Minutes 05-27-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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the east west orientation could present a very serious glare problem for us. And we are facing due east. The sun will rise every day directly across from our bedroom window. I don't care how many trees and plants they are gonna put here. I don't think I'll be living there long enough for them to block that view, and I don't know how tall they would have to get. We're pretty high up, and I just— I'm concerned that we're gonna have a glare issue from the time the sun rises till the time the sun sets. I've included some glare studies. I know that the ones that are in here have to do with glare at airports for pilots, but we're on the ground. So, I've included some studies about the risk for people that are on the ground and looking at these panels. I've also included a report from Adam Lovelady from the UNC School of Government that's called Planning and Zoning for So/ar in North Carolina, and it's a great report. I recommend that you all take a look at that. It covers a lot of the issues that we've brought up tonight and how to address them. There is another report about glare. Let's see, I found another report. This is very interesting. It's a law review article from Boston College, and it's The Environmental Implications of Emerging Energy Technology's Photovoltaic So/ar Cells in a Study of Toxic Aspects. This is a fairly old report, but it's very telling about what could happen if you install one of these. And then the last is World Health Organization Burden of Disease from Environmental Noise. Any questions? No, I'm not an expert. Michael Fox: I don't have any questions for this witness, but I would object to all the portions of her testimony except for her personal testimony about what she will see from her home on the basis that all of this is —all the documents that you've been handed presumably, the links on the disks are hearsay, and there is no one here to testify about them, and also as to their relevance for some of them. David Rooks: Barry Katz Barry Katz: It's a very cold room. I've been shivering over there for the last God knows how long. I'll try to heat this up a little bit. Okay, my name is Barry Katz and I am here to talk about whether the proposal before you would be in harmony with the land and adjacent properties. As part of my education, I receive a Masters degree in Botany in 1974, and a Doctoral degree in Botany in 1979, both from UNC Chapel Hill. As you might expect, I received a great deal of training on plants and what is called plant community ecology. The research and my professional career were focused on a specialized are in plant community ecology and had me working on plant communities in North Carolina and around the world. Furthermore, I have slaved away at gardening in Orange County for most of the last 44 years, and I am sure many of you can relate to that. The site of the proposed solar array is a working farm field and appears as rolling meadowland. It is surrounded by Hickory, Oak, Maple, and Tulip poplar trees of respectable age, that to most of you would be characterized as beautiful and serene. The proposal before you would introduce approximately 18,000 solar panels over approximately 20 acres and surround it with an 8 foot high chain link security fence topped with barbed wire. They are all topped with barbed wire and/or razor wire. So, how does the applicant propose to mitigate this industrial ugliness? The applicant proposes vegetation screening around the facility. So this 8 foot chain link fence is only going to