Planning Commission defers draft comprehensive plan after public hearing on solar, accuracy and rural character

The Charlotte County Planning Commission recessed its Oct. 19 meeting for a public hearing on the draft comprehensive plan and heard a presentation from Todd Fortune of the Commonwealth Regional Council. Public commenters raised multiple concerns including the plan’s emphasis on solar development, possible risks to farming and rural character, factual errors about local communities, and the use of discretionary language in solar policy.

Speakers at the hearing included citizen P.K. Pettus, who said agriculture, forestry and tourism are the county’s three largest industries and warned that solar could harm those industries if not sited properly; Daniel Dixon of Cullen, who expressed that the plan focused on solar and lacked detail on risks to agriculture and noted neighboring localities reportedly cap solar at 1 percent; and Belinda Strom, who flagged factual errors in the draft (including a statement attributing a small increase in homes without plumbing to the Amish) and criticized the plan’s use of “may” rather than “shall” in solar policy language. A written comment from T.J. Grant addressing the Amish community and County Line Road geometric deficiencies was read into the record and will be emailed to commissioners.

Following the hearing, Commissioner David Watkins moved to defer action on the draft plan until the commission’s Nov. 16 meeting so members could revisit items raised in public comment, including whether to consider a solar cap. Miller Adams seconded the motion; it passed with Kerwin Kunath voting no and all other members present voting yes. Administrator Daniel Witt advised that, as an advisory body, the Planning Commission had provided the public an opportunity to comment and that the Board of Supervisors would hold its own public hearing before any Board action.