[0:03] did you read all both of
these word
[0:15] [Music]
for boy got quiet we got a few
[0:28] seconds
[0:33] all right there it is six o'clock so
we'll call this order meeting to order
[0:38] for the April 1st 2024 Scotland County
Board of Commissioners meeting and we'll
[0:42] start with an invocation with in our
gathering tonight we thank you for the
[0:46] many blessings that you give us each and
every day Lord we thank you for
[0:50] sometimes even the trials and
tribulations you PR present before us
[0:53] Lord so might we might learn from your
grace and increase our faith father God
[0:59] we ask that you be with us as we
consider all the concerns of the people
[1:02] of this County this County Lord we thank
you for those who are present tonight
[1:06] Lord because their pres makes us better
in your name we pray amen amen amen
[1:12] stand
[1:19] for we got an additional item added in
and and we wanted to recognize that uh
[1:25] today is Sandy callen's
birthday happy birthday
[1:30] everybody
[1:33] [Applause]
happy all right good enough um so next
[1:38] we'll talk about the approval of the
agenda if everybody's had time to review
[1:42] that and offer motion for approval of of
the agenda have a motion all right this
[1:49] carries we'll move on to our public
forum um we have a three minute time
[1:54] limit on the public forum I do need to
make a little special disclosure tonight
[1:59] on our public forum that if you're here
to talk about the item which is the
[2:05] public uh hearing that we're having on
the other solar Farms later we you need
[2:10] to be we we can't hear that right now
because we'll be going into a sworn
[2:15] testimony at that time so just but
you're free to talk about whatever else
[2:20] you would like to in your three minutes
uh Nash
[2:24] Hardy No Melissa Creed I didn't see her
or Dr will
[2:31] seeing none here well he's here oh there
he is hiding behind Jerry
[2:39] I don't talk about these specific uh
projects okay I
[2:46] didn't understand his question till I
reread that first meeting but anyway one
[2:50] he asked me said well would I rather um
sell my land then lease it for a lot
[2:57] more and of course I missed what he was
his intent was if I were a seller I
[3:03] would certainly rather lease it for 10
times what I could sell it for my
[3:08] question is why are they buying
it or why are they leasing it for 10
[3:13] times what they can can purchase the
land answer that question um that's a
[3:20] concern anyway at the meeting two months
ago I gave each of you a few pages of
[3:24] information and ask eight questions that
I would like for either you or the solar
[3:28] panel companies to answer
and so far I've not received an answer
[3:32] to any of
them I see where the solar companies
[3:35] have already begun work on one of these
tracks even before you have voted and
[3:39] I'm told your attorney has told you you
have to vote in favor of the solar
[3:43] panels the Native Americans traded their
land for shiny objects
[3:48] also history here I understand y'all
have a difficult task providing services
[3:55] for an economically distressed County
with a decline in tax base
[4:01] but do you think putting solar panels on
land which could easily be de I sort of
[4:06] overheard was selling water to H county
is selling water to H County so that H
[4:12] County continue to grow rather than
biting the growth to come to Scotland
[4:17] County is that a good idea I mean I I
know y'all got to balance this year's
[4:21] budget you got to balance budgets until
you get reelected Etc but you got to
[4:25] look further down the road and to me
like I draw drew y'all that map that's
[4:32] just not a good use of the land benefits
the land owner and solar F companies it
[4:39] doesn't benefit Scotland County I
understand that yeah they're they're
[4:43] taxed but taxed at
20% because of State statutes and that's
[4:48] none none of y'all's do um I feel an
obligation to my ancestors who cleared
[4:54] this land with shovels and mules and to
my descendants who I fear will inherit
[4:58] environmental damage these solar farmers
will leave us with just like pink energy
[5:04] and Kevin Chapel that talked to y'all
last moment there's no no nothing going
[5:10] on
there this fight will not in end here
[5:14] you have members on this board with
conflicts of interest and members on
[5:17] this board who have violated your own
rules whose votes will be
[5:20] challenged you have been told you have
to vote for these rules by your attorney
[5:25] who may feel like he's doing his job but
my opinion is giving you bad advice
[5:30] that's so Mark let me let me just make
one very end it's not it's from a source
[5:36] that we don't currently use using
anything it's not even producing any
[5:39] water right now um so it's just an
opportunity that we could take that
[5:43] asset and turn it into to to making
money because either way if we you know
[5:50] and I'm with you invite that well again
is development I know subdivisions
[5:57] require Services you got to build in
schools you got to have water maybe even
[6:01] sewer so they're going to fill up Poke
County they're going to fill up more
[6:04] County it's all right coming to Richmond
County I get a client at least I I think
[6:11] that's our future um between military
housing and people spread from fille and
[6:17] more County both Richmond and Scot well
the good thing is if we do that with
[6:22] that facility for what they're
requesting in the amount wise the
[6:26] facility has more potential than just
what the amount that they would want
[6:32] so right yeah I get it I just it's C I
asked him a question thank you sir none
[6:39] we'll move on to our consent agenda if
we all had a chance to look at that take
[6:44] a motion on that move to approve the
consent
[6:48] agenda have a motion in a second any
questions all in favor inequality in
[6:56] ownership and generational
wealth
[7:01] good evening uh my name is Genesis Davis
and I am a senior at St Andrews
[7:08] University graduating this year uh
2024 um who does the slides oh we can go
[7:16] the
next well we I have to do it this
[7:20] way so I just wanted to preface by
saying a little bit more about me again
[7:25] like I've said before I'm a St Andrew
senior um and I'm actually and and age
[7:29] 450 talk by uh taught by Dr
Tim uh it was required that we decided
[7:36] to do a global project and we relate it
to my my issue I chose race and home
[7:44] ownership and through that project
that's when I saw that their and the
[7:49] state of North Carolina as a whole and
one of the requirements for that project
[7:54] was to find a solution for it and
hopefully make uh implement it in
[7:59] Scotland County we can go to the next
slide so this is taken from the 2020
[8:06] compared to the state of North Carolina
however in contrast when compared to the
[8:11] state of North Carolina which is 12.8%
and even though it's not up there the
[8:15] United States is at
12.6% owner occupied housing rate is
[8:21] 59.8% meaning that if the owner is on
property they live in that property so
[8:27] they're not renters um compared to the
owner occupied housing rate
[8:32] 66.7% comes to higher education
bachelor's degree are higher in
[8:37] individuals that are over the age of 25
in Scotland County is
[8:42] 14.5% as of 2022 compared to the
entirety of North Carolina which is
[8:48] 35.9% um again in
2022 I wanted to say that this is very
[8:53] many different benefits of home
ownership there's to put more time and
[8:57] effort into somewhere they actually live
more people people are more likely to
[9:00] watch out for their neighbors if they
know they're not just going to up and
[9:03] leave the next month and then fan are in
schools and they perform better
[9:09] socially was mentioning financial
literacy means that you can budget
[9:13] properly where all surprises and how a
credit card works if you understand how
[9:19] Bank notices work you are less likely to
be um vulnerable to scams pyramid
[9:25] schemes getrich quick schemes and
essentially just make your mental health
[9:30] your mental and physical emotional
well-being a lot healthier so how can we
[9:37] increase financial literacy and in term
home ownership in nor uh
[9:42] County well I found a nonprofit uh it
was backed by Bank of America it is a
[9:48] national nonprofit started in the United
States nacka the neighborhood Assistance
[9:53] Corporation of America this uh
Corporation makes economic Justice and
[9:58] economic stability
a um a priority for all of its members
[10:03] so again it is free for all members you
don't pay anything if you go through
[10:07] this program they have a no down payment
no PMI or private mortgage insurance um
[10:13] and they do character-based lending
which I think is one of the most
[10:16] important things they don't look at
credit score they understand that there
[10:20] are things that go on in your life that
you cannot necessarily control so
[10:24] they'll look at your credit history and
they'll see that oh my gosh you paid
[10:28] $55,000 why why did you pay $5,000
because I lost my job because my mom got
[10:33] sick and I had to pay hospital bills you
write a letter of explanation and then
[10:37] they will understand that and they will
forward that to the bank you can also
[10:40] Finance rehabs and repairs through uh
the neighborhood Assistance Corporation
[10:44] of America um so if you find a old
decrepit house and you want to buy that
[10:49] house and the land that it's on you can
spend that money that uh goes underneath
[10:54] your mortgage you can use that to re and
repair that house and then you have the
[10:59] section Section 8 housing vouchers which
can actually go towards your
[11:08] mortgage are there any questions for the
neighborhood Assistance Corporation of
[11:12] America it is again a nonprofit and I
did have her look over the slides to
[11:16] make sure that all of this uh
information is up to date and
[11:22] accurate I'll ask um as Commissioners
what can we do to help this nonprofit
[11:29] move forward in our community so that we
can close that gap of the inequality of
[11:34] home ownership at St Andrews University
have already been in contact with NAA we
[11:39] have had again the meeting that you
attended um earlier uh well I should say
[11:43] last month and we're essentially ready
we are um willing to host the they call
[11:49] it a homeowners Workshop or a home buyer
Workshop uh we will um host that at St
[11:54] Andrews University and we are currently
working with them right now and we just
[11:58] wanted to let you guys know help spread
the word that this uh nonprofit is
[12:03] coming to Scotland County and um
hopefully just get you guys excited
