come and he would. So uh and next time just invite

[3:13:00] us to school was because he either going to come or he's not. Thank you. Very

[3:13:05] good. I I completely agree with everything everybody else has said.

[3:13:10] Thank y'all on working on the budget. You always do a wonderful job. do a

[3:13:14] great job and the detail in it is superb. Um, I would like to follow up

[3:13:20] what Tom said about uh Chay City. I think something needs to be done. Mifel,

[3:13:26] I know you have the the lion cha of the district there, but I think Mr. Brankley

[3:13:30] and I on iota edges of he on the west and I'm on the east. So, if we could,

[3:13:36] Alex, maybe try to put something together, maybe you can come up with

[3:13:39] something to recommend and we can maybe meet briefly before our next meeting and

[3:13:46] kind of outline some things that uh could be done to help them. You know, we

[3:13:51] thrive and the county is thriving right now and and we need to take everybody

[3:13:56] with us. AB: Absolutely. You know, absolutely. Just quick question. Uh you

[3:14:01] mentioned Chase City. So, is is there no additional uh uh industrial property out

[3:14:07] there? Right. Because Microsoft took up what we had. Correct.

[3:14:12] There is a very small site that is in the north side of Chase City. Um there

[3:14:20] is a warehouse that is in not great shape that is located there. Um which we

[3:14:27] do not own and has suffered some violations. Um, so it is possible to

[3:14:34] cobble together a very very small site up there, but there is not going to be

[3:14:38] the potential presently for a very large site, especially if you don't want to

[3:14:44] bound this the town's growth potential. And that's part of the issues that have

[3:14:50] arisen with um one of the solar facilities being cited over there is it

[3:14:55] took off potential areas for the town to grow. Um so building immediately on the

[3:15:02] line isn't always a great thing because you cut off any residential

[3:15:07] potential. Um so you could get a small site up there but uh you wouldn't get a

[3:15:12] a large scale industrial site because the of the ones immed like you said the

[3:15:17] ones immediately around it have been taken for that purpose. Just thought

[3:15:21] there was another option. Okay. All right. But if we can do that maybe talk

[3:15:25] briefly before our next meeting that'd be that'd be great. All right. Anybody

[3:15:29] have anything else? We'll stand a journ.

Board of Supervisors, May 12, 2025

Transcript