Orange County NC Website
14 <br /> 1 the State. I have charted those adjoining uses across the state. You can find that on page 16 of <br /> 2 the report. I think at the point that I generated this report I had 173 solar farms in that break <br /> 3 down. And it shows what those adjoining uses are. The vast majority are agriculture and <br /> 4 residential uses, with a minority of about 5 to zero percent, depending on how you look at it, <br /> 5 going commercial-industrial adjoining uses. <br /> 6 <br /> 7 I looked at all these properties adjoining it, based on number of parcels, as well as total by <br /> 8 acreage. If you look at it just by total acreage, a large farm next to it could distort numbers, but <br /> 9 if you look at it just by parcels —so you have to look at both. This subject property is very <br /> 10 similar to this. There's a little bit of highway commercial along 70. Other than that it's primarily <br /> 11 residential, with a little agricultural next to it. So it's very consistent with what I've seen across <br /> 12 the state. I've looked at this breakdown whether it was the coastal plains or the piedmont, <br /> 13 mountains; I get the same breakdown. If I look at it by different counties, I still get that same <br /> 14 breakdown. It's very consistent across the state. So this is a very similar location where solar <br /> 15 farms across North Carolina are being located. <br /> 16 <br /> 17 The other thing I've been doing while I've been quantifying these adjoining uses is looking for <br /> 18 sales of land next to solar farms, or sales of homes next to solar farms. That's the start of doing <br /> 19 what's called a paired sale, or match pair analysis. And it's really a straightforward idea. You <br /> 20 look at something that sold next to the solar farm, and compare it something that's identical, as <br /> 21 much as possible, in every way, but not next to a solar farm, to measure for the impact. <br /> 22 <br /> 23 There's really a textbook example of this on page 6, there's a solar farm that was developed <br /> 24 next to a sub division that was going in in Goldsboro. Homes were under construction, and <br /> 25 being sold, before the solar farm was announced. So there was no anticipation of a solar farm. <br /> 26 Then after the solar farm was announced and built, homes continued to be built. So there is a <br /> 27 breakdown continuing on the following pages, through pages 7 and 8, showing homes sales in <br /> 28 that area, before and after the solar farm was announced, and also showing homes that <br /> 29 happened adjoining the solar farm, and those that were down the street, not adjoining the solar <br /> 30 farm. Same size, same style home, selling for the same price per square foot, regardless of it <br /> 31 was before or after the solar farm, or whether it adjoins the solar farm, or is down the street. <br /> 32 There are identical homes, actually the exact same floor plan, selling for the same price, <br /> 33 regardless — again —whether it was before or after, adjacent or down the street. I talked to the <br /> 34 builder-developer team who were dealing with this. They indicated that the solar farm presence <br /> 35 had no impact on how quickly they sold out. So it had no impact on timing of sales. There has <br /> 36 been a resale of one of those homes that the builder sold to an end user. Sold it in 2013, it <br /> 37 resold again in 2015. It showed appreciation consistent with what you'd expect in the area, so <br /> 38 it's had no impact on appreciation on homes sales in that area either. So there's a multitude of <br /> 39 match pairs that can be looked at it that one development. <br /> 40 <br /> 41 On the following pages after that, I've got a couple other match pair analysis from some other <br /> 42 subdivisions, and some agricultural land that I've looked at. They again show no impact on <br /> 43 those sales. So it is my professional opinion that the proposed solar farm — it is going to be <br /> 44 located in a place very similar to this — and the match pairs show no impact on value. <br /> 45 therefore conclude there is no impact on value on the adjoining properties at this location, here <br /> 46 in Mebane. And again, that's consistent with the fact that this is where solar farms are located <br /> 47 in North Carolina, and it's also consistent with my experience looking at other impacts. Again, <br /> 48 do a lot of impact analyses — not just for solar farms —and when you find an impact, there tends <br /> 49 to be sort of categories where things kind of happen. If you can measure an impact, the biggest <br /> 50 impacts come from anything that's dealing with hazardous materials. You know, if there's any <br />