Charlotte County planning commission recommends Red Oak Excavating storage yard; two commissioners say they would have opposed

The Charlotte County Planning Commission recommended approval May 15 of Red Oak Excavating, Inc.’s conditional use permit for a material storage yard on portions of Tax Parcels 90-4-14C and 90-4-14, located at 5192 Barnesville Highway.

Chairman James Benn recessed the meeting for a public hearing during which county staff reviewed zoning criteria, recommended conditions, and options. Gene Hall, vice president of Red Oak Excavating, told the commission the proposed yard was designed to Dominion Energy specifications to support the Clover-to-Chase City transmission line project and said, "there were no plans to use the site to store solar equipment." Lane Gunn, project manager for Red Oak Excavating and a member of the South Central Virginia Business Alliance, and citizen Cornell "Brick" Goldman of Cullen urged approval, with Goldman calling the project "good for business."

Commissioners asked technical and safety questions, including how the county would respond to a hazardous-waste incident. Staff said County personnel would notify the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and that DEQ would determine and oversee the required response.

Commissioner Patrick Andrews moved to recommend approval with Conditions #1, #2, #5 and #6; Curtis Morton seconded. During discussion the commission chose to exclude two of staff's recommended conditions: Condition #3 (which staff had recommended to clarify that the three building footprints shown on the plan were not being approved and would require separate permitting) and Condition #4 (which would have prohibited storage on site of "physically damaged solar panels or any portion or debris thereof"). Andrews said a DEQ-constructed, controlled laydown yard could be a suitable location for damaged panels; staff responded that solar project laydown yards typically include handling and storage requirements for broken panels.

The commission carried the motion by voice vote with all members present recorded as voting yes in that voice vote. Later during Commissioners' Time, however, Commissioners Belinda Strom and David Watkins said they had anticipated a rollcall vote and that, had a rollcall been taken, they would have voted against the motion because Condition #4 had been excluded.

Citizen comments during the hearing and the general comment period cited local business benefits and concerns about solar-related storage and mitigation. The public hearing was adjourned after close of comments.

The commission’s action on May 15 is a recommendation on the conditional use permit application; the transcript records the commission’s vote but does not record the next administrative or appeals steps.