Board declines zoning text change to explicitly list 'solar' as public utility, defers to planning commission findings

The Nottoway County Board of Supervisors accepted the planning commission's recommendation to leave the zoning definition of "public utilities" unchanged and declined a text amendment that would have explicitly added the word "solar." The planning commission had voted 8–0 to recommend rejection, saying the existing term (which references electricity) already covers electricity generation.

Brian Thomas, a planning commission member and Crewe resident, argued that solar generation and battery storage do not match public-utility functions like billing and customer-facing services. "Solar facilities and battery storage facilities are not public utilities by definition," Thomas said during the hearing, urging the county not to "muddy the definition." County staff and an applicant representative pointed out that the county ordinance and state statute use electricity as a term of art and that large grid-scale facilities can functionally fall under public-utility considerations when tied to substations.

After discussing whether an explicit list of generation sources is necessary, the board concluded no immediate change was required. Several supervisors said they would monitor any future issues and work with staff to clarify waiver language for setbacks on an ordinance update if needed.