Halifax County prepares for solar power


Halifax County may soon join neighboring localities as a host site for solar power installations — but first, county officials want to see if Halifax is prepared for the changes that solar energy could bring.

The Halifax County Board of Supervisors will discuss local ordinances pertaining to solar farms when board members gather tonight in Halifax, at the Mary Bethune Complex starting at 6:30 p.m.

Joe Lerch of the Virginia Association of Counties, will speak on the generation of electricity from solar power.

Solar farms have become routine sights in Person and Vance counties in North Carolina, and neighboring Mecklenburg County, has approved one permit for a solar farm and is considering a second installation in the Chase City area.

According to County Administrator Jim Halasz, solar power providers are now looking at Halifax County, too, for possible sites.

“While the technology and implementation practices being employed are not new, this is the first time Halifax is being actively considered for such a use/development,” Halasz wrote to supervisors this week.

Halasz noted that Halifax County currently does not have an ordinance in place that regulates the production of solar energy, and county staff has been exploring how other communities deal with the impact of solar generating fields. Because of Lerch’s experience, supervisors and county planners are expected to seek guidance from him on developing an ordinance that both permits solar panel farms and protects nearby land owners from any unintended consequences.

While Mecklenburg County supervisors have granted approval for a 322-acre, 70-megawatt solar array in the Chase City area, a second application for solar panels on a 946-acre tract, also in the Chase City area, has run into significant opposition.

Adjoining landowners have complained that solar farms are obtrusive and harm adjoining property values. On the other side of the debate, proponents note that the facilities are good, clean-energy neighbors, with no carbon emissions, no noise and little need for maintenance or resources of local government.

Solar farms also create additional property tax revenue and spur jobs during the construction period, which can last around six months. However, because solar and wind-powered installations in Virginia are exempt from paying machinery, equipment and tools taxes, and are mostly or entirely exempt from property taxes, critics have questioned the extent to which the projects boost local tax coffers.

“We are taking this time together to make every attempt to put in place a comprehensive and fair ordinance in Halifax County to assure ourselves that we will get the best of what such a development can offer and avoid any truly unreasonable consequences that may exist,” wrote Halasz of tonight’s discussion.

Also tonight, supervisors will hear from Beth Englehorn, executive director of Southside Community Services Board, on services and programs offered by the SCSB to county residents.

Also, supervisors are expected to name a committee to move forward with plans to create a local memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. ED-3 Supervisor Hubert Pannell last month asked fellow board members to look at a road, street, bridge or building in the community that might be named for the late civil rights leader.

Board members also are expected to address several other appointments tonight.

Also at 3:30 p.m. today, supervisors will hold a work session to review the 2017-18 county budget that goes into effect July 1. The work session will be held in the second floor meeting room of the Mary Bethune Complex.

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