[12:07] about this
Prospect well being in that business for
[12:12] 30 years and neck has been around a
while um and and some other ones out
[12:18] there that kind of do the same thing um
and this is just personal advice to
[12:23] anybody be really careful when you're
looking at a as well just because about
[12:30] and all of a sudden you need to sell it
to Mo what you pay the realtor and the
[12:34] closing cost um you're going to lose so
um I'm not saying never do it that's for
[12:41] sure but just be really careful and no
going in that's what you're getting into
[12:44] but there are um so but there's some
options out there so thank you though
[12:50] and let me ask you so if if somebody who
is living in a rental house and they
[12:56] want they find something they want to
fix up they're going to who do they
[13:00] apply to for that loan so you are going
to go through the nacka program so they
[13:06] have a numerous steps that you take to
ensure that you as a renter are ready to
[13:11] go and want to fix up or if it's just an
already pre-built house you all start at
[13:15] the same place they're G they're gonna
they're gonna make a decision as to
[13:19] whether or not I have the ability
because of my job or something else
[13:22] whether I can manage a mortgage yes they
don't want you to get into a situation
[13:27] where you are buying a house that you
will not be from Bank of America this is
[13:31] a Bank of America backed program they
act as a nonprofit mortgage broker to to
[13:37] to simplify it is the way it
[13:42] works now your personal question where
are you from where am I from uh I'm from
[13:47] the Charlotte area Mount Holly Gastonia
Gaston County to be specific okay so do
[13:53] you know what you're going to do when
you leave here um I would I'm going to
[13:56] be taking a gap year and uh
hopefully apply to vet school and get
[14:01] into vet school at North Carolina State
University you don't want to come out
[14:04] and be a mortgage broker or anything
like that no no no okay you have a
[14:10] couple of gentlemen here with you who
are they oh yes this is uh my professor
[14:14] Dr Tim Verge he was the one that taught
the sage 450 class and then we also have
[14:19] um Mr Jeff Robertson he is the vice
president at um St Andrews University
[14:24] that's also been helping me with this
project I thought that's who that was
[14:27] right
there
[14:30] anybody else anything thank you for
coming and and I think everybody also
[14:35] got your booklet too so right again if
you need any more information you can go
[14:40] to naa.com or you can um contact me or
someone else uh at the school and I can
[14:45] help you get that information thank you
Mr sounds great thank
[14:49] you all right moving on to our next item
is Emer emergency communication National
[14:54] telecommunicator Proclamation Samantha
there she is
[15:03] good evening um so in preparation of
coming before you to ask for your
[15:09] support for this Proclamation um I did
gather some rough data U from 2023 that
[15:16] I wanted to highlight um so our
emergency telecommunicators our 911
[15:21] operators um each year or in
2023 answered
[15:27] 35,6 N9 911 calls in Scotland
County they answered
[15:34] 81,9 60 non-emergency calls in Scotland
County entered 4
[15:55] 48,900 uh radio trans
missions in
[16:04] 2023
aot it's a
[16:10] lot so uh each year uh the second week
of April is National Public Safety
[16:16] telecommunicators week that week is set
aside to highlight the importance of the
[16:21] job that these professionals do these
can occur at any time that require
[16:26] police fire or Emergency Medical
Services
[16:29] and where an emergency occurs The Prompt
response of police officers sheriffs
[16:34] deputies firefighters and paramedics the
safety of our police officers
[16:38] firefighters sheriffs deputies and
paramedics are dependent upon the
[16:41] quality and accuracy of information of
citizens who telephone the Scotland
[16:46] County emergency communic and whereas
Public Safety telecommunicators are the
[16:51] first and most critical contact our
citizens have with emergency
[16:56] services and whereas Public Safety
telecommunicators are their activities
[17:02] By Radio providing them information and
ensuring their
[17:06] safety and whereas Public Safety
telecommunicators of the Scotland cation
[17:11] Center have contributed sub
substantially to the apprehension of
[17:15] criminals suppression of fires and
treatment of
[17:18] patients and whereas each has exhibited
compassion understanding and
[17:24] professionalism during the performance
of their job in the past
[17:27] year
now therefore be it proclaimed by the
[17:31] Scotland County Board of Commissioners
that the week of April 14th through the
[17:35] 20th is to be National Public Safety
telecommunicators Week in Scotland
[17:38] County in honor of the men and women
whose diligence and professionalism keep
[17:43] our County and citizens
[17:48] safe does anybody have any questions
about any of the statistics I gave
[17:54] anything any question Mr chairman I
would move to approve approve the
[17:59] proclamation and ask that the chairman
sign second motion and a second any
[18:03] other discussion all in favor
anyos thank you ma'am thank you all
[18:10] right moving right along Scotland County
DSS uh Kim McCrae got you listed first
[18:15] here that
[18:23] right greetings to everyone thank you
for having me I'm Kimberly McCrae with
[18:28] the SC County Department of Social
Services April for us is a very exciting
[18:34] month it is National Child Abuse
Prevention month and on April Friday
[18:41] April the 5th is National we blue day
and that is to show support and aware
[18:49] bring awareness to Child Abuse
Prevention also during the month of
[18:55] April on April the 24th we will hold a
ribbon cutting ceremony on um at
[19:02] Cynthia's place at DSS and that place it
is being remodeled and renovated and
[19:09] that is a a place where families and
children can feel safe and feel at home
[19:15] so we would like um present our staff
who have come today from CPS as well as
[19:23] from our leadership development team so
if you would stand please
[19:30] these are the people who work diligently
every day uh to for the prevention of
[19:35] child abuse and
[Applause]
[19:42] now now the program
administrator Miss Wendy Stanton will
[19:48] come to read the
[19:53] proclamation good
evening in recognition of of April is
[19:59] Child Abuse Prevention month I have the
proclamation that I would like to read
[20:04] whereas children are vital to our state
and County's future success prosperity
[20:10] and quality of life as well as being the
most vulnerable assets and whereas all
[20:16] children deserve to have the safe stable
nurturing homes and communities they
[20:22] need to Foster their healthy growth and
development and whereas child abuse and
[20:28] neglect is a community responsibility
affecting both the current and future
[20:33] quality of life of a community and
whereas communities that provide parents
[20:38] with the social support knowledge of
parenting and Child Development and
[20:43] concrete resources they need to cope
with stress and nurture their own
[20:47] children Ure our children grow to their
full
[20:50] potential and whereas effective Child
Abuse Prevention strategies succeed
[20:56] because of Partnerships created among
among citizens Human Services schools
[21:02] Faith communities Health Care Providers
Civic organizations law enforcement
[21:07] agencies and the business Community now
therefore it be proclaimed by the
[21:13] Scotland County Board of Commissioners
that April 2024 is Child Abuse
[21:18] Prevention month in Scotland County and
urge all Citizens Community agencies
[21:24] Faith group medical facilities elected
leaders and businessmen and businesses
[21:30] to increase their participation in
efforts to support families thereby
[21:35] preventing child abuse and strengthening
the communities in which we
[21:39] live thank you
okay we'll break the because I think you
[21:44] have another one also we um so let's go
ahead and look for the first
[21:49] Proclamation
and second okay a motion in a second any
[21:53] questions or discussion all right all in
favor all right any opposed
[21:59] all right next thank you all April is a
very exciting month for us over at DSS
[22:06] and April is re-entry Second Chance
month and we have re-entry day coming up
[22:12] on April the 17th from 10: a.m. to 1:00
p.m. at 2:31 Crawley Street here in
[22:20] laberg and the purpose of re-entry
program uh they like to raise awareness
[22:27] educate and give opportunity unities to
Justice involved citizens and we are
[22:32] honored tonight to have our very own
Miss Linda Ross who is the chairman of
[22:38] Scotland County's re-entry board to come
and read our
[22:43] Proclamation good evening good evening
good even good evening evening
[22:50] okay proclamation in recogn recognition
of April as Second Chance month whereas
[22:57] a great majority ity of the incarcerated
individual in North Carolina will
[23:02] eventually return to communities and
whereas formerly incarcerated
[23:07] individuals face many hurdles upon their
release in securing employment housing
[23:13] transportation and health care
and to develop programs and
[23:20] policy here for these individual to live
healthier healthy as well as successful
[23:26] lives and where where as Scotland County
re-entry Council and re-entry Prof Prof
[23:34] professionals are identifying ways to
better serve and assist the formerly
[23:39] incarcerated with their transition and
whereas providing resources for the
[23:45] formally incarcerated is a CommunityWide
effort among the re-entry Council
[23:50] re-entry Professional faith-based
Organization volunteers and the state of
[23:56] North Carolina and where is all these
efforts by policy makers re-entry
[24:02] professionals and volunteers helped to
reduce the stigma of incarceration and
[24:08] provide just as involved people with
increased opportunity and a better
[24:12] chance of a successful re-entry into the
community now therefore be it proclaimed
[24:20] by Scotland County Board of
Commissioners that April be proclaimed
[24:25] as Second Chance month in Scotland
County
[24:28] proclaimed this first day of April
2024 okay thank
[24:35] you all right any questions on
that motion offer motion that we also
[24:42] approve the proclamation for Second
Chance Mo second Motion in a second any
[24:48] other discussion or questions all in
favor I any opposed thank you ma'am
[24:54] thank you for your
time next Mr McMillan is here planning
[25:00] we had presented to
us uh at our last board meeting
[25:05] presentation by wnc
