Glynn County staff brief commissioners on unsolicited proposal to lease Cape Road Landfill for solar farm

Assistant County Manager Danny Smith told the Glynn County Commission on July 15 that the county had received an unsolicited proposal from Inman Solar to lease roughly 70 acres of the county-owned Cape Road Landfill for a solar installation. "We received a proposal from Inman Solar, and it's just an initial proposal to possibly lease our landfill, our Cape Road Landfill, for solar use," Smith said during the work session. Smith said the Cape Road site is a decommissioned landfill of about 150 acres that remains under a monitoring requirement until 2027, and that the company had proposed using the capped, non‑forested portion of the property. He described the proposal as a 30‑year lease with two five‑year extension options and said the company proposed annual rent of $52,500 with 2 percent annual escalation, which Smith presented as totaling $1,575,000 over the base 30 years. Smith also noted that the requested lease would cover about 70 acres of the overall parcel and that the proposal would place responsibility for site maintenance and security on the leaseholder. Smith outlined logistical considerations discussed with the proposer, including potential routes for bringing in panels and a planned interconnection with Georgia Power. He said the company estimated a roughly 24‑month construction schedule once work began and that heavy impacts to county roads would likely be limited to the delivery window for equipment. Commissioners asked about site access and nearby road constraints; Smith said the primary egress is via Southbrook and that a connection to Highway 99 would be difficult because of a rail line, though an approach from Cape Road on the south side might be possible. He said any new or private access would require negotiation with property owners or rights holders. Smith said the county could alter permitting to allow the use through EPD and noted the county is currently in a monitoring period, so any change of use would have to follow those regulatory steps. At the work session Smith asked for the commission's "blessing and authorization to talk to this company and begin negotiation with them." The transcript does not record a formal motion, vote, or approved lease agreement during the meeting. Why it matters: the proposal would generate revenue on a parcel the county describes as difficult to reuse, relieve county staff of routine maintenance and trespass control, and require regulatory and utility approvals before construction or power sales could proceed. The county did not disclose detailed financial comparisons to other solar leases; Smith said information about market rates was not available from the contact he consulted. Questions about long‑term site monitoring, required permit changes, and Georgia Power interconnection were raised as next steps.