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Carroll County adopts solar siting policy, approves Pine Branch Solar site agreement with 1,500-acre limit
Summary
The Carroll County Board of Supervisors voted to adopt a utility-scale energy facility siting policy and approve a site agreement with Pine Branch Solar LLC, changing an advertised acreage limit from 1,000 to 1,500 acres as recommended by the Planning Commission.
Carroll County supervisors voted to adopt a utility-scale energy generation facility siting policy and approved a site agreement with Pine Branch Solar LLC after county staff said remaining terms were resolved and approved by legal counsel.
County staff member Mister Durbin told the board the site agreement had been advertised and heard at a public hearing in September and that "the siting agreement is in a form that is approved by your legal counsel." A supervisor moved to approve the site agreement and to adopt the county's solar siting policy.
The Planning Commission recommended approval with a different acreage limitation than what had been advertised. As one supervisor noted, "1,500 as as opposed to the advertised 1,000." Another board member confirmed, "It is 1,500 acres." The board adopted the policy and approved the site agreement with that 1,500-acre parameter.
The policy change effectively raises the maximum contiguous acreage the county will consider for utility-scale solar projects under the adopted framework. County staff said the matter had been publicly noticed and discussed previously; no separate effective date for the policy was stated during the meeting.
The vote to approve the site agreement and adopt the siting policy was taken during the old-business portion of the meeting and passed by recorded voice votes with all present supervisors voting in favor.
What happens next: county staff and counsel will proceed with final execution of the site agreement with Pine Branch Solar LLC and any related administrative steps required by county code and the terms of the agreement. No timetable for construction or permits was provided at the meeting.
