Agenda - 09-04-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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14 1 I've looked at, additionally, another solar farm in Zebulon. This one has actually been 2 approved but not built. And there is no way you are going to be able to read all that information 3 unless your eyes are way better than mine; but to sum up, there is a subdivision up here that 4 was put in place and developed before the downturn in the market, and they sold one lot in the 5 back that you can't even see there before the downturn. Those lots sat there through the whole 6 downturn. And the solar farm that got approved —after it got approved, those lots went on the 7 market. They sold at a discount- a bulk discount for multiple lots. It's very common in 8 subdivisions, and I compared that to bulk lot sales of two other subdivisions nearby out in the 9 Zebulon area. Again, it's a rural sort of transition area where you have single family homes and 10 rural properties next to each other. The other areas that are selling the bulk lots, they actually 11 sold at much deeper discounts than the lots that sold next to the solar farm. So again, the 12 matched pairs here are showing that there is really no impact from that potential solar farm right 13 there. 14 15 Then also, closer to this location, I looked at the solar farm on White Cross — solar farm 16 that's — it's now operational. They actually— after that solar farm was built—this is in Chapel 17 Hill —after it was built—the - actually from the parent tract the land was —the solar farm was 18 built on —the owner of that sold the rest of the property they had, and again it is selling at very 19 similar prices to those tracts of land in the area. So looking at those different matched pairs, I'm 20 seeing no sign of any impact on property values due to the proximity of that solar farm or any of 21 those solar farms. And again, the location of these comes into harmony of use. I've visited over 22 40 solar farm sites. The first 22 I've looked at are in this chart here. I broke down showing what 23 kind of uses are near these solar farms. Where are the solar farms going, and you can see that 24 the vast majority of the uses that these properties are located are agricultural and single family 25 residential. There is very little of these being developed in commercial or industrial areas. 26 These are all going to these areas where there is that transition area. That makes sense 27 because you need some open acreage, some land, to put the panels on; but you also need 28 users, homeowners, to receive that power. So going through that, again I'm finding that this is a 29 typical area where a solar farm would be located. 30 31 I go through and looked at the various components of why there would be an impact. A 32 lot of times if there is going to be an impact, you would find it, and you would identify it with a 33 certain thing, whether it's traffic or noise or odor or hazardous materials, things like that. This 34 site is going to have less traffic than even a single— one single family home on the site; so 35 traffic is not going to be an issue here. There is— of the 40 sites I have been to, I have never 36 smelled anything that was attributable to the panels. As far as noise goes, I have never heard 37 anything off of those. Trying to think — Hazardous materials —There is no hazardous materials 38 that are proposed for this location. The question that comes up mostly though is appearance. 39 And I've again tried to show some pictures of some greenhouses next to these solar panels. So 40 on the left are greenhouses, and on the right are solar panels, and I consider those to be very 41 similar visual impacts. Both are very typically found in these sort of transition areas, between 42 agricultural areas and residential single family homes. In fact this location here is right around 43 the corner from my house and right off the road. 44 45 So again, to sum up it is my professional opinion that the proposed solar farm is going to 46 have no impact on these adjoining single family and agricultural uses, and that it is not going to 47 have any impact on property values, but also that it is a harmonious use. 48 49 Michael Fox: Mr. Rooks, do you have questions for Mr. Kirkland? 50