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D <br />Attachment 1 <br />STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA BEFORE THE BOARD OF <br />COMMISSIONERS AND PLANNING <br />BOARD <br />COUNTY OF ORANGE <br />IN RE: Strata Solar- Solar Farm Use <br />Orange County PIN: a portion of 9748 -34 -9639 <br />Address: 2314 White Cross Road, Chapel Hill, North Carolina <br />STATEMENT OF JUSTIFICATION IN SUPPORT OF THE <br />SPECIAL USE PERMIT APPLICATION <br />NOW COMES THE PETITIONER, by and through counsel of record, and respectfully <br />requests approval of their application for a special use permit to operate a solar farm. In <br />support of this request, Petitioner provides the following information: <br />I. Introduction <br />Strata Solar proposes to construct a solar farm on 53.31± acres of land owned by the John <br />Bradshaw Family Limited Partnership. The property is located on White Cross Road <br />near its intersection with Butler Road. The property is currently zoned Agricultural <br />Residential (AR) within the Haw River Protected Watershed Overlay District. Adjacent <br />properties are developed as homes, a mobile home park and farms. Adjacent properties <br />are also zoned Agricultural Residential (AR) within the Haw River Protected Watershed <br />Overlay District. <br />An overarching theme of the Orange County Comprehensive Plan is a desire to create a <br />sustainable future. In Chapter 1, the Plan Overview, the Orange County Comprehensive <br />Plan states that "...we must seek to develop a community that meets the needs of the <br />present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their <br />needs." This solar farm fulfills the County's goal to reduce dependence on fossil fuels <br />and nuclear power and turn to a sustainable form of energy generation. <br />The solar farm will contain rows of Photovoltaic (PV) cells mounted on posts set in the <br />ground by hand. The posts are set individually in effort to minimize the amount of <br />grading on site. These rows of PV cells are referred to as "solar arrays." The solar arrays <br />will be fixed in place facing south in order to receive the maximum amount of solar <br />energy. This configuration contains no moving parts. The power generated from the <br />solar farm will be sold to Duke Power Company for use by Orange County and <br />consumers in place of power produced by non - sustainable means. <br />