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<br /> 1 Chair Jacobs: I have a question for Mr. Harvey. It's not dissimilar to Commissioner Rich's
<br /> 2 question. How many solar farms do we currently have in Orange County?
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<br /> 4 Michael Harvey: We have one solar facility, the White Cross Solar farm that was permitted by
<br /> 5 this Board with the issuance of a Class A special use permit. We have several private property
<br /> 6 owners who have erected solar facilities on their property. Several examples include: Mr. Bob
<br /> 7 Nutter, off of Dairyland Road; there is one at the Eco-Institute off of Pickards Mountain Road;
<br /> 8 and we have several small properties that have solar facilities, solar panels, either on the
<br /> 9 houses or on the residential property. But, as far public utility facilities, this will be our second.
<br /> 10
<br /> 11 Chair Jacobs: And are you aware of any complaints that have been brought to you by
<br /> 12 adjoining property owners regarding those panels or facilities.
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<br /> 14 Michael Harvey: I can testify I have not received any noise complaints, and there have been no
<br /> 15 investigations conducted by the planning department or the Sheriff's department, who would
<br /> 16 obviously enforce a noise ordinance.
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<br /> 18 Johnny Randall: Now, I am all for solar. I have a solar water heater. I hope to have photo-
<br /> 19 voltaics on my house, and some of my best friends are in the solar business; but I would like to
<br /> 20 make a couple of comments to Strata Solar about this, and I'm sorry if I haven't had the
<br /> 21 opportunity or made the opportunity to make these before, as a planning board member. But, in
<br /> 22 terms of property value, I don't know if they've considered the fact that this wooded site is
<br /> 23 between 1-85 and the residential area, which I'm sure provides a significant sound buffer. And 1
<br /> 24 don't know how that will affect what will be coming from 1-85 subsequent to the logging of that
<br /> 25 site. I know that there is railroad track right behind those residences, so you know they get
<br /> 26 intermittent noise, I'm sure; but that's different than a constant sound from 1-85.
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<br /> 28 The other comment is also for Strata Solar. This is clearly not a significant natural area;
<br /> 29 however, looking at aerial photos, it's largely hardwood and maturing trees and I would just like
<br /> 30 to say that for future site choices, I would encourage you to choose sites that are perhaps
<br /> 31 redevelopment sites, gray fields, brown fields that would be more in line with your sustainability
<br /> 32 mission. Because losing 52 acres of trees, which are going to suck up not only pollutants, but a
<br /> 33 lot of carbon dioxide and sequester that over the long term, kind of offsets what you —the
<br /> 34 philosophy—What I believe your organization, your company, does is to reduce carbon
<br /> 35 emissions to the environment, but by taking out 52 acres, there's 52 acres that's not going to be
<br /> 36 taking up carbon, sequestering that. But, at the same time I know this can be re-developed or
<br /> 37 developed in other ways, apartment complex for instance, which you know - So, I'm just pointing
<br /> 38 that off for your future land use. And as far as the runoff goes, let's say there are, you know on
<br /> 39 the low side, a hundred trees per acre, and you've got 52 acres, 5,200 trees. A modest size
<br /> 40 tree can transpire over 100 gallons of water per day; therefore, 520,000 gallons of water per day
<br /> 41 could be leaving that site. So, you might need to calculate that as well, in terms of about how
<br /> 42 much water is going to be running off the site. I don't know if you're going to check the amount
<br /> 43 of runoff post tree harvest or pre tree harvest, but I think you should do that post tree harvest.
<br /> 44 That's all I've got.
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<br /> 46
<br /> 47 Megan Toben: Hi thanks for the opportunity to jump in here. My name is Megan Toben and
<br /> 48 I've been sworn in. I'm going to tell you the truth; I actually came to speak in support of the
<br /> 49 agricultural zoning, which we're going to talk about later. But, I didn't realize Strata was her
<br /> 50 proposing one of these, and I actually was one of the first—our farm was one of the first sites
<br /> 51 that Strata put a solar farm on, probably was it like six years ago on Pickards Meadow. It's
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