Minutes 05-27-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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So, one of the things that we've discussed too, depending on the view and the vantage point that you're at, we could provide a 10 foot or a 12 foot tree to help shade some of those areas more if it ended up being an issue that we did not know at the time. We would deal with the situation as we got to it if there was a problem and we didn't know. Michael Fox: And obviously they work with your planning staff in terms of compliance with the buffering impact. And I think one of the things you struggle with, with any landscape buffering, no matter whether it's a residential subdivision or an industrial use is there is a -to some degree - a maturity period where plants need to take root, and they need to grow. And so what Sunlight is willing to do is, obviously they are starting out with a minimum of an 8 foot all the way around. But if there is a spot on the particular piece of property where 8 foot is insufficient, they will work with the planning staff to try to get the trees as large as possible to provide a buffer as soon as possible. Mike Wallace: Tommy do you want to talk about the lack of glare. Tommy Cleveland: Yeah, the solar panels are designed and built to absorb as much sunlight as possible. So when that sunlight is hitting them, they absorb 98 percent of the sunlight. They've got an anti-reflective coating on the top of that glass, so they do a great job of absorbing the sunlight, which means there is very little sunlight left to bounce off and cause any glare trouble. The one exception is when the sunlight hits it at a very low angle, like might happen right at sunrise or sunset, and then you can have some glare, but at that point it's no more reflective than water and at an angle that's less inducive to glare than like water. Like a pond - a pond would generally have more glare in that condition than a solar array. Commissioner Pelissier: I have another condition related to storm water, and maybe this is for our planning staff, or actually, maybe it is for Mr. Wallace. What percent of—wherever the panels are, what percent of the land is considered impervious with the panels there? I mean the cover. Because obviously you are saying that lot of the rain can be absorbed in between the panels, and I guess -what is really considered the impervious surface? Michael Harvey: Well let me try to answer that question the following way. Our ordinance requires the applicant to provide the level of detail and to count everything covered by a panel as impervious. In fact our ordinance mandates that specifically. This particular parcel of property is not located in a protected or critical watershed, so there is no impervious surface limit. Having said that, it's already been testified to, but I'll reiterate; this project will have to go through a storm water review process with the Orange County Erosion Control division. They are not going to be allowed to have any more water generated off site than is currently being generated off site now under the current conditions of the property. That will require storm water features to re-direct water to ensure that it is not flowing off site any more than it currently is. Now that may not address everybody's concerns, and I understand that; but I am going to at least provide you the answer of what the ordinance states and what state law gives us the authority to do. So if there is an inch - and this is just an example - then if there is an inch currently falling off this property, after this development there can only be an inch falling off the property. Commissioner Pelissier: Thank you. Michael Fox: If I could, as a point of personal order. I know it's late, and thus far, until about a half an hour ago, the decorum was excellent, and it was easy to hear everyone, and there were