Orange County NC Website
Louis lannone: Yes <br /> Dave Neill: Is it truthful? <br /> Louis lannone: Yes, sir. <br /> Dave Neill: And does it contain your signature that was given under oath? <br /> Louis lannone: Yes <br /> Dave Neill: We would offer the affidavit of Louis lannone into the record. <br /> Our next witness is Brent Neiman, civil engineer and project engineer for the project. <br /> Brent Neimann: Good evening. My name is Brent Neimann. I am a civil engineer with Strata <br /> Solar. I have been sworn into the record this evening. I prepared the plan that was submitted <br /> with the application. I am very familiar with this type of development. I have been with Strata <br /> Solar for about a year and a half. In that year and a half I have worked on approximately a <br /> hundred solar farm sites of this size or larger in general. This is the standard size project that we <br /> undertake. It is a five megawatt AC facility. This particular site is pretty much covered in <br /> vegetation as it exists today. As Mr. Harvey spoke to, we will prepare the necessary approvals. <br /> We worked closely with Wesley Poole on our White Cross Farm, and we will prepare the <br /> erosion and sedimentation control plans that are consistent with the ordinances. As he spoke <br /> to, there are existing streams and wetlands in the southwest corner of the property. In general, <br /> the property slopes that direction, including from the northeast towards the southwest. As the <br /> other gentleman has spoken to, this is a very low impact development. We don't propose any <br /> grading. The only grading we do will be the installation of the access, which we will obtain a <br /> NCDOT driveway permit for. And there is a minor amount of grading at the inverter areas to <br /> divert surface water away from the facilities- basically just to keep them dry, but that is very <br /> minimal activity. In general this is a very pervious project. We have provided a letter to Mr. <br /> Harvey as well, from the state of North Carolina DEANR, division of water quality, to that effect. <br /> The panels on the racks have approximately one inch gap between each panel, and the racks <br /> themselves have anywhere from four inches to eight inches between those racks. Water hits <br /> the panels, finds those voids between the panels, hits the ground, and you have surface <br /> drainage just like you had before. No change in the surface pattern, so there is no introduction <br /> of additional water. We are not moving water to other areas of the site. It hits the ground as it <br /> did pre-development and continues on that path. You do have a requirement in your ordinance <br /> for a pre and post calculation for the one year 24 hour storm. We will certainly meet those <br /> requirements as well. <br /> A little bit about our construction practices -We utilize logging mats for temporary stabilization of <br /> the site. We don't use gravel. The logging mats are placed on site to prevent rutting, or in wet <br /> areas, or as construction sites go - during rain events it's going to get muddy. So those are in <br /> place to allow access of material, specifically where the staging area is for delivery of material. <br /> The staging areas are not nearly large enough to store material. We strategically plan deliveries <br /> and installation of material so that the material sits for a very minor amount of time—a day or <br /> two — before it is placed into the areas of the site that it will be installed in, and then it is <br /> immediately installed. That staging area is temporary only. There will not be any permanent <br /> storage of any materials on the site. As they stated, there is no noise associated with this. It is <br /> a fixed rack. We drive the post into the ground with a machine similar to what NCDOT uses to <br /> drive guardrail posts. Embedment depths range anywhere from three feet to eight feet, <br />