for an application special use permit to
[25:12] add to an existing Tower new equipment
for their
[25:16] transmission um we
check special use permit met all of the
[25:23] requirement five requirements for that
we found that all the paperwork all the
[25:27] documentation was in order and upon
voting on this proposed collocation the
[25:32] board approved it
unanimously um to send to you the County
[25:37] Commissioners for your
consideration any questions where's that
[25:42] Tower I'm just trying to get in my go
out to the crossroads at John's hang
[25:47] right John station uhu hanging right and
it's out there on the left half mile
[25:53] somewhere way okay I thought thought
maybe it was at one near the Landfield
[25:57] yeah there's there's already tower out
there and you can see it if you drive
[26:00] down John's Road it's just going to be
extra equipment there extra equipment
[26:04] there'll be a small structure there for
uh
[26:08] digital technical stuff and I can't tell
you what it is but beond me I wouldn't
[26:13] know if you did to
me any anything
[26:19] questions no I offer a motion for
approval we have a motion I'll second we
[26:24] have a second all in favor any opposed
thank you sir I like it when it take com
[26:32] sweet all right moving on to the next
item on the agenda is the Cyprus Creek
[26:37] solo Farm
applications and the
[26:42] uh hearing that we will have to have
around revolving around that there's a
[26:48] couple of statements that I need to read
first and and after that then we can
[26:53] move into that hearing
um
[27:00] this is uh a disclosure call basically
the parties in this case are entitled to
[27:06] an impartial board a board member may
not participate in this hearing if she
[27:11] or he has a fixed opinion about the
matter a financial interest in the
[27:16] outcome of the matter or a close
relationship with an affected person
[27:20] does any board member have any
partiality dis to disclose or recusal to
[27:25] offer yes Mr commissioner I do
okay uh I have uh business dealings with
[27:33] probably everyone involved okay oh I ask
to recluse myself from the
[27:38] vote be up to the board to take a vote
on that U to approve the recusal if it's
[27:44] the Bo's desire to do that okay anybody
else before
[27:48] we I just do we need to make a motion on
that or yes okay just I know that one of
[27:54] the applicants in this is um I think Lee
Howell and Lee how and I serve on two
[27:59] different other boards but I know him as
a another member of the
[28:05] community yeah well I think
everying
[28:10] yourself that's not that's not gonna
impact my decision but I agree just need
[28:15] people to know
[28:19] that all right so we need a a motion for
commissioner forelle to recuse himself
[28:25] from the vote with with this caveat in
this and this even goes into saying he
[28:30] has to leave but let's don't yeah yeah
yeah I mean but um you can't participate
[28:37] in the discussions or questions or
whatever so
[28:43] okay it's up to you guys we have to
approve that recusal if you're going to
[28:52] approve I mean you need one of us you
I'll make a motion to allow to
[28:58] okay a second all right we have a motion
in a second any other
[29:02] questions then all in
favor all right any opposed you're
[29:08] accused
offici okay
[29:13] um the next
thing this uh opening statement of the
[29:19] hearing is is a quasi judicial
evidentiary hearing that means it's like
[29:24] a court hearing state law sets specific
procedures and rules concerning how the
[29:29] board must take make its decision these
rules are different from other types of
[29:33] land use decisions like resoning cases
the board's discretion is limited the
[29:38] board must base its decision upon comp
competent relevant and substantial
[29:43] evidence in the record record a quasi
judicial decision is not a popularity
[29:48] contest it is a decision constrained by
the standards in the ordinance and based
[29:54] on the facts presented if you will be
speaking as a witness please focus on
[29:58] the facts and standard not on per
personal preference or op opinion
[30:04] participation is limited the meeting is
open to the public everyone is welcome
[30:08] to watch parties with standing have
rights to participate fully parties may
[30:12] present evidence call witness and make
legal arguments parties are unlimited to
[30:17] the applicant local government and
individuals who can show they will
[30:20] suffer special damages other individuals
may serve as Witnesses when called by
[30:27] the forward General Witnesses testimony
is limited to facts not opinions for
[30:32] certain topics this Board needs to hear
opinion testimony from expert W
[30:37] Witnesses these topics include project
individuals providing expert opinion
[30:42] must be qualified as experts and provide
the factual evidence upon which they
[30:46] base their expert opinion Witnesses must
swear or affirm to their
[30:51] testimony and at this time we were
administer the oath to any aveng in all
[30:58] individuals who intend to provide sworn
testimony just stand right up here
[31:16] you do you swear to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth in
[31:21] this case and
[31:26] all all right so I guess we'll start
with
[31:31] um you want to begin with your yeah
thank you Mr chairman my name is Tom
[31:37] Terell I'm with the law firm Fox
Rothchild in the Greensboro office of
[31:42] the firm U you have at your desk two
notebooks one of them is for the first
[31:47] hearing and one notebook is for the
second hearing I offer these right now
[31:52] as evidence on both of these hearings
you will see that we took your standard
[31:58] for a special use permit very seriously
the evidence in there not only is
[32:03] competent and not only is material but
it is quite substantial um I like and Mr
[32:10] chairman if with your permission I think
we can go through a little bit quicker
[32:15] tonight because some of the evidence in
the first one and some of our comments
[32:20] are going to be taken in the second if
we could just accept combine them into
[32:24] one just combine in a little bit one I
think technically we have to have two
[32:28] hearings but we can if you'll allow me I
will get my witnesses to basically adopt
[32:34] their testimony okay and that can speed
things along and get you out of here uh
[32:40] quickly um it's good to be back here in
Scotland County I think laurenburg I
[32:45] enjoy working with one of the best
County attorneys that I get to uh work
[32:49] with as I travel across the state we
have if you would take out the Laurel
[32:55] Crest notebook this is the one that has
the butterscotch cover and I'm just
[33:00] going to take about two minutes and just
quickly walk you through what we have
[33:06] tab by tab um the first is the special
use permit standards this comes out of
[33:12] your ordinance you already have approved
several solar farms under these
[33:19] standards you have already found that
solar does not harm health and safety
[33:24] we've already found it doesn't uh harm
um the uh property values of joining
[33:30] property you found them uh consistent
with your comprehensive plan nonetheless
[33:35] we still provide to you the same
evidence uh there is what call Race
[33:40] judicata um you've already made these
decisions but we still want you to see
[33:47] how serious we are the first tab after
that is our application narrative it has
[33:53] all those standards as applied to Laurel
Crest after that there is some
[33:59] frequently asked questions about solar
uh this is something we hand out often
[34:05] at neighborhood meetings uh or send out
uh in letters to neighbors before we
[34:11] have a meeting um so people can you know
get an idea uh of what this is all about
[34:19] if you want to see the site plan we have
two pullouts at the next uh Tab and then
[34:27] behind that that and this is probably
one of the most important tabs in here
[34:32] Paul Miller will speak after me and show
you more than that we are showing you
[34:37] the landscape plan these landscape plans
are done uh uh and sealed by Landscape
[34:44] Architects but basically you won't be
able to see these panels and that's
[34:50] number one number two we go above and
beyond in many places what your
[34:57] ordinance requires on that the next tab
is health and safety when Mr sandord
[35:02] gets up here these are his materials he
will give you his credentials as to uh
[35:08] why he is an expert uh and chairman Obby
will ask you at that time to recognize
[35:13] him as an expert we have um at the next
many people for some reason think that
[35:20] solar Farms are exempt from the Clean
Water Act they are not uh every buffer
[35:27] to a weap into a stream has to be met uh
in fact companies that do those um go
[35:34] out and they delineate you know where
the boundaries are um the next tab is
[35:40] the market impact study it is the
thickest thing in here Kirkland uh again
[35:46] he will also present his credentials uh
his company by the way has done more of
[35:51] these studies than any company in the
United States they are deemed by many
[35:55] people to be the country's leading
experts on this subject because of the
[36:00] data uh that they have compiled uh the
next tab um is harmony with the area uh
[36:07] we take that uh and with uh and show you
some photographs to kind of basically
[36:15] say you've got these uh 90 foot transmit
lines already over here you won't see
[36:20] the panels but you see the transmission
line nobody ever complains about that um
[36:25] you're going to see a very quick power
point in a second and then there's a tab
[36:30] in here on decommissioning and Miss
Miller will explain that we meet 100% of
[36:39] decommission requirements from removing
it and that includes 100% of bonding the
[36:45] removal of this uh so if we could move
along I'm G to ask Miss Miller if she
[36:51] would introduce herself and just go you
through a quick powerpint
[36:56] okay good evening everyone and happy
Easter Monday for those of you who uh
[37:01] maybe were also dying Easter eggs this
weekend um so my name's Nicole Miller as
[37:05] Tom said um part of s cre Renewables uh
my address is 5310 South Alon AB durm
[37:12] North Carolina I am going to be
presenting both of these sites tonight
[37:16] um so lural Crest and Scott's Grove I
want to note before we start what
[37:21] happens with these projects so both of
these projects are right now prospects
[37:25] they would ultimately have to be
selected by Duke Energy in order to
[37:29] become full you know shovel ready
projects that we actually connect to the
[37:34] grid U so if chosen these projects are
then included in the long-term
