BOC passes moratorium for 6 months
The Oglethorpe County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a six-month moratorium on solar projects during its monthly meeting on Monday.
The moratorium had already been prepared and was voted on after Code Compliance Officer Jeff Sharp gave a presentation that included photos of flooding and runoff resulting from the Timberland Solar Project. The area includes Goose Pond.
“I’m not a fan of what happened at Goose Pond,” Commission Chairman Jay Paul said. “It’s hard for me to call (something) green energy when you have 1,300 acres decimated and replaced with hot glass. (It’s) intriguing that something that’s advertised as green energy eliminating everything green.”
The presentation and moratorium vote was part of a two-hour meeting that turned contentious when a representative from Vanguard Renewables gave a presentation about a proposed project on a farm on Centerville and Bethesda Church roads in the eastern part of the county.
Nic Cunha, development manager for Vanguard Renewables, fielded questions from residents who made it clear they don’t want that technology in the county, especially near their property.
Anaerobic digesters combine food waste with dairy manure to create fertilizer and renewable natural gas for the energy grid.
The moratorium on the solar farms states that the county won’t accept applications for conditional use for large scale solar farms and “no pre-application review of a proposed conditional use for Large Scale Solar Farm shall be considered” until it expires on Sept. 6.
District 5 Commissioner Tracy Norman said the moratorium gives the county time to learn lessons regarding implementing solar farms. He remains optimistic about the future of solar farms in the county.
“I like solar farms,” he said. “They're quiet, they don't smell, they don't make noise, there’s no pollution. We need to think about (wider) buffers.”
Sharp said the Timberland Solar Farm includes about 1,380 acres of cleared land.
“They're addressing it; it’s a huge issue,” he said. “We're just trying to work through it, and hopefully get it to where it's manageable.”
Also on Monday, the board discussed the county’s animal burial policy. The county doesn’t charge residents to bury dead livestock, but the service takes up valuable manpower and resources.
District 1 Commissioner Howard Sanders said he could argue both for the county burying animals for free or for a fee, but he proposed that a $200-300 fee would be a fair price to charge in non-emergency and non-health hazard situations.
He said the county doesn’t have enough employees or funds to be able to bury every animal for free, especially when the county is “burying seven animals a day.”
In other news:
- The board added Hugh Culbreth Road to the truck traffic ordinance. No thru-trucks are allowed on the road.
- It approved the expansion of the opioid class action lawsuit originally adopted in Feb. 2018 to include more companies in the suit.
- It approved the administrative consent agenda.
- It discussed making Fairground park into a recreational area.
- It designated the week of March 12 as AmeriCorps week in the county.
- It approved the municode amendments.
- It motioned to move voting on rezoning tax parcels 150 005 and 151 001 from A2 (general agriculture) to A1 (intensive agriculture) next month.
- It reappointed Katherine Davis to the Board of Health through Dec. 31, 2028.
- It approved the request from Manuel Parra to rezone 941 Wesley Chapel Road from A2 to R1. The property will be subdivided.
- It approved the request from Shannon Bailey to rezone 25 Onnie Colquitt Road from R1 to AR.
- The board presented former commissioner Phil Sanders with a toy John Deere S780 combine. The box was signed by the commissioners and county staff.