Cumberland County commissioners deny Fayetteville PWC solar farm rezoning after neighbor concerns

The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners on May 19 denied a conditional rezoning request by the Fayetteville Public Works Commission (PWC) to build a solar farm on roughly 44–45 acres east of Ramsey Street near Carvers Falls Road.

The request sought to rezone the property from Planned Neighborhood Development (PND) to A-1 Conditional (agricultural conditional zoning) to allow a solar panel “farm” to serve the municipal utility. Ross Howard, the county’s director of planning, told commissioners staff recommended approval with conditions including a roughly 50-foot streetscape buffer, perimeter plantings, a wood stock fence and interior barbed-wire security fencing, limits on lighting and restrictions on uses to agricultural and limited grazing to control vegetation.

The utility’s engineers and project representatives described steps they said would address neighbors’ concerns. David Deshaun, director of engineering for Fayetteville PWC, said the site is adjacent to an existing substation and that solar generation would offset purchases from Duke Energy; he and PWC’s consultant emphasized outreach to neighbors and a revised plan intended to reduce visibility and runoff. Bradley Martin of Booth & Associates, the consulting engineer, said the design uses anti-glare panels, includes a sound study and will leave existing trees where practical.

Neighbors told the board the site had special environmental and recreational value and raised technical doubts. Russ Bryant, whose family owns adjacent land preserved for decades, told commissioners he feared clear-cutting, increased runoff and potential construction impacts on a nearby waterfall and creek. He said the original plan lacked adequate stormwater retention and that the proposed buffers—particularly narrow bands of small trees—would not effectively hide the farm from the road.

Howard told the board the project had been reviewed by RULAC because it sits within the five-mile notification area for nearby military airfields; PWC representatives said they had met with base officials and completed glare and other studies. PWC told the board the facility is intended to produce about 5 megawatts and that, based on its calculations, the completed design would reduce runoff compared with current conditions.

Commissioners questioned details about the plan’s buffers, long-term maintenance, types of inverters (which affect noise), and whether the applicant would leave portions of the tract outside the fenced area as open space. Commissioners also noted that the PND zoning is a legacy/dormant category and that the site could be developed for residential uses under current entitlements.

After extended public comment and discussion, a motion to approve the rezoning (moved by Commissioner Patel) failed and a later motion to deny the rezoning carried, with the board voting 4–3 to deny the request. Because the denial was a formal action, the planning and permit review process will not proceed under the proposed conditional site plan.

The applicant may return with a revised proposal or seek other options available under existing zoning. Staff said any future site plan will still require state stormwater permitting (DEQ) and final landscaping plans approved by the county.

Why it matters: the vote illustrates the tension between utility-scale renewable projects sited near residential or preserved lands and the need for careful mitigation of visual, hydrologic and noise impacts. Neighbors and several commissioners said they were persuaded the project had unresolved local impacts, while PWC argued the farm would lower carbon emissions and reduce purchased power cost volatility.

What’s next: the county will record the denial in its zoning files. PWC representatives said they will continue to engage neighbors and review possible redesigns but provided no timeline for any revised submittal.