Board denies Lou Jones 20 MW solar rezoning after lengthy public hearing

The Dinwiddie County Board of Supervisors on Dec. 16 rejected a rezoning application that would have rezoned about 308 acres for a 20‑megawatt utility‑scale solar project known as Lou Jones Solar.

Staff summarized the application and its studies before applicants and consultants answered questions over a multi‑hour public hearing. Planning staff noted the site falls in the county’s rural conservation area but that the comprehensive plan allows renewable energy as a secondary use with board approval. In a slide presentation, staff said the applicant proposed a fenced panel area of about 184 acres, a 75‑foot vegetative buffer and a decommissioning plan; the Planning Commission had recommended denial at its October meeting.

Applicant representatives from Ampliform defended the project as carefully sited and conditioned. Partner Jared Burton told the board, “Lou Jones Solar will impact less than 0.1 of 1% of the prime ag land in the county,” and emphasized the firm’s outreach and planned mitigation. Bobby Rodriguez, Ampliform’s community lead, said the company had held two town halls, modified access and layout in response to neighbors, and planned pollinator plantings and grazing that the company said would keep the land in agricultural use.

Experts for the applicant presented technical studies: Timmons Group’s engineer Colby DeChera outlined stormwater controls and said post‑development runoff would be managed with basins and diversion ditches; an environmental consultant concluded intermittent on‑site streams lack permanent flow and are unlikely to support the Atlantic pigtoe mussel; noise modeling predicted maximum inverter noise under typical rural background levels; and an appraiser summarized paired‑sale analyses showing mixed and generally small effects on nearby property values.

Residents who spoke in favor—often landowners or contractors involved with the project—cited long‑term tax revenue, local construction jobs and agreements to expand pollinator habitat and grazing. Several neighbors and community groups opposed the rezoning, raising concerns about runoff and erosion (citing ongoing state studies), loss of timber and farmland, visibility from Lou Jones Road, the sufficiency of proposed buffers, long‑term decommissioning costs and the precedent of industrial solar in a rural agricultural county. One longtime resident said the land contains family graves and expressed worry about irrevocable change.

After the hearing and applicant rebuttal, a supervisor moved to disapprove rezoning P‑25‑12. The board voted by roll call to deny the rezoning; the clerk recorded all supervisors voting “aye,” which precluded holding the later conditional‑use and siting agreement hearings for the project. The board did not approve the rezoning, so no conditional‑use permit or siting agreement was acted on.