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14 <br />vehicles trips than one average single - family home. Employees visit the site once a week <br />or even less frequently. Solar panels are designed to absorb light, rather than reflect it. <br />Solar energy is a public necessity. Demand for electricity has increased in recent years <br />and our society is dependent upon conventional sources of power such as coal, gas, <br />nuclear and hydro energy. Conventional sources of electricity are expensive, finite <br />resources that require significant environmental disruption and public safety risk to <br />maintain or extract. Solar energy is a clean, cheap, unlimited resource with little <br />environmental impact. The demand for power will not decline. We must embrace <br />renewable means of power generation. <br />C. The location and character of the use if developed according to the plan submitted <br />will be in harmony with the area in which it is to be located and the use is in compliance <br />with the plan for the physical development of the County as embodied in these <br />regulations or in the Comprehensive Plan or portion thereof, adopted by the Board of <br />County Commissioners. <br />The proposed solar array — public utility is consistent with the land use pattern that exists <br />in the area today. The site of the proposed solar array — public utility is bordered on the <br />north by SR 1311 and the Railroad, and on the south by the I- 40/1 -85 Highway corridor. <br />Located on the west side of the site is a Duke Energy substation, and Redmanrhino, a <br />wood office and store fixture manufacturer. A single- family residence borders the site on <br />the east; however, it is the only residential use close to the property. A Type D Land Use <br />buffer will be provided in accordance with the Orange County Code. <br />The proposed solar array — public utility is consistent with the Orange County Land Use <br />Plan. Throughout the Orange County Land Use Plan references are made to the County's <br />desire to encourage locally - generated alternative energy resources and to promote <br />alternative and sustainable fuels. The Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory and Reduction <br />Action Plan initiated by Orange County in 2006 suggested that private alternative energy <br />production be encouraged in the County. The Orange County Comprehensive Plan <br />designates this as an area of Commercial- Industrial Transition. Allowing the subject <br />property to develop as a solar array — public utility provides an opportunity for locally <br />generated energy resources in Orange County and creates income for the property owners <br />and tax base for the County. <br />The proposed solar array — public utility will consume practically no county services: no <br />seats in county schools or on school buses, virtually no refuse or recycling needs, no <br />special sheriff protection, no light pollution, no emissions of any kind, no demand for <br />water from depleted aquifers and no sewage disposal. <br />D. The method and provision of sewage disposal facilities solid waste and water is <br />adequate. <br />This facility will be unmanned- there will be no space designed or utilized for human <br />occupancy. Water and sewage disposal facilities are not necessary, and will not be <br />3 <br />