Fauquier County passed a zoning ordinance defining county standards for industrial-scale utility solar projects in October 2020. This 40-acre solar project (on a leased 170-acre property) would have been built on prime agricultural and/or prime forest soils, according to the county staff report; the property also included wetlands and streams that would have been affected by runoff from the project. 

Planners object to proposed Bealeton solar project’s effect on farmland

• By Peter Cary/Piedmont Journalism Foundation, 21 Apr 2021 (updated 5 Oct 2021)

Fauquier County planning officials rejected an application for a 40-acre solar farm in Bealeton last Thursday, signaling disapproval for projects that shrink the county’s supply of agricultural land. If the project were to make it to final approval, it would be the first to be built in the county since Dominion Energy opened a 125-acre facility near Remington in 2017. The decision may not bode well for another solar project designed for 20 acres off Meetze Road that is further back in the approval pipeline.

On a 3-2 vote following a public hearing, the planning commission decided that the Bealeton project was not in accord with the county’s comprehensive plan. Making sure that a project is in compliance with the plan is the first step in an approval process that moves on to consideration of a special zoning exception and then to the granting of permits.

One commissioner who argued for approval, Robert Lee of the Marshall District, said that the project could be subjected to greater scrutiny in its next approval stages. Commissioner Matthew Smith also supported the project going forward; voting against it were Chairwoman Adrienne Garreau, Diane Roteman and John Meadows. The commission’s decision will be sent to the board of supervisors for review; the board has the power to overrule the decision.

The Bealeton project was the first to be considered by the county since it passed an ordinance in October setting standards and requirements for solar facilities. As such, the project was closely scrutinized by the Piedmont Environmental Council, which argued that it was not in compliance with the comprehensive plan in that it took up 40 acres of prime farming land.

Julie Bolthouse, the PEC’s land use representative for Fauquier County, said her organization liked the smaller scale of this project but said if the commissioners found that this project was in accord with the comprehensive plan, “the dominoes may start to fall in southern Fauquier.” She warned that large solar projects might be broken into small ones to meet county favor, and that even though this project seemed small, “the impact to agricultural soils and the agricultural economy from this proposal cannot be ignored.”

Two local residents also spoke against the project. One, Chris Cloud of the Marshall District, said he thought solar farms were inefficient in this latitude. He argued that the way to do solar energy in Fauquier was to put panels on existing structures, not on agricultural properties. “I’m all for solar. And I think that they’re a fantastic idea. It just drives me crazy that we don’t have them on top of every school in the county,” he said. Another resident, Regan Washer, said he agreed with Cloud’s aphorism that “Farmland lost once is lost forever.”

The project, known as the Bealeton Solar Facility, was proposed by Dynamic Energy Solutions, LLC of Wayne, Pennsylvania, which has built more than 40 ground-based solar installations in the eastern U.S. It proposed leasing 40 acres of a 170 acre farm at 11795 Marsh Road, Bealeton, owned by Eddie and Sheila Bennett. The solar farm would generate 5-megawatts of electricity, enough to power 1,000 homes. The panels would connect to transmission lines that run along the southern edge of the property, providing local customers the option to purchase electricity at a reduced rate. According to Dynamic Energy officials, after the lease is up – in 20 to 30 years — the solar panels would be removed and the land returned to its original farming condition.

By comparison, the Dominion Energy facility east of Remington is 20 megawatts on 125 acres. It has 236,000 panels and was built on land owned by Dominion Energy near its power station there.

Because of emphasis in the comprehensive plan toward preservation of Fauquier’s rural culture and economy, and because of strict regulations in the new zoning ordinance, solar farms may face an uphill battle in the county. Environmentalists’ concerns dovetail with those of the supervisors; they want to ensure that the solar arrays are set back from properties and roads, that they are screened from public view by trees or buffers, that the height of panels does not exceed 15 feet and that each project is secured with fencing.

They want to protect wetlands and floodplains from damage and see that the entire area is vegetated, as well as minimize the projects’ impacts on wildlife and pollinators.

One major concern is what happens after the project outlives its usefulness. Because solar panels lose efficiency over time and typically are replaced after 25 to 30 years, the ordinance requires that the owners submit a decommissioning plan and put money into escrow to pay for the dismantlement of the project.

The biggest overarching concern, however, is that solar farms not diminish the county’s agricultural base. “I don’t want to see them eat up a lot of agricultural land,” said Supervisor Chris Butler, whose Lee District contains farmland conducive to solar farming. “The cattle can’t eat solar panels, and neither can you nor I.”

Butler said one limiting factor was likely to be the transmission lines that crisscross the county. Solar farms need to be located close to them – indeed, the ordinance requires it. Also, he noted, the lines’ capacity cannot be overloaded, and that alone may limit the number of solar farms that could connect to the electric grid. For that reason, he said, “I don’t think we will be overrun.”

Supervisor Rick Gerhardt, in whose Cedar Run District the Bealeton project lies, said in an email that he is generally not a fan of solar projects as they take farmland out of production. “However, there are situations and locations where one or, possibly, two of these projects could be considered in the Cedar Run District, so long as they comply with Fauquier’s current ordinance and the impacted public is onboard.” He said any vote he cast would rely heavily on public comments.

Gerhardt said he looked less favorably on a 3-megawatt 15-to-20-acre solar farm proposed by Borrego Solar Systems Inc. for 8515 Meetze Road, about 2 miles southeast of Va. Route 15. “It appears to be too impactful on neighbors and will upset the agricultural balance in this area,” he said. That project is in the pre-application stage, so it has not yet been considered by the planning commission. “If it makes it to a [board of supervisors] public hearing, I’ll be listening to what surrounding property owners have to say and make my decision based on their comments,” he said.