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Dinwiddie board rejects 20 MW solar rezoning after residents raise water, road and property concerns
Summary
After a lengthy public hearing, the Dinwiddie Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to disapprove a rezoning request for a proposed 20 MW solar project that would have fenced 145 acres and placed panels over ~94 acres. Residents raised concerns about private road damage, groundwater/runoff and property values; the developer pledged monitoring, decommissioning security and road maintenance.
The Dinwiddie County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Aug. 20 to disapprove a rezoning request to allow a 20 megawatt alternating-current solar project on roughly 228 acres.
Planning staff and the applicant described a project that would place solar panels on about 94 acres and fence approximately 145 acres, with a proposed 75-foot vegetative buffer around the perimeter. The developer estimated M&T tax revenue from machinery and tools at about $3.5 million and an increased appraised value of roughly $700,000; a revenue-share option could have yielded approximately $2.4 million over 40 years, staff said.
Residents who live on and near Walker’s Pond Road spoke at the hearing, expressing concerns that heavy construction traffic would damage a privately maintained dirt road and that runoff or other effects could harm private wells and local streams. Cindy Harville said the project would "tear up" a road neighbors have maintained and urged the board to "be a good neighbor." Belinda Inge and others raised similar worries about well water, the local watershed and long-term impacts on wildlife and property values.
The applicant’s development team responded with technical details: they said the project would connect into distribution lines (not a large transmission substation), would bore under the railroad for cabling, and would post security and a decommissioning bond (minimum 30% of decommissioning cost excluding salvage value) to ensure the site is returned to productive farmland if operations cease. The developer also committed to groundwater testing before construction, quarterly testing for the first year and annual monitoring thereafter, and to maintain and upgrade private access roads used for construction.
Board members said they were sympathetic to the county-wide benefits solar can bring but unanimous concern centered on the proximity of the arrays to long-standing homes and the practical effects on neighbors. One supervisor noted two adjacent homes would be directly impacted by panels and buffers; the board moved and voted to disapprove the rezoning.
"If I were looking at it and those two homes didn't exist, I'd feel a whole lot more comfortable," a board member said, citing neighborhood impacts as decisive. The motion to disapprove carried with all supervisors voting in favor of the denial.
