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Commission reviews Bear Branch Solar concept; state CPCN preempts some local setback rules, residents press forest mitigation concerns
Summary
At concept review, staff and project representatives described a 4 MW Bear Branch Solar project with a state-issued CPCN; commissioners and residents asked about preemption of county setback and forest-mitigation requirements, landscape buffers, and visibility from MD 97.
The Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission received a concept-site presentation on March 17 for Bear Branch Solar (file S250010), a 4-megawatt ground-mounted solar project proposed on roughly 63 acres north of Westminster.
David Beecraft of the Development Review Division said the project has a state Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) issued Jan. 31, 2025, and that the CPCN process preempts certain local code requirements. He told the commission the proposed array would encumber about 27 acres, that site plans show a 50-foot landscape buffer where forest is not already present, and that the nearest proposed solar array is…
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