Planning commission approves final site plan for 1‑MW Mason Solar project with bonding and vegetation conditions

The Kent County Planning Commission granted final site‑plan approval to MDL 153 Mason Solar LLC to construct a 1‑megawatt utility‑scale solar energy system at 9425 Fairlee Road, conditioned on several staff‑recommended submittals.

Planning staff summarized the project as roughly 5 acres of solar panels with total disturbance just under 10 acres. The application previously received a Board of Appeals special exception; the Board later removed a berm requirement and the applicant shifted the array farther from Fairlee Road while retaining a 60‑foot landscape buffer. Staff said the applicant submitted a decommissioning plan and that the county will hold a bond to ensure removal and site restoration if the facility is abandoned or inactive for a prolonged period.

Ted Hastings of Becker Morgan Group and John Shields of Pivot Energy described the project’s landscaping and maintenance approach: a 60‑foot buffer, a landscape maintenance plan using truck watering and tree‑bag establishment techniques in lieu of full irrigation, rotational grazing as a vegetation‑management option, and final sediment/erosion and stormwater plans. Commissioners asked about ownership and decommissioning; the applicant confirmed the array would be sited on leased land, the company owns the equipment, and the decommissioning bond will be reviewed every five years.

A motion to approve the final site plan carried after the commission confirmed conditions requiring submission of a signed vegetation maintenance and inspection agreement and securities for sediment/erosion control, stormwater management, landscaping and decommissioning. Staff said the decommissioning plan submitted is consistent with those accepted for another county solar facility and will be bonded by the county.