Minutes 05-27-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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in.html?paqe=all) The proposed solar array is not a "farm" in any sense but major commercial- industrial project conceived exclusively in technical and economic terms without the least consideration for the neighbors or the neighborhood. Its boundaries reach to the very edge of adjacent properties, observing only the legal minimum setbacks, while both construction access and electrical transformer-inverter equipment lie well within earshot along our gateway residential street. (1 am not clear from the testimony we just heard what will happen to the leases, but our understanding has been that they are sold, sometimes as soon as the facility is built out.) Our understanding is that Sunlight Partners will likely sell its lease to the investment company that owns them even before the project is fully built out. While there may be a short- term tax benefit to Orange County, in the long run the project's only effects will be to despoil the neighborhood, enrich the investors and the developers, and, for potential new residents, compromise Orange County's reputation for livability. (So just let me repeat)This issue is not about solar power. It is about siting an extensive solar utility, typically associated with thinly settled rural areas, deserts, rooftops and brownfields, in sharp juxtaposition with a long-established residential neighborhood. We on Cascade Drive do not want to be the test-case for large-scale solar utilities in any of Orange County's back yards. Bob Cantwell 5704 Cascade Dr. Chapel Hill, NC David Rooks: If I may ask this witness like two questions. Mr. Cantwell I'm going to ask you to indentify the photographs. I'm going to hold up first, this photograph and if you could identify for the record what this photograph is of. Robert Cantwell: Up to the trees in the distance is our lot, is Nunn Acres lot number 3. Beyond those trees, the field, which is the whole extent of the background of the photograph, is where the solar panels will be located from one end to the other. David Rooks: So this is where the panels would go in this photograph. Robert Cantwell: That's right. David Rooks: And this is what is there now. Robert Cantwell: That's right David Rooks: And that is the view that you now have from your property. Robert Cantwell: It is. David Rooks: I am pulling out now, the second photograph, which we will put up. If you will identify this photograph. Robert Cantwell: That is the solar array at White Cross, mentioned in earlier testimony, approved by the County I'm not sure how long ago. It was built up, I think about a year ago, and we offer that image by way of comparison to suggest what the—what might occur in that field should the project be approved.