[37:39] generation for Duke Energy uh and would
start construction about three to four
[37:42] years the reason that we're here tonight
is because we want to be able to be sure
[37:47] to say to Duke Energy yes we're ready to
start you can definitely depend on us if
[37:51] we are indeed chosen so I did want to
emphasize you know I'm going to walk
[37:54] through both of these projects tonight
um both our Pros
[37:57] both do depend on selection by Duke
Energy before being fully built so that
[38:02] being said Cypress Creek Renewables um
we are uh you know we've been around
[38:08] since 2014 we've done a lot of work uh
particularly in the Southeast and and
[38:12] ultimately developed about 12 gws uh you
can go over to the next
[38:17] slide so as you can tell from the
previous slide we have a lot of history
[38:21] particularly in North Carolina so we've
developed in over 67 counties um and
[38:26] invested about two and a half million in
the state which does not include an
[38:29] additional 3 million that we pay every
year to local taxes uh in in the
[38:34] counties in which we serve um I will
note as well so we have offices in
[38:38] Durham and Asheville and our office in
Durham also houses our 247 control
[38:43] center uh and that takes care of and and
really monitors their sites across the
[38:47] entire
nation so why Scotland County this is a
[38:52] question that I think we got during the
planning board um and appreciate Jim for
[38:57] proposing this so why Scotland County
and and why now so essentially we need
[39:02] sites that are going to be flat dry and
a long transmission lines these end up
[39:06] being lowest cost for Ray payers like us
and until recently Scotland County had
[39:11] fly flat dry land but the transmission
lines didn't have capacity so Duke
[39:17] Energy has recently said that they're
going to expand the transmission lines
[39:20] um they're essentially going to add more
capacity which means that sites weren't
[39:24] previously feasible are now feasible
that being said this doesn't mean you're
[39:29] GNA see a 100 solar sites in Scotland
County you're only going to see uh
[39:34] enough that or rather the ones that are
lowest cost kind of best operating so
[39:40] that's why we're here tonight we believe
that we have two of them we want to act
[39:42] quickly while there is this capacity um
and and we do believe given uh the the
[39:47] capacity that it can be two really good
additions to Scotland
[39:52] County okay so getting actually into
this specific site this is an Mega solar
[39:58] facility located along Old Wire Road um
for this one it is about 460 acres and
[40:05] has a $4.6 million decommissioning Bond
associated with it uh so that is
[40:10] essentially to return the project to the
original use after we're done um again
[40:15] as I said electricity will be sold to
Duke Energy uh and the site includes 30
[40:20] foot setbacks 20 foot to all property
lines and then dative buffer um I do
[40:26] want to note that this particular
particular site has a a neighbor to if
[40:30] you kind of look in this should have
brought a a laser pointer but if you
[40:34] look yeah to to the lower area so
there's a neighbor um that we worked
[40:38] with we had a meeting on October 26 and
actually only one neighbor came out we
[40:44] had a really good conversation with him
he stayed the whole time we talked um
[40:48] and we ended up being able to agree to
building out essentially a 4 acre buffer
[40:52] between his land and our property to
ensure that he has still the good views
[40:57] that has now he still has access to his
land um and he's ultimately able to to
[41:01] retain that um one other note that I'll
I'll add so during the planning board
[41:06] meeting we did additionally commit to
voluntary voluntary third party
[41:11] monitoring um during construction to to
ensure that all of our storm water uh is
[41:17] is up to date this also go next oh
perfect okay so uh as Tom mentioned we
[41:23] did work with a landscape architect um
and they helped put together these
[41:28] designs so this design in particular let
me see if I got
[41:32] the oh it's just the laser pointer okay
oh so this is going to be the main one
[41:38] this is if you're along Old Wire Road
this is an example of what this
[41:42] particular vegetative buffer would look
like so this is a person who's about six
[41:46] feet um this vegetative buffer would hit
about 10 feet uh per the ordinance
[41:51] within three years again this is this is
kind of what it would look like uh just
[41:56] wanted to provide that visual
representation go to the next
[42:02] slide this is just highlighting some of
the diligence we've done um to the site
[42:06] thus far we did want to make sure that
this is again one of the best sites that
[42:10] we can provide both for Scotland County
and for Cypress Greek um so we we've
[42:14] done a number of studies to ensure that
the endanger species and wetlands will
[42:18] not be uh impacted additionally we we've
got a health and safety report that we
[42:23] can speak to in a little bit um and we
did do a decommissioning plan in full
[42:29] nextend so Laurel Crest would provide
about $5 million uh in tax revenue over
[42:34] the the sit's 40-year operational life
um additionally we would have about 100
[42:40] jobs and uh be enough to power about
15,000
[42:46] homes um one thing I did want to mention
is so I I previously talked about
[42:50] decommissioning and and the bond that we
have associated with that I did want to
[42:54] point out that North Carolina is
actually one of the first states to have
[42:57] a Statewide decommissioning Bill uh this
essentially provides or it ensures that
[43:03] every site that's going to be um in in
operation has a decommissioning plan and
[43:09] a a bond to go with it um Additionally
you know our leases actually absolve the
[43:14] land owner from responsibility um and
ultimately um make sure that the land is
[43:19] returned to the ormal site uh I've also
concluded here uh this is a website um
[43:25] for YouTube just to see how The
decommissioning Works particularly for
[43:29] how solar recycling works there's a uh
solar recycling facility that's actually
[43:35] opening up in Salsbury North
Carolina so um you've probably seen us
[43:41] around Scotland County recently um we've
we've enjoyed being around in the in the
[43:45] county um we've been in a lot of vents
uh I'd be remiss if I didn't notice or
[43:50] didn't mention that we also had par me a
a scholarship program that we've enjoyed
[43:56] um sponsoring is is one of 27 counties
Nationwide um we've partnered with St
[44:02] Andrews and beta box learning um and are
looking forward to continuing to to work
[44:07] in stotland County um with that so the
next slide is just another another yeah
[44:12] picture um and I'm happy to pass it off
to Chris sander
[44:17] to um or answer any questions if
[44:21] that's okay
cool
[44:26] yeah
[44:32] good evening board thank you for hearing
us uh Monday my name is Chris sanifer
[44:37] I've testified for this board on several
occasions
[44:40] um I'll present some of my credentials I
have other ones if you if if the issues
[44:46] arise but I am a licensed engineer in 15
states across the South
[44:52] Midwest uh I'm a licensed electrical
contractor in North Carolina
[44:57] of unlimited classification that we have
installed and
[45:02] removed so form
facilities
[45:07] um I grew up on a farm live on a
farm got 100 acres of panel on my farm I
[45:15] just signed a lease for 30 more acres to
go under uh panel so
[45:21] um I've installed them and removed them
I've lived with them so I I'm I'm I'm
[45:27] fairly prili with them um I worked for
Duke Energy for 30 years and the last
[45:33] five years of that or so ending in 2012
I guess 2011 2012 it was my job to
[45:40] interconnect um utility scale Sol forms
and so I'll present that to you if if
[45:47] you want to know any other licenses I
think what we need is just the board's
[45:53] uh asent that he is an expert in health
and safety of Sol forms right um and and
[45:58] is there any questions on that uh there
is a in the back of that tab uh for the
[46:05] lack of a better word I'll call it a
resume I don't know if it's a full
[46:08] resume but it it of and and ask that uh
I I think we can certify him as an
[46:16] expert in health and safety on solar
Farms unless there's any other
[46:19] discussion on
[46:23] it all right thank you thank you and and
I would say also compatibility I serve
[46:28] on the planning board in in Nash County
and we've approved 37 so far utility
[46:34] scale Sol forms and so we find them
highly compatible uh with in our County
[46:40] and so I first I think I just put some
boundaries I'm an engineer I work from
[46:45] boundary conditions
and you guys have 16 solar forms already
[46:52] util 133 megawatts if both of these
forms are approved I'm not here on right
[46:58] now on behalf of Laur Crest but if both
of them were approved with the ones that
[47:04] you already have you would still be
using less than 1% of the land surface
[47:09] area in in the county it's it's it's
it's I know that you say well 600 acres
[47:15] it's true but and then other one's 400
Acres but totally it it's less than 1%
[47:21] of the count and uh so I think that's
important for some folks to kind of get
[47:27] in get in perspective U the other thing
I wanted to say is there are no harsh
[47:32] chemicals there's nothing that can leech
out of these panels there's nothing
[47:35] going to store to groundwater fact is
these actually recharge the groundw
[47:40] because they don't use any water it's
not like a farm where you pump them
[47:44] water out of the ground and irrigating
corn soy beans whatever these solar pels
[47:50] I mean they used to rain because it
washes them off when it gets dust and so
[47:54] in this part of the country we don't
have to wash them because the rain
[47:56] watches off that water goes right into
the ground and recharges the aqu and so
[48:02] the fact that they're safe there's very
little traffic associated with typically
[48:07] the one of these Farms would have less
traffic than one residential U dwelling
[48:13] place and there's no odor there's no
noise there not at the boundary with no
[48:19] noise there's a little fan on the
inverter but you can't hear it at the
[48:23] boundary and they don't run at night so
they make no noise at night and so there
[48:28] will be a substation most likely it'll
have some light security lighting at the
[48:32] substation just like Duke would have
they're going to have to put their
[48:35] substation in connect with and I'm sure
they gonna have light on theirs too and
[48:39] so uh but but that's in a sequestered
