Agenda - 09-18-2012 - 6b - Laserfiche WebLink

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27 1 the staff report and associated attachments be incorporated into the record. Is that acceptable 2 to the Board? It was answered yes. Thank you very much. So at this time I'll call Phil Post, our 3 engineer. 4 5 Phillip Post: Members of the Commissioners and members of the Planning Board, my name is 6 Phil Post. I reside in Chapel Hill. I've been properly sworn. I've been an engineer in Chapel 7 Hill for over 33 years. I'm really happy to be associated with the Bradshaw property, and 8 particularly this element of the development property. This is White Cross Road here. The 9 entire parcel is 122 acres. The Strata project will occupy about 53 acres. The Bradshaw Mobile 10 Acres is here, that will continue to operate as it has for residential purposes. The array will be in 11 this area. The stream buffers, these hashed areas represent the area of the stream buffer that 12 the County and we agree is the protected stream buffer area. The other piece that we have on 13 this is the Type E 75-foot buffer that we're proposing around the entire perimeter of the project. 14 It doesn't include of course the right-of-way. It does not include the power line; it's in addition to 15 that. I'll just point out a few features of our proposed plan here. There is one part of the 16 Bradshaw Mobile Acres; most of it is really heavy, nice, old hardwood. There is one area that is 17 sort of a lawn area, so we're going to have an alternative buffer right here. That's why there's a 18 discontinuation. We'll still have a Type E buffer, but it will be planted in a slightly different way 19 and a little more intense and narrow buffer. 20 21 Our proposed driveway is here. It will be a gravel drive directly opposite to the existing gravel 22 residential driveway on the opposite side of White Cross. There will be a small gravel area here 23 where the array materials and construction materials will be deposited as it's being erected. 24 That will be a permanent sort of parking area with the gate right here. As Michael has told you, 25 the array really rests off the ground, so underneath the array would be grass. It will really be a 26 grass field with the raised arrays on it. The only feature that is kind of different about it, is the 27 little square places right here, and I think there's five of them. There will be sort of some 28 electrical equipment that will gather the electricity that is generated by these solar panels so that 29 it can be converted from DC power to AC power, and then distributed back to Duke Power. I'm 30 really pleased to be associated with a project of this type because I think it provides so many 31 benefits to our County and particularly in advancing the environmental goals, not only of the 32 Board, but of the County Comprehensive Plan. There are many citizens in Orange County that 33 would like to see us be less dependent on fossil fuel and more dependent on sustainable 34 renewable energy. This is a project that will produce electricity and be able to support about 35 750 homes. My colleagues will explain a little bit more about the exact benefits that are derived 36 from this. I just want to point out that it will be a tremendous investment in the County and will 37 provide very little pressure or new addition to the County services. In other words, there won't 38 be any new school children, there won't be any new school buses, there's no new traffic, there's 39 no water needs, there's no sewer needs, there's no additional refuse removal, there's no need 40 for any emergency services. It provides a nice investment in the County with virtually no impact 41 on any County services. So I'd like to point that out as being not only an advancing our 42 environmental goals but also just being a nice positive addition to our County. 43 44 This application we believe meets all of the requirements of Section 2.7 of the UDO. We 45 therefore ask for your support. We further note the objective, the specific objectives in the 46 County Comprehensive Plan regarding sustainable energy and reduction of carbon footprint. 47 We believe that this project will take some giant steps in those directions. I'll stop there and 48 answer any questions. 49 50 Chair Pelissier: Yes, could you tell us a little bit more about the power line that would be 51 installed there and where are the other power lines that it's going to hook up to?