Residents press commissioners over proposed Brushy Mountain-area solar project; county outlines timeline

Dozens of residents from North Iredell told the Iredell County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday that they oppose a proposed utility-scale solar project near the Brushy Mountain area and asked the board to halt rezoning until additional environmental and cultural studies are completed.

The residents said the project — currently in a preliminary, conditional-zoning phase — could harm local water supplies, reduce property values, disrupt wildlife and pose fire and health risks. County staff told the board the applicant has completed a pre-application and held a public input meeting on March 3 but has not filed an official rezoning application.

The concerns were voiced during the board's public comment period. Susan Di Giacomo, who said she lives about three-quarters of a mile from the proposed site, told the commission that “there are numerous deleterious effects that are toxic and in terms of pose risk to the local community,” and raised groundwater and chemical-contamination fears. “Solar farms were sold to the public as a source of clean energy. In fact, there are numerous deleterious effects…one of the most concerning is our water supply,” she said.

Lonnie Van Drake, who lives at the same address Di Giacomo gave, said she does not consider utility-scale solar to be “agriculture” and questioned whether solar is the best energy choice for the county. “Solar will be an antiquated source of energy with a resource drain plaguing our county,” she said, citing publications and national examples.

Joanne Harmon, who said she lives about three-quarters of a mile from the proposed project, described health concerns she associates with inverter emissions and asked how the county would handle disposal of damaged panels and compensation for property-value losses. “How much exposure is too much exposure?” she asked.

Other speakers raised public-safety concerns about battery fires, the availability of firefighter water supplies and protections for federally protected species and local historic sites. Josh Van Drake said battery degradation and “thermal runaway” fires are a risk and warned that “battery fires are notoriously difficult to extinguish.” Several speakers said they were not notified directly of the proposal and asked for more and earlier public notice.

County planning staff member Beth (county manager/planning liaison) told the board the proposal is “currently in the preliminary stages of conditional zoning. The pre-application form has been submitted and [the] public input meeting was conducted by the applicant, but no official application has been made currently.” She said the applicant plans to consider input from the March 3 meeting and “may submit by April for the May 7 planning board meeting,” and that if the planning board schedules it, the earliest possible Board of Commissioners public hearing would be in June.

Commissioners emphasized they had not taken any formal action and urged residents to attend future planning-board and zoning hearings if an official application is filed. One commissioner told the audience, “We hear you…if there are meetings, if it moves forward, there will be announcements. It'll be on our website,” and encouraged attendance at any public hearings.

What happens next: the applicant must file an official rezoning application to trigger a public hearing sequence that includes the county planning board and, if recommended, the Board of Commissioners. Residents seeking to influence the outcome should monitor the county website for formal notices and the yellow zoning sign that marks pending rezoning proposals.

Votes and formal actions: none of the solar-related items were before the board as formal actions at Tuesday's meeting; staff described the matter as pre-application and no vote was taken on zoning or approvals.

Community context: speakers said the Brushy Mountain area contains rural roads, historic features and environmentally sensitive habitat they asked the county to consider. Several speakers also cited private-sector and national examples (companies named during comments included First Solar and Qcells) and urged the county to require more environmental study before any rezoning.

The board did not set or commit to permitting conditions at Tuesday’s meeting and repeatedly noted that any formal rezoning would proceed through established planning-board and public-notice procedures.