area so so that that should not be an
[48:44] impact so in my professional opinion
uh lqu if installed and operated way the
[48:53] way it's planned would not materially
impact the health and safety
[48:57] folks in in Scotland County and and I
can talk for 30 minutes or I can just
[49:03] ask you if you have any questions and
and save your
[49:09] time do
that okay well and and since we have you
[49:14] certified now if you want to go ahead
and address the other one as well um you
[49:21] can do that I'll be glad to that uh my
my opinion on the one down the road from
[49:27] is the same it's the same topography and
I've already told you about the total
[49:31] land mass and so they're using the same
equipment the same procedures same
[49:38] um all the both of these project would
have to comply with the North Carolina
[49:43] Department of V quality gonna have to
get uh erosion control
[49:47] sedimentation U plans approved they're
gonna have to have Wetlands approved
[49:52] before they before they can impact those
they're going to have to have have
[49:58] um I don't have have glare stures on
this one but they're they're going to
[50:02] have if if there's driveways going to
have to get dot permits for the
[50:05] driveways any this is just a start I
mean I mean they have a many more
[50:13] uh hurdles that they have to get to to
to ever get this thing installed
[50:18] including getting Duke to to to purchase
the energy
[50:23] right okay does anybody have any
question question yeah I'd be glad to
[50:28] entertain question on either one of
[50:32] these oh you don't have I thought you
said you had one okay all right thank
[50:37] you sir very
much
[50:40] and all right this is
[50:44] the hi my name is Nick Kirkland with
Kirkland appraisals I'm the property
[50:49] impact study property impact okay trying
to get to the right page here it's the
[50:55] really big one course marke marke impact
Market is what it's called
[51:01] okay all right we'll all
right tell us about your qualification
[51:07] sure I'm a State Certified General
appraiser in North Carolina Kentucky
[51:12] Indiana in Virginia I'm a candidate for
designation through the appraisal
[51:15] Institute I've been accepted as an
expert in property value impacts uh in
[51:20] hundreds of hearings um from boards as
small as planning boards up to um state
[51:26] citing boards and uh I've been an
appraiser for over nine
[51:33] years okay um and again if you want to
turn to the back of that tab there is a
[51:39] list of stop calling it I won't call it
a resume but it qualifications is
[51:44] qualifications for for the other
appraiser that signed this my
[51:47] qualifications are not attached I'm
happy to go not yours that is correct
[51:52] okay there's two appraisers who have
signed this me and another one all right
[51:55] mine are not
go through mine again if you'd like um
[52:00] no I no no no it's fine it's okay it's
similar in format it's just right
[52:06] slightly different courses on different
years okay any objection to him being
[52:11] recognized as a expert
witness all right thank you we certify
[52:18] your expertise thank you so at Kirkland
appraisals we've looked at uh well over
[52:23] a thousand solar farms uh the vast
majority of which have been located
[52:27] within the southeast and all of those
that we're talking about are ground
[52:31] mounted utility scale just like is
proposed here so what we've done for uh
[52:35] the proposed Laurel Crest is we've
looked at okay well out of a thousand
[52:40] plus solar Farms where are they normally
located what's the most common adjoining
[52:44] uses are they normally found in
industrial areas or they found in rural
[52:48] areas or where are they normally found
and additionally what are the most
[52:52] common adjoining
uses uh what we found is that almost all
[52:57] solar facilities are located in rural to
Suburban areas and predominantly are
[53:02] located on agricultural or uh
residential land uh the common
[53:07] misconception is that they're cited on
Industrial tracks but that's just
[53:11] typically not something that occurs um
part of something that could lead to
[53:16] that misconception is oftentimes after
they've been rezoned or put a
[53:19] conditional use the land underneath gets
reson to Industrial which can often lead
[53:23] to that uh but this proposed site is
very similar to what we typically see
[53:27] for solar facilities with most of the
adjoining uses being agricultural or
[53:31] residential in nature uh therefore it's
my professional opinion that the
[53:34] proposed use will be in Harmony in the
areas in which it is to be located
[53:39] additionally in order to determine
whether or not this use would have an
[53:43] impact on adjoining property values
we've done what's called a matched pair
[53:47] or paired sales analysis this involves
comparing homes that have sold adjacent
[53:50] to solar facilities next to other
similar nearby homes that do not adjoin
[53:55] these facilities in order to measure for
any difference the idea is if there's
[53:59] two homes that are very similar except
one is next to the solar facility and
[54:03] one is not what impact does the solar
far Facility have on the value of the
[54:08] adjoining one would be the impact that
the solar facility would typically have
[54:13] uh so we've got 90 plus examples that
show that houses next to solar
[54:17] facilities do not sell for less than
other nearby houses uh additionally this
[54:21] is supported by multiple university
studies which show that in rural areas
[54:26] solar facilities do not impact adjoining
property values and finally the last
[54:31] thing that we've done is we've reached
out to tax assessors and appraisers in
[54:35] the tax departments in 188 counties
across 10 States including Scotland
[54:40] County U of those the respondents have
indicated 90% of them said they make no
[54:45] adjustments to the negative for
adjoining properties that are next to
[54:48] solar facilities so these are for
counties that already have solar farms
[54:52] in them and sighted in the ground uh 90%
said nope we make no adjustments there's
[54:57] no basis for adjusting anything any
house next to a solar facility downwards
[55:02] 10% said they had no comment 0% of those
188 counties said they make any
[55:07] adjustment to the negative for joining
properties uh based on these factors
[55:12] it's my professional opinion that the
proposed solar facility will not impact
[55:15] the adjoining property values and I'm
happy to answer any questions you may
[55:19] have okay anyone have any questions on
is that your opinion as to each of these
[55:24] projects is that it is my opinion into
both of these based on that that data
[55:28] yes sir okay all right no no questions
from anyone on on Mr Kirkland okay thank
[55:35] you perfect thank
[55:41] you I I actually do have a question if I
may okay was is was there in any of your
[55:48] findings did you ever find a case where
the property where the solar farm was
[55:55] going to was was not harmonious with the
surrounding area and if so
[56:01] why so let me understand the question I
have we ever found whether or not a
[56:06] solar facility would be not harmonious
where it would be located right uh there
[56:11] are solar facilities that we see that
people ask us to do impact studies on
[56:17] that we indicate hey the there isn't a
vegetative buffer here that not every
[56:23] County requires one or there appears to
be some is 50 feet away we're not going
[56:29] to be able to make an impact study that
says no impact unless these factors can
[56:33] be addressed and oftentimes that helps
as a pre a preliminary measure for uh
[56:39] adjustments to be
made in order for us to make a report
[56:44] that would conform to the data that
we've seen or we are not hired to
[56:49] continue to make an impact study um but
the the projects that we show up and
[56:54] testify to have been been harmonious and
a lot of that is due to in part if a
[57:00] developer brings forward a project we're
not going to sign something just saying
[57:05] it's harmonious if it's not harmonious
based on all the data that we've seen in
[57:09] other facilities can you give me an
example of of what it would be near that
[57:14] you would consider it non hormon it it
has less to do with what it would be
[57:19] located near and More in how it is cited
within a community this goes into so
[57:26] there's a concept in appraising called
externalities it's essentially what what
[57:31] are what is a characteristic of a
property that could cause it to impact
[57:35] an adjoining property examples of this
especially in eastern North Carolina
[57:39] would be odor like a hog
facility uh poultry facility um things
[57:45] like that or traffic noise hazardous
materials things of that nature that
[57:49] could have an impact well for a solar
facility like this the only real concern
[57:55] is appearance that is the most common
one so when they're not utilizing some
[57:59] sort of extended setback they're not
using vegetative buffer or a landscaping
[58:04] screen within the fencing that helps
those all ameliorate the concerns of uh
[58:10] the appearance for projects that have
not had
[58:14] that in the initial uh request for us to
do an impact study we're replying with
[58:21] we are not able to furnish you an an
impact study that says this would not
[58:25] have an impact if you do not provide
things to actually mitigate any
[58:31] potential concerns than
sir thank
[58:38] you can keeping this moving quickly I
think we can do the second application
[58:45] if you'd like to do that and get all the
evidence in and then have public speak
[58:50] would that be the okay that would be the
yes
[58:54] okay um
we um have a more yellow mustard colored
[59:00] notebook that is on your desk this
notebook is identical in all respects
[59:09] with the
exception of the um site plan is
[59:13] different at that tab it shows the one
for Scotch cve solar the buffer exhibits
[59:20] are a little bit different uh it shows
where the applicant is going above and
[59:27] beyond and having uh even more thicker
taller uh Landscaping buffers would it
[59:33] be visible I'm sorry will it be visible
no it will not it will not and that's
[59:39] and that is the whole point uh of this
uh and the only other difference is
[59:45] there's some information on battery
storage it is possible that Duke Energy
[59:50] may uh uh elect to put some batteries at
the uh point of interconnection that's
[59:56] not something we know right now so we
put something uh in there on that uh um
[1:00:01] and uh commissioner Gibson if I could
address Harmony uh also while I'm
[1:00:05] standing here uh the North Carolina
