SNOW HILL – County officials approved concept plans for utility scale solar projects in Berlin and Snow Hill this week.
The Worcester County Commissioners voted 6-0 to approve initial plans for large scale solar projects on Libertytown Road in Berlin and Public Landing Road in Snow Hill. The approval came after some neighbors of each shared concerns but said they supported the projects.
“I’d rather see a solar farm than a housing project,” said Libertytown Road resident Barbara Holloway.
The solar projects, which received a favorable recommendation from the county’s planning commission last month, have both been proposed by Longview Solar. The commissioners got a glimpse of the proposals earlier this year when the company asked for a tax abatement that was subsequently denied. Nevertheless the projects, already having authorization from Maryland’s Public Service Commission (PSC), have continued through the local approval process.
Longview Solar plans to erect a 20-megawatt facility on Libertytown Road and a 15-megawatt facility on Public Landing Road. Both projects would be built on less-than-ideal farmland.
On Tuesday, the commissioners hosted public hearings on both projects. Gary James spoke in opposition to the Libertytown Road proposal. He said he owned a farm and a lot across the street from the property that was to be filled with solar panels.
“I’m concerned with what this project is going to do to my property values,” he said. “There’s nothing attractive about this.”
James said his daughter also lived across the street from the project. He asked how long it was going to take for the vegetative buffer around the solar farm to grow.
“How many years am I going to be looking at 180 solar panels before vegetation is tall enough to block the view?” he said.
Maureen Howarth, the county’s attorney, pointed out that the state had already approved the project.
“The Public Service Commission is the true entity that has the most authority over this process,” she said.
Donald Hawkins said he also lived across the street from the Libertytown Road site. He said he supported the concept but hoped there would be sufficient screening between the solar panels and neighboring properties.
“I moved into this area not wanting to be surrounded by a lot of housing,” he said. “A solar farm that’s well screened is a quiet neighbor. I am in favor but have concerns about screening. I do like the fact that there’s going to be some tax dollars brought in.”
Holloway said she’d lived on the road for 43 years and had watched it get busier and busier. She said a solar farm would at least not add to the traffic.
“I’d rather see it in crops but the people who own it aren’t farmers,” she said. “They don’t live here.”
Longview Solar’s consultant, Dane Bauer, said the company had met the county’s screening requirements. He said a landscaper would be planting rows of trees that would grow to between nine and 15 feet along the property lines. The trees are species that are indigenous to this area.
“You can’t plant 35-foot trees,” he said. “It wouldn’t be allowed by the Public Service Commission because it would shade the panels.”
Commissioner Chip Bertino asked whether the trees could be counted on to survive. Bauer said they were guaranteed by the landscaping contractor and should reach maturity in three to five years.
There were fewer comments made by the public on the Public Landing solar project. One neighborhood resident asked whether there’d be any glare from the panels.
“These things do not give off a glare,” Bauer explained. “They absorb the light.”
The commissioners approved concept plans for both projects with 6-0 votes. Commissioner Bud Church was absent.
