Council approves conditional rezoning for PWC Carvers Falls solar site over opponents’ objections

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Fayetteville City Council approved a conditional zoning request Sept. 22 for a PWC‑proposed solar energy facility on a roughly 40‑acre tract on Carvers Falls Road, despite significant public opposition from nearby landowners and recreation operators.

City planning staff said the parcel was annexed into the city in a separate action and returned for initial zoning within the statutory 60‑day window. Staff recommended conditional community‑commercial zoning limited to a solar energy generation facility (a major utility use) and offered conditions including a 100‑foot undisturbed vegetative perimeter buffer, additional rows of screening shrubs along the road, eight‑foot security fencing around the active array (about 35 acres), limited downward‑directed lighting, Knox‑box access for emergency services, and stormwater detention ponds to retain runoff on site. Staff noted the project had been denied at the county level earlier in the year and that the applicant appealed that decision to the city.

Timothy Bryant, representing PWC, told the council PWC needs approximately 25 megawatts of solar to comply with North Carolina’s renewable‑energy portfolio standard and that this project—one of several PWC projects—would reduce the utility’s annual costs for renewable‑energy credits; Bryant said the facility could yield about $245,000 annually in a payment‑in‑lieu‑of‑taxes (PILOT) to the city. Bryant said the array would be passive once built, produce minimal traffic and that PWC had added additional planting, stormwater ponds, and removed an access road from the site plan to reduce impacts.

Opponents — including nearby property owners and ZipQuest operators at 533 Carvers Falls Road — said the site is part of a long‑planned green corridor and buffer for Carvers Creek State Park, raised concerns about drainage and erosion, visual impacts to a nearby waterfall and recreation area, noise from inverters and long‑term land‑use precedent. Speakers cited a North Carolina visitor publication and state park land‑protection plans indicating the area is of regional recreational significance.

Council members questioned both sides about buffer plantings, noise levels and stormwater design. PWC said inverters emit about 60 decibels at three feet (comparable to a running refrigerator), that the proposed screening would include fast‑growing Nellie Stevens hollies (about three feet per year, maturing to ~20 feet) inside the 100‑foot buffer, and that the firm had designed four retention ponds to keep runoff on site. PWC also said panels are expected to have a roughly 30‑year life and that arrays can be removed and the site restored or repurposed at the end of useful life.

After the hearing and discussion, councilmember Thompson moved to approve the conditional rezoning subject to the conditions in the staff packet; the motion carried 8–1. Councilmember Benavente recorded the lone vote in opposition.

The approval establishes the site’s permitted use and the listed conditions; planners said remaining site‑specific technical issues — traffic, stormwater and permitting details — will be handled through standard development review and permitting.