Supreme Court on many occasions has said
[1:00:12] that when you list a use as allowable in
a certain zoning district there is a
[1:00:18] legal presumption that it's harmonious
with other uses and uh so we all we love
[1:00:25] putting those cases in it's in we've
actually put it into the notebook and
[1:00:29] there has to be evidence to the contrary
but in this case you won't be able to
[1:00:35] see it smell it hear it there won't be
traffic that you can feel um and
[1:00:40] especially uh commissioner Williams as
us requested if you can't see it uh the
[1:00:45] harmony uh is pretty uh clear because uh
the transmission lines historically have
[1:00:51] been there everybody knows they're there
and you you just don't see you know in
[1:00:55] your in your mind
um that conclud I'm sorry we have six
[1:01:00] slides that are unique to this we would
just like to very quickly introduced
[1:01:05] okay you're up again thank you long time
to see all right so so as Tom mentioned
[1:01:11] uh this project also located in Scotland
County obviously this is another 80
[1:01:16] megawatt solar facility this one has the
option to add a 32 megawatt battery
[1:01:21] again that's up to the discretion of
Duke Energy uh this one is a little bit
[1:01:25] larger on 750 acres and ultimately uh is
along
[1:01:32] 15501 so similar to Laurel Crest we had
a a neighbors meeting we talked to to
[1:01:37] folks and we sent out mailers to
everyone who is surrounding the site um
[1:01:42] after that meeting we had a lot of good
discussion additionally at the planning
[1:01:45] board we had a lot of really good
discussion there about some changes that
[1:01:49] could be made to the site um so again a
lot of this is is familiar but what I do
[1:01:54] want to focus on are the changes to this
site uh that we've made to to address
[1:01:58] the concerns of the planning board and
uh the neighbors so if you go to the
[1:02:01] next
one along um along
[1:02:06] 15501 and monrroe road which is to the
north we've increased our setback so uh
[1:02:12] increase them from increase them 20
times to 200 feet to account for
[1:02:16] Neighbors to the north um and 10 times
uh along 15501 to account for that road
[1:02:23] we know that that's the road that you
use coming in and out of Scotland County
[1:02:27] uh driven it myself a number of times
now and we want to make sure that that
[1:02:31] stays to your point harmonious uh with
the remainder of the area um on this
[1:02:36] site we also add an additional 10 feet
to to Wetland setbacks for a total of
[1:02:40] four feet 40 feet just to add uh it that
reassurance because this is a larger
[1:02:46] site um and we we have some existing
Wildlife corridors we've actually added
[1:02:52] and put some self-imposed restrictions
on additional wildlife corridors so what
[1:02:57] that means is essentially our fences
won't block this so the areas that the
[1:03:01] wildlife already used to navigate um
from east to west and north to south
[1:03:06] they will still be able to get to you so
um we're going to build around those
[1:03:10] areas to make sure that Wildlife still
have the opportunity to to move
[1:03:15] freely um we've additionally moved some
some site entrances uh our after
[1:03:22] construction our folks will only be out
a couple times a month uh but that being
[1:03:25] said we didn't want to have site
entrances next to residences so we've
[1:03:30] moved them around and kind of redesigned
the site to make sure that that uh is
[1:03:34] better for
folks additionally and I think this is
[1:03:38] the one that we're most well I don't
want to say most excited about but we're
[1:03:42] very excited about is we've also
increased the vegetative buffer so again
[1:03:47] um North along Monroe Road as well as
everywhere that you could see the site
[1:03:52] um when driving along 15501 we've
actually increased the vegetative buffer
[1:03:56] considerably to 25 ft deep um similarly
if you go to the next site we did work
[1:04:02] with the landscape um the landscape
design on this one as well just to show
[1:04:07] like what is this going to look like um
and and what is it actually gonna gonna
[1:04:13] what are you actually going to see and
so to your question um you can see
[1:04:17] you're not going to see at at eye level
the solar panels you know if you're
[1:04:21] flying over it you'll see it um but ey
level you won't see it go next
[1:04:27] site again this is just everything we've
done for the site um and then last thing
[1:04:31] I want to touch on um for the the next
slide is again this site has economic
[1:04:38] benefits uh to Scotland County the
biggest difference here is that if we
[1:04:43] add in the battery system because that
has an increased amount of capital that
[1:04:48] would actually add an additional $2
million in tax benefits um so I didn't
[1:04:53] want to highlight that there's a range
uh from to seven million and and what
[1:04:57] ultimately impacts that is the decision
of whether or not Duke would elect to
[1:05:01] add battery storage um and then yeah
everything else everything else is
[1:05:07] same I have a question I got a question
for her
[1:05:11] too as it relates to the buffers and the
the Shrubbery that would be planted what
[1:05:17] would be the plan for maintaining as it
dies because of course over time some of
[1:05:22] those trees die and they don't look good
is there a plan for Main yes and that's
[1:05:26] absolutely so we've been in this
industry again 10 years and we've been
[1:05:32] in North Carolina during that time uh I
think we'll say frankly we've learned a
[1:05:37] hard lesson on that where at first we
didn't understand how to how to take
[1:05:41] care of them as maybe you should um so
that's one of the reasons that we're
[1:05:45] actually involving landscape architect
early now to make sure that we're
[1:05:48] planting the right things uh that being
said if there are things that that are
[1:05:52] ultimately you know not sustained
um we would we would replace those
[1:05:58] that's that's part of the ongoing
operations and maintenance that that we
[1:06:01] do for the sites um but yeah I I
recognize even driving in today I think
[1:06:05] there are some sites that not I don't I
don't think our sites but um some sites
[1:06:09] that that don't look great and again
this is a lesson that we've learned over
[1:06:14] the last 10 years and one of the reasons
we've engaged a landscape architect
[1:06:17] early
on the the Laura chrest solar site you
[1:06:22] say would generate 15,000 enough energy
15,000 hom right how many with this s
[1:06:28] 15,000 15,000 yep all right I know you
guys in the business of you know setting
[1:06:33] up solar farms and they create energy
for Duke
[1:06:36] Energy one of my concerns is when will
the citizens directly be able to benefit
[1:06:41] from some of this energy yeah when when
when would the citizens of Scotland
[1:06:46] County can say that they're not you guys
are not just sending our energy to the
[1:06:51] Metro areas and our citizens here have
to look at the solar
[1:06:58] yeah maybe well I just stood up Mr
sanifer might be the better one you
[1:07:03] already are taking advantage of solar
Farms that are in other counties plus
[1:07:09] this County that are keeping your rates
constant what solar does is a it's a
[1:07:16] it's the cheapest form of energy energy
production out there has actually gotten
[1:07:22] a lot more efficient so that when other
cost might make your energy bills go up
[1:07:31] those other cost don't affect solar so
what solar does is to to Pro uh create
[1:07:39] an a cost through Cost
Containment they keep rates flatter than
[1:07:47] they otherwise would be this company
will enter into what is called a
[1:07:52] purchase uh Power purchase agreement
with Duke and that power purchase
[1:07:57] agreement is
flat for several years and then it goes
[1:08:02] up by a certain amount but then it's
flat so Duke Energy knows that it's um
[1:08:09] cost of getting energy from this
facility remains flat and that is a Cost
[1:08:16] Containment for you and your citizens
now again you've already been benefiting
[1:08:20] from solar in this region and that are
being put on this transmission line
[1:08:26] I Chris you could probably do a better
job than I would you want to add to that
[1:08:29] I think
you help stabilize the cost because is
[1:08:33] because the sunshine cost does not go up
so once you get the capital investment
[1:08:38] in the maintenance is very low it's not
like a a plant that uses fuel that you
[1:08:44] constantly have to worry about what the
price of fuel's going to be because
[1:08:47] that's not that's not a concern and the
maintenance is very low so it's just
[1:08:51] really a capital investment just kind of
sits out there very just and does what
[1:08:56] it does these these panels that we're
putting in are very efficient U I'd say
[1:09:02] they're they're 60 times more efficient
than photo photo synthesis so if you're
[1:09:09] putting trying to to make energy with
corn these these would displace 60 Acres
[1:09:15] for every acre you trying to make with
corn one acre of solar panel would equal
[1:09:19] 60 Acres that you were trying to make
fuel corn so if you if you're going if
[1:09:23] you're going to use it for fuel the
other thing I was going to say is step
[1:09:26] step on
over people watching it live so they can
[1:09:30] hear you're right at I need to repeat it
no no go ahead okay uh I was gonna say
[1:09:35] there's one thing and that's from the
Department of energy um but the EPA has
[1:09:40] also done studies and so you want to
know what the benefit is in this County
[1:09:45] yeah there there's two parts those that
stay in the county on Lumby River or
[1:09:51] other electric those in the CI on the
cities electric city which buys energy
[1:09:57] from duke
so you know the see the Alber benefit
[1:10:03] from it this region is in Scotland
County so some of that cost savings can
[1:10:07] be passed on to the city in any way well
that's that's what I'm saying they if
[1:10:11] they're purchasing their energy
electricities is uh laurberg is a part
[1:10:15] of electricities yes I can't remember
which there's two groups but there're
[1:10:19] they're one of the groups electricities
but electricities purchases their power
[1:10:23] from wherever they can get it to cheap
that's the the whole point electricities
[1:10:26] let's find the cheapest power we can buy
well if Duke can provide that with solar
[1:10:31] then that's how they going to buy it
that's electricity is gonna buy the
[1:10:33] cheapest power they if it ain't D
they'll buy it from Dominion if not them
[1:10:38] they'll they're gonna buy it wherever
they can that's that's the whole purpose
