Plan for sheep, solar farm combo gets good reviews
Accomack Planning Commissioner Leander Roberts Jr. called a presentation about a proposed solar and sheep farm near Tasley "well put together" and others on the commission echoed his sentiment.
Planners at an Oct. 12 meeting continued to discuss both the Tasley project and the larger issue of whether and where to allow future utility-scale solar energy facilities in the county.
The planning commission held two public hearings about applications made by SunTec Solar Solutions to install a 20-megawatt solar farm on 174 acres of farmland owned by the VanKesteren family near the Tasley roundabout.
The project requires conditional use permits under the county's current zoning ordinance.
Commissioners did not vote on whether to recommend approval of the project, but said they will continue discussion at an Oct. 25 work session.
"I would urge your support for this ... It is totally different than the previous solar operation," said Commissioner Lynn Gayle after hearing the presentation.
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Commission Vice-Chairman Spyridon Papadopoulos said he found SunTec's presentation thoughtful and comprehensive, and Commissioner Brantley T. Onley said, "It's something we can definitely live with."
Commissioners Angela Thomas Wingfield and Roy Custis also said they like the project, but Custis added he is concerned about the growth of solar in the county.
Commissioners also voted to hold a public hearing at their Nov. 9 meeting on a proposed change to the county zoning ordinance that would remove utility-scale solar and wind projects as approved uses in the agricultural district.
The likely result of the change would be that future applicants who want to build renewable energy projects in the county would first have to seek a rezoning of the land from agricultural to some other designation that would allow the projects.
"We're not taking it away from anybody ... We're just adding a step," said Planning Commission Chairman David Lumgair Jr.
The Accomack County Board of Supervisors at its Sept. 21 meeting voted to direct the planning commission to begin work on amendments to remove large solar and wind energy systems from the agricultural zoning district — which comprises the vast majority of land in the county.
Supervisors at the meeting mentioned concerns about loss of farmland and about new state incentives that exempt solar companies from paying taxes on machinery and equipment.
"The board's direction to the planning commission was to do this with haste," Accomack Planning Director Rich Morrison told the commission.
Morrison said another party expressed interest in undertaking a solar project in Accomack County around the same time SunTec approached the county.
"So there's a movement afoot," he said.
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Planning staffer Kristen Tremblay said she has been receiving calls from others interested in solar projects.
Still, the board's directive does not affect SunTec's applications, according to Lumgair, who said the project must be considered under the existing ordinance.
If approved, it would be the second utility-scale solar project in Accomack County — the first was a 80-megawatt installation near Oak Hall.
SunTec shareholder Dennis Nordstrom presented the project to the commission.
He noted principals in the family-owned company "have longstanding ties to the Eastern Shore of Virginia" and said the Tasley project is different from the one in Oak Hall in that it incorporates an agricultural component.
"We're not a big out-of-state company looking to come in," he said, noting the company's office would be in Belle Haven.
The agricultural component involves sheep.
SunTec plans to partner with Shooting Point Oyster Company owners Tom and Ann Gallivan, neighbors of the Nordstroms in Bayford, to raise Hog Island sheep on the solar farm, where the animals will keep grass between the solar panels cropped.
The sheep, native to a barrier island off Virginia, are an heirloom breed listed as critical under the Livestock Conservancy's endangered breeds list.
The pairing of solar panels and sheep on farms has worked well in other places, including North Carolina and Italy, said Nordstorm.
The project would use only around 12 percent of the family's land and only around 0.25 percent of Accomack's total farm acreage, he said.
Almost a quarter of the site would be used exclusively for sheep grazing, and plans include planting vegetation attractive to pollinators and songbirds around border areas.
The solar panels themselves would be placed away from the road, Nordstrom said.
"There are no solar panels on Greenbush Road ... The project is pretty much surrounded by VanKesteren farmland," he said, adding of the two nearby residences, one is owned by the family and the other was deeded to a longtime farm employee.
Nordstrom also addressed the tax issue, saying the loss of personal property tax revenue to the county due to state tax breaks is "more than offset" by a projected 500 percent increase in annual real estate taxes that the owners will pay after the land is assessed at a higher value due to the new use.
The county receives around $5,500 per year in taxes on the land now and would receive $26,000 once it is reassessed, based on the same value per acre the county assessor's office assigned to the Oak Hall project, Nordstrom said.
"Because we're local, we have no interest in depriving the county of tax revenue," he said.
Other family members also spoke during the hearing, including Nordstrom's son Logan, project development director for SunTec.
"It's where I'd like to return to," he said of his hope he and his fiancee can live and work on the Eastern Shore, where his family is from, after they marry.
Katrina VanKesteren Nordstrom, Dennis' wife and Logan's mother, said the idea of a solar farm "didn't come about as a whim" and would bring generations of the family together in a family business.
John VenKesteren, from near Onancock, one of five family members who own the land, gave a brief history of how they decided to embark on a solar energy project.
He said in 2002, after more than six decades of growing vegetables, they decided to retire from farming.
Another local farmer took over the operation for a year, but then decided it was not for him, he said.
The family then leased around 600 acres to East Coast, a large tomato growing company, which later declared bankruptcy.
"We got stuck with a loss of over six figures," he said, noting Accomack County also was left lacking a six-figure amount in taxes after the company's bankruptcy.
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VanKesteren said he found the planning department staff recommendation to deny the applications "kind of incredible."
Staff among other factors said the project would not meet the standard for conditional use permits that a use should not "change the character of, or the established pattern of development within the zoning district in which it will be located."
"I know the county often defers to the poultry industry, and I know one of the issues here is that taking this bit of farmland out of feed-grain production may impact the supplies of feed to the poultry industry," VanKesteren went on, adding, "By the same token, those chicken houses take a lot of power, and if you want to know what really takes power is those (poultry) processing plants ... The parallel I'm trying to draw here is, well, we have locally grown feed grain in support of local industry, and I think it's fair to say locally generated electric power also would support local industry in some way."
VanKesteren said comments and objections made by planning staff in reports on the project "portray the county as almost against renewable energy projects, if not really hostile toward them."
Sue Mastyl of Harborton also spoke in support of the project, saying "renewable energy is an important step forward for the county and is entirely consistent with agricultural practices in the county."
She called the solar-plus-sheep plan "an ingenious mix."
"Everyone is saying we can't tell a landowner what he can do with his land when it comes to 24 chicken houses, but a small, 20-megawatt solar farm with sheep seems to be too industrial for us," Mastyl said, apparently referencing ongoing controversy in the county about the proliferation of large-scale poultry operations.
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