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<br />Kirkland Appraisal market study that I understand Mr. Kirkland will be referencing frequently; so
<br />you may want to have that out.
<br />Rich Kirkland: Good evening. Again, my name is Rick Kirkland. I am a commercial general
<br />certified appraiser in North Carolina. I've been working the Triangle as an appraiser for 19
<br />years. Focus is commercial, but a big focus of what I do is land. I do a lot of land appraisals,
<br />subdivisions and things of that nature. I was hired by Strata Solar to look at the question of
<br />whether or not there is going to be an impact on the property value of the adjoining properties to
<br />the solar farm. To that end, I have visited a number of solar farms across the state. I have
<br />done research through the appraisal institute's loan library. I have gone out and looked at raw
<br />data. I have gone out and looked at solar farms; looked at - for what we call matched pairs. The
<br />textbook answer for whether or not a property is going to be impacted — the way you look for
<br />that, the appraisal institute teaches, is you look for what's called a paired sale analysis, or a
<br />matched pair. Essentially, you are basically looking for two properties that are identical in every
<br />way, except for one difference, and that is what you are measuring for. In this case we are
<br />measuring for, adjacent to a solar farm. The best example I was able to find was in Goldsboro.
<br />There is a solar farm that Strata Solar built, called the AM Best Solar Farm, and there is a new
<br />subdivision being built adjoining this solar farm. They have lots that back up to the solar farm,
<br />and they have lots that don't. They are all being marketed the same. They are all being sold.
<br />There are a number of sales that have happened; I believe there are five that have happened in
<br />2013, of homes that back up to the solar farm. These are selling for the same houses, for the
<br />same floor plans as the ones that are across the street or down the street away from the solar
<br />farm. I talked to the brokers. They said the solar farm is a non - factor as far as things go. I
<br />walked down the street. I knocked on doors. I talked to the folks who bought these homes that
<br />live next to the solar farm. No one expressed any concern about it. Some of the property
<br />owners were aware that the solar farm was under construction when they bought, and some
<br />were not. Regardless of whether they knew or didn't know, they were paying the same prices.
<br />So, this really is a strong indication that there is really no impact on these adjoining property
<br />values. Homes in this subdivision are selling in the $240,000 to $260,000 price range. And so,
<br />that is the textbook way you look for this. This is — as far as it goes, there is nothing else to
<br />adjust for. These are identical uses. Since then, it's not actually in my report, but I've actually
<br />found a couple of other matched pairs that I would just briefly discuss. Specifically, the White
<br />Cross - the tract of land — the parent tract that that solar farm was built on — They sold off that
<br />piece in 2013, and it sold for a price — I can reference it here — I'll tell you the right amount — It's
<br />selling for $7,500 an acre. Again, I've done a lot of work in that area lately for the local
<br />environmental groups. Looking at the recent sales, there was a sale — very similar size tract of
<br />land — 27 acres sold for $7,900 an acre, slightly more - the comp that's not next to the solar
<br />farm, but that one also had mature timber on it, which is the difference that I saw there. So, that
<br />again showed that, for residential agriculture land, no impact adjacent to the solar farm. I've
<br />also identified property that I reference in my report as the Zebulon Solar Farm. It's in Zebulon,
<br />North Carolina. Some of the information there is actually dated. Since I wrote this report last
<br />month, I've identified since then that a tract of 25 lots — a package of 25 lots — that are
<br />referenced in there as "The Meadows of Duke's Lake." Those sold to a builder. A builder
<br />picked up all of those lots — paid $25,000 a lot for those. Again, that's a package deal where
<br />you buy 20 some odd lots. You don't — it's like when you buy a can of coke. If you buy a case,
<br />you're going to pay a lot less per can than you would if you just bought one can. Same thing
<br />with builders when they buy lots; when they buy a big package, they get a discount of 30 to 50
<br />percent off of sort of market value. But I compare those to some other bulk sales that have
<br />happened in that Wendell /Zebulon area in 2013, and there were two other sales of similar
<br />packaged lots that were selling for $15,000 a lot and $12,000 a lot. So, again, this one that was
<br />next to this proposed solar plant actually was selling stronger than other similar developments in
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