[1:10:41] of that organization is to is to bring a
bunch of municipalities together to buy
[1:10:47] yes in bulk and they buy us power as
cheap as he can so yes they're Duke will
[1:10:52] be able to provide them power at a lower
rate because because of solar that's one
[1:10:57] that comes from Department of
energy solar Standalone is they produce
[1:11:02] electricity deeper in gas cheaper
nuclear cheaper in Coal cheaper in Wind
[1:11:06] cheaper in Hydro although those options
aren't available anymore I mean there's
[1:11:10] no more rivers to Dam up so we got
citizens looking and I just wanted to
[1:11:15] ask that question but there is another
important for every kilowatt hour that's
[1:11:19] produced here they're probably paying du
Duke's probably paying them I don't know
[1:11:23] it's not my business I don't know how
good a negotiator Cypress Creek is but
[1:11:27] that's they have negotiated uh that
price but half of that money comes back
[1:11:34] to the to the county in the form of um
reduced Health cost because now for
[1:11:41] every uh megawatt hour this here is
there's like 30 uh tons of coal ash that
[1:11:48] doesn't have to be disposed of there's
not the carbon monoxide there not the
[1:11:52] carbon dioxide it's not the nitric oxide
it's not snog all the stuff that emits
[1:11:58] out of those Stacks you're not having to
bring that anymore according to the EPA
[1:12:03] that improves your health by Health cost
by about 2.75 cents a kilowatt hour
[1:12:11] which is almost what these guys are
getting paid to produce it and your
[1:12:16] health costs are going down that much
because I think that's a real
[1:12:20] impact so I mean and that that's worth a
lot I got a question when would the
[1:12:25] first check be written sir when would
the first check be written to the county
[1:12:30] as a form of tax revenue and all that
when
[1:12:34] would okay I I heard somebody say they
were talking about putting development
[1:12:39] here I'm on planning board no no no
that's I'm trying to say was the revenue
[1:12:45] for tax revenue the money wise oh you're
talking about for the taxes yeah it
[1:12:49] would be it would be in the first year
of its construction which anticipated
[1:12:54] 2027 okay I'm sorry I misunderstood you
okay okay I thought we get to
[1:13:02] but MoneyWise yeah that's what concerned
of course so depending on on how long uh
[1:13:09] it takes to get built part of that again
[1:13:14] is
[1:13:17] okay yeah did you did you ever cover the
decommissioning bond on the scotch gr or
[1:13:22] or was it was on there yeah so it is 7
.6 million um and I I should note that
[1:13:28] both of those are well above we did
decommissioning estimates for for both
[1:13:32] sites and both are well above the I just
didn't see
[1:13:37] it a couple slides it's it's all right
on the on the scotch gr one up a couple
[1:13:43] more the first one there you go yep so
it's gonna be at least seven 7.5 more
[1:13:49] likely 7.6 million um to to get it back
to uh the original state and and that's
[1:13:55] in accordance with your current
coordinance there's a lot of text on
[1:14:01] there
okay right Mr chairman that concludes
[1:14:06] the presentation on both Laurel Crest
and Scotch gr solar I think that the
[1:14:11] board will will find that the evidence
we presented on both is competent
[1:14:16] material and substantial we're glad to
be here and to further ask questions if
[1:14:22] anyone from the public speaks to prevent
to present something that's contrary
[1:14:27] okay thank you
sir is there anyone else needing to be
[1:14:34] sworn and testify in this matter uh we
lost Mr mcfa he com back he's com back
[1:14:39] okay
um hearing and seeing none then we can
[1:14:45] close the hearing first and we'll do
that now we'll close the hearing on both
[1:14:49] of these and then we'll open it up for
board
[1:14:54] discussion
[1:14:58] Mr chairman this I I do want to ask for
clarification and I maybe you should
[1:15:01] have done it during the actual hearing
yes on page eight of your the very first
[1:15:07] section where you got you site the court
cases and then you go to the
[1:15:13] objectives this is in both
yeah I'm if you go down three lines it
[1:15:20] should be noted that there will be a few
hundred created I assume that means job
[1:15:27] um
yes jobs thank you well I was wondering
[1:15:31] if we could insert what we wanted like
few hundred, in additional tax
[1:15:35] revenue I think it actually said jobs on
the
[1:15:39] slide right that it's that way in both
of those in both of your books I
[1:15:43] appreciate you catching that well I I
just wanted you to know that somebody
[1:15:46] that that we actually do read this stuff
actually I'm very impressed and thank
[1:15:51] you for that I ask it for that reason I
just wanted want
[1:15:57] clarification okay any other
discussions there he is
[1:16:03] uh all right um if there's no other
questions and no other discussion about
[1:16:08] it this time we would need to do two
separate motions here correct I think so
[1:16:14] and the actual
order if the board or to approve these
[1:16:20] is going to be submitted for my review
that's the way we normally do these the
[1:16:27] applicant would submit a proposed order
for your eventual signature gotcha all
[1:16:32] right so we'll take them one at a time
Laurel qu Laurel Crest first and then
[1:16:36] we'll do Scott
scove application Mr chairman I will uh
[1:16:43] make the motion that we approve the
application from La Chris off for a
[1:16:48] second all right we have a motion in a
second any other questions
[1:16:52] discussion all in favor I I any opposed
all right now we'll offer up Scotch
[1:16:58] Grove solar's uh
application keeping in mind that his
[1:17:03] conditions of the order provided and
that kind of thing I'd like to offer a
[1:17:06] motion that we approve the scotch Grove
application pending attorney appr okay
[1:17:12] we have a motion in a second any other
discussion all right all in favor any
[1:17:17] opposed all right thank you
all thank
[1:17:23] you don't feel like you have to stay if
you need to go I know you got to get
[1:17:27] back to Ry so we wouldn't hold that
against you um all right moving on to
[1:17:33] the next item on the agenda solar form
solar farm ordinance
[1:17:39] amendment that that we discussed
um at our budget session last week
[1:17:49] uh I I we didn't do it at that time just
because we wanted to uh make sure there
[1:17:56] was uh everybody had time to read it so
um but they did do a presentation and we
[1:18:02] did hold our public hearing on the
ordinance change at that time so uh did
[1:18:08] did everybody have a chance to look over
it or have any to offer to say on it or
[1:18:13] Mr chairman while it was very extensive
and a lot of changes I think it covered
[1:18:17] a lot of things that needed to be
covered um and so I was I was pleased
[1:18:23] okay I I agree um I think that there was
so much information and I think that
[1:18:30] there were four of us at the meeting at
the time and I think we thought this was
[1:18:33] a better uh better something that the
the group as a whole should decide
[1:18:38] instead of perhaps just just four I I'll
speak for myself I was a little bit
[1:18:43] hesitant um because I felt like the we
had talked about uh different things
[1:18:50] that we felt need to be included some of
these were conversations that uh either
[1:18:54] we
had with the Planning and Zoning Board
[1:18:57] or they reported to us or at least in a
couple of cases maybe we saw when they
[1:19:02] were having different discussions on
different types different topics what
[1:19:07] they had brought up I was
particularly
[1:19:12] um maybe troubled at the time because
there were four or five lines in there
[1:19:17] that gave a lot of discretion to the
making decisions and I felt like that I
[1:19:24] maybe maybe maybe that we were looking
for something a little more definitive
[1:19:27] as to what we would base our decisions
on the more I thought about it I think
[1:19:31] that latitude and those um that
discretion was kind of what we were
[1:19:36] looking for in there so I I would make
the motion at this time that we adopt
[1:19:40] the ordinances as they were proposed to
us I'll second motion all right we have
[1:19:44] a motion in a second any other
discussion uh we do have enough Duke
[1:19:50] Duke went to the bathroom but we have
enough here to make that um so all in
[1:19:54] favor I I any opposed all right thank
you moving on to uh Mr Gibson Vice chair
[1:20:02] on some board and committee appointments
yes sir thank you I'm going to work my
[1:20:06] way from the bottom
up last members of the Zoning Board of
[1:20:13] adjustments those persons were Jimmy
Bennett Debbie Evans Frank Evans John
[1:20:19] Ferguson and Don
Norton additionally we approved three
[1:20:25] alternates Daniel doery William Joe
Graves and joy
[1:20:29] hind after which we found that we are
not able to appoint but two alternates I
[1:20:37] am recommending that we appoint theod
doy and joy Hind and let me explain that
[1:20:44] in the last meeting I said that we would
do the last to apply Joy hind was we
[1:20:49] would drop the last to apply which would
be Joy Hine however Miss Hine is not not
[1:20:54] presently serving on any board or
committee Daniel dri does serve on
[1:20:59] zoning uh board and William grave serves
on parts and
[1:21:03] wreck and uh one other board ABC Board
um and so to give Miss Hine an
[1:21:09] opportunity to serve my recommendation
is that we appoint Daniel and joy
[1:21:15] additionally um in that same thing we
have to provide alternate uh or
[1:21:21] staggered um years of service John
Ferguson Don Norton and jimmmy Bennett
[1:21:26] have served on this board previously for
a number of years so I want to recommend
[1:21:30] that we do them at two years Debbie
Evans and Frank Evans are new to the
[1:21:35] board I want to recommend that we do
them at three years and the same for joy
[1:21:40] hin and Daniel docky Daniel at two years
and joy Hine at three years and I want
[1:21:45] to offer this as a motion okay Mr clerk
you have it you got okay got it a second
[1:21:54] motion Motion in a second for that any
other questions discussion all in favor
[1:21:59] all any opposed all right all right my
next is Planning and Zoning Board Mr
[1:22:04] Cleo Graham has served a number of years
and certainly appreciative of his
[1:22:08] service and he has had to come off the
board because he's reached term we have
[1:22:12] two applicants for this vacancy Jeff mey
and Billy Thomas I want to offer a
[1:22:19] motion that we appoint Billy Thomas to
the Planning and Zoning Board okay we
[1:22:24] have a motion we have a second second
any
