Minutes 09-12-2016 - Laserfiche WebLink

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13 Richard Kirkland: I've been appraising in North Carolina for twenty years, and it's been about thirteen years since I got my MAI. Merrick Parrot: How long have you been practicing as an appraiser? Richard Kirkland: Twenty years. Merrick Parrot: Please describe your experience with solar development. Richard Kirkland: I've been looking at impact study analysis around solar farms for the last four or five years. Over that time, I've looked at over 200 solar farms. Merrick Parrot: Were you engaged by the Applicant to testify this evening? Richard Kirkland: I was. Merrick Parrot: Thank you. I would now tender Mr. Kirkland as a qualified expert witness in the field of real property valuation and land use impacts. Chair McKee: Ok. Mr. Kirkland. Richard Kirkland: Good evening. I appreciate the time here tonight, and I'll try to be quick as I can while still explaining what I'm doing here. If you have any questions afterwards, just let me know. Chair McKee: And we may interrupt you also, as we go along. Richard Kirkland: That's perfectly fine. Again, I've been looking at this question on impact analysis. I do impact analysis for a number of different uses but I have been looking at solar farms, in particular, over the last four to five years, as I've been going across the state. I've visited over 200 solar farm sites across North Carolina, and been quantifying what uses are next to them. I do this to identify where solar farms are located in North Carolina. Merrick Parrot: My apologies, I meant to ask you, did you prepare an affidavit. Richard Kirkland: I did. Merrick Parrot: And you also prepared a report this evening? Richard Kirkland: I did. Merrick Parrot: Yes. Both of those are located behind tab 4. Thank you. Richard Kirkland: Thank you. I'll start with the subject property. I looked around it, identified all the parcels, and looked at what those adjoining uses are. In the same manner, I've been doing that same breakdown of adjoining uses for all 200 solar farms I've been looking at across the State. I have charted those adjoining uses across the state. You can find that on page 16 of the report. I think at the point that I generated this report I had 173 solar farms in that break down. And it shows what those adjoining uses are. The vast majority are agriculture and residential uses, with a minority of about 5 to zero percent, depending on how you look at it, going commercial-industrial adjoining uses.