Commission denies Cook Foods' 5‑acre solar array after residents raise visual and precedent concerns

Clay Gardner, representing Radiant Solar as general contractor and stating he works with Georgia Power, presented a request by Cook Foods for a special‑use permit to build a roughly 5‑acre photovoltaic array in a former spray field behind the plant. Gardner said the array would disturb less than one acre, have buried electrical runs back to Cook Foods, include a roughly 50‑foot tree buffer and be sized only to offset a portion of Cook Foods' electric purchases. He said Cook Foods would fund the project entirely and that constraints in the local distribution infrastructure limit any practical near‑term expansion.