[1:22:27] discussion all right all in favor any
opposed all right third we have the
[1:22:33] Board of Equalization and review uh
there are two applicants for this board
[1:22:38] Miss Mary Helen Norton Miss Alexis Tyson
um these ladies do presently serve or
[1:22:45] plan to serve again uh additionally we
have to point a chairman because the
[1:22:49] chairman has had to come off of this
board so I want to offer a motion that
[1:22:52] we appoint both Miss Mary Helen Norton
and Miss Alexis Tyson and that miss m
[1:22:57] Helen Norton be appointed as chair of
the board of
[1:23:00] enr exactly all right Motion in a second
any other questions all in favor all all
[1:23:07] any opposed and finally the ABC Board
want to offer a motion that we reappoint
[1:23:13] chairman Ivy back to serve on that board
we also have two vacancies or two
[1:23:19] reappointments applicants that we have
received are Mike Edge Jeff mey Larry MC
[1:23:25] I want to recommend Jeff me and Larry MC
to serve on the board of ab on the ABC
[1:23:30] Board along with chairman I okay motion
we have a motion we have a second second
[1:23:37] okay any other discussion all in favor
just discuss that that's including are
[1:23:43] we do we do we have to nominate Tim iy
he's in included he's included okay yeah
[1:23:48] Tim Avy and Jeff M lar MC and just to
say just so you know Larry McGill is the
[1:23:53] current chairman that board so all right
any other discussion all in favor I I
[1:24:00] any opposed all right thank you sir
moving on County Manager report okay
[1:24:06] I'll go through these not a lot of
Updates this month but I'll what I have
[1:24:10] so far still waiting on the laurberg
Maxton airport no change there uh
[1:24:16] Monarch Mr or attorney Johnston is
working with monart to finalize that
[1:24:22] agreement and the terms in that
agreement
[1:24:25] North turn waterline after we met last
week we are still somewhat undecided on
[1:24:31] Ace and meral drive and if we will
extend those water
[1:24:36] lines two roads that would cost an
additional
[1:24:40] $400,000 to extend those water lines to
to your original project price so to to
[1:24:45] determine if there is interest we uh are
setting up two um informational sessions
[1:24:53] out there in that area and so we are
working with the church out there in
[1:24:57] that area and um yes sir are we GNA be
prepared next month to decide one way or
[1:25:03] another I hope that you are um I hope
that you are because definitely after
[1:25:09] these informational sessions that will
be this month before the end of April
[1:25:13] walking into may you will certainly I
hope have information you need to make a
[1:25:17] decision on that we can go ahead to some
degree with the engineering firm um move
[1:25:23] forward with the scope of work because
we can always add air drivein because
[1:25:28] they've they've already differentiated
between the original project and adding
[1:25:32] those in will you be sure as you all are
planning to make sure that we are
[1:25:35] included so that we can be present
absolutely we're we are tying down the
[1:25:39] dates with that church but right now we
are thinking April 22nd and then turn
[1:25:44] around and have another one April 30th
and I believe those are both Tuesdays in
[1:25:49] April uh but we will get that out once
the church has finalized those I will be
[1:25:54] out
um Miss Dorothy is is summon is telling
[1:25:57] me it's April
23rd but so we'll make sure everybody
[1:26:02] knows those and um we hope to finalize
that this week so we'll get those out
[1:26:07] there um moving
along I'm going to move over some of
[1:26:12] these because there's really not a lot
of update I'm just not taking them off
[1:26:15] so they don't slip through the cracks
anywhere um our Scotland County IT
[1:26:22] services
so I feel like a broken record but it is
[1:26:26] true every month we make progress right
now the biggest progress we've made I
[1:26:32] would say from last month to this month
are a few things where we've implemented
[1:26:35] something called CIS Mitch March and
those are um what you would say best
[1:26:41] practice standards for your it and your
cyber security and that is something
[1:26:44] that the National Guard absolutely
recommended that we do and so those have
[1:26:49] been rolled out for a lack of better
words and those are things like um
[1:26:55] setting up multiactor authentication
we're in the process of doing that
[1:27:00] setting up where where we used to could
have almost any old password now it's
[1:27:05] this 16 digit all these mix so things
like that best practice that we have to
[1:27:11] roll out do we still have people using
laptops we do have people using laptops
[1:27:17] what I was going to report however and I
checked in with DSS and health today
[1:27:21] because those are our two largest
um departments and the
[1:27:28] ones that probably have had the least
rate resources if you looked at the
[1:27:32] number of people to the number of
laptops we could give them and right now
[1:27:35] every person has one on their desk as of
last week so I checked in with those
[1:27:40] directors this morning to make sure of
that vc3 sent a team down last week to
[1:27:45] give a big push to get that done some
now those will not most likely not be
[1:27:50] their everyday
operating computer comp but it got a
[1:27:55] computer on a desk so everybody has one
to work on so what what what what do we
[1:28:02] do have up where there not what
departments so the network so I can
[1:28:07] describe it like this the network is
standing up and so we have several
[1:28:12] departments that are on the network and
working pretty close to normal at this
[1:28:18] point so we like have Finance on the
network some of admin Sheriff's
[1:28:22] Department um some of DSs and health are
on the network and so it's it's almost
[1:28:28] like a mix throughout the county and
that that doesn't sound like an
[1:28:31] organized way to go about that but
there's the main reason behind that for
[1:28:36] health and DSs is the state for any
employee that needs to use a state
[1:28:43] maintained website they have to approve
the IP address that we are logging on
[1:28:48] from and so our original IP address
sitting on eight will require to get
[1:28:53] that approved
once that happens all those computers at
[1:28:57] health and DSs can go on the network and
we're very close to normal again um well
[1:29:05] the question I would ask the last
discussion well not the last discussion
[1:29:08] I had with the sheriff but he mentioned
to me that they were pretty much back up
[1:29:11] on everything with exception of the cad
and the cars do that come up or it's not
[1:29:16] still so they still don't we one saying
yes and one saying no so is
[1:29:23] it
[1:29:28] okay right another another piece of of
this this puzzle is that a lot of our
[1:29:35] equipment was basically end of life um
it it just wasn't replaced although it
[1:29:40] needed to be replaced so we've taken the
time now Scotland County knows every
[1:29:44] piece of of equipment in this County
where it is when it was purchased and
[1:29:49] when it's going to be an end of life and
honestly that was a massive project and
[1:29:53] so are we working on a rotation plan
exactly and so that is part of the
[1:29:57] project and it worked out rather well
and that half the equipment can be
[1:30:01] replaced between now and next fiscal
year and then going into future fiscal
[1:30:07] years the other half can be replaced and
then we stay on a rotation we're also
[1:30:11] doing things like um staff would have a
desktop computer and a laptop almost
[1:30:18] every staff having two computers no need
for that you're going to have a laptop
[1:30:21] with a docking station and when you
leave pick it up up and go with it and
[1:30:25] so trying to consolidate some things uh
make things more efficient and reduce
[1:30:30] the cost of even if it's just equipment
to the county um I could probably keep
[1:30:37] talking about it for a long time but
that is the biggest that's the
[1:30:42] overall um The Wave project at the
courthouse that has been completed if
[1:30:48] you remember that was a project through
AOC where all the county had to do was
[1:30:53] run the cat 6 lines and then AOC came in
and put up all the the boxes that get
[1:31:00] WiFi throughout the entire courthouse
and that really something we didn't have
[1:31:04] a choice but to do and then finally we
um you can see on the right side we're
[1:31:10] doing some different things with our
Printing and copying assessments uh and
[1:31:14] service consolidation things that we're
identifying a a as I've been here for a
[1:31:20] few months and as we're making the
budget what we are paying for
[1:31:24] duplicative services and we don't need
to do that and so we we're seeing that
[1:31:29] now across C across departments and we
shouldn't be doing that and so once
[1:31:35] contracts run out we can end them with
certain vendors because the county
[1:31:39] already has access to that so that is my
report unless there's something
[1:31:44] particular you all want to ask is there
any progress on the uh East laberg
[1:31:48] recycling center there is not and um
really I I told myself by next month if
[1:31:55] if I can't get an answer about
um still waiting on the survey the last
[1:32:01] thing I heard was waiting on a survey
right
[1:32:06] so i' I've contacted the surveyor and
the land
[1:32:11] owner um and I'm just not sure where we
are with that as far as if the interest
[1:32:16] is still there to
[1:32:21] sell so by so by the next meeting we
make have a different conversation about
[1:32:25] that all right thank you ma'am next item
is uh commissioner news we'll start with
[1:32:31] Mr forel I ain't got
nothing F Mr Williams Mr Gibson go
[1:32:43] wolfa I'm okay witha yeah
yeah I will give it to them they played
[1:32:49] a good game last I will give but anyway
all right well without hearing anything
[1:32:54] else we'll recess this meeting until
next Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. at the
[1:33:00] street when Morgan Center next Wednesday
the 10th the 10th yes sorry U okay all
[1:33:09] in favor we'll see you then thank you
all for
[1:33:12] coming beat them join them for don't
[Music]
[1:33:21] forget hey dude at least I will say it
at least it was Duke that they
[1:33:29] buat okay I am going to be out of
[1:33:33] town can't
beat John look we got somebody got there
[1:33:39] was several people run into him I mean
he didn't move IAL well yeah but
[1:33:44] either last week he going up to his
daughter house so we got to figure
[1:33:50] something out I'mma just leave I don't
[1:34:00] Jason
[1:34:05] resched CU I don't know what