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Council approves amendment to allow solar installation at New Birth campus with conditions
Summary
The council voted 4–0 to amend prior conditions on an 11‑acre parcel at 6400 Woodrow Road so New Birth Missionary Baptist Church can proceed with a solar farm, while attaching environmental, buffering and screening requirements and limiting future intensive uses.
The Stonecrest City Council on June 22 approved an amendment to zoning conditions for an 11‑plus‑acre parcel at 6400 Woodrow Road so the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church can install a solar farm on a portion of its campus.
Community Development staff explained the request would remove several county conditions tied to a prior consent decree (originally reserving the parcel for an assisted‑living facility) and add four conditions limiting the site to solar panels and related equipment, requiring adherence to environmental permitting, and mandating screening and buffering. "The project must follow all environmental regulations, including erosion, storm water, and permitting for any floodplain or wetland impacts," staff said.
Applicant representative Adulus Armstrong described the 11‑acre site as bounded by the larger church campus, said the project is already funded and would serve the church's energy needs, and emphasized plans for a 50‑foot undisturbed buffer and security fencing with landscaping to reduce visual impacts. "You literally will have to drive onto the New Birth campus to look at the solar panels," Armstrong said, adding the site would be screened from adjacent properties.
Council members questioned whether trees would need to be removed and whether recreational access would be relocated; staff and the applicant said an arborist would audit the campus and that senior housing will be relocated into a separate mixed‑use project on adjacent acreage. Planning staff and the planning commission recommended approval with the listed conditions.
Councilwoman Carisha Smith noted that several original conditions would remain in place, including limits on lighting, minimum outdoor recreation, underground utilities and moratorium provisions discussed in the prior county consent decree. After debate and clarifications about buffers and remaining conditions, the council voted 4–0 to approve the ordinance amendment.
The ordinance amending conditions at parcel ID 1610619 was adopted on a 4–0 vote. Staff said the approval includes conditions intended to limit visual and environmental impacts and that further intensive uses would require separate zoning action.
