The Maryland Public Service Commission will hold an online public hearing at 7 p.m., Wednesday, before Public Utility Law Judge Chuck McLean, on the proposal from Spring Valley Solar 1 LLC. The company intends to build a 2.25-megawatt solar farm on 14 acres of an 80-acre property at 1500 Fannie Dorsey Road in Sykesville.
Since new solar-generating farms are prohibited on Carroll County farmland, according to the county’s zoning code, the commissioners plan to attend the hearing to voice their opposition, according to a news release from the county on Monday.
“The board urges community members to also attend and comment on the proposed construction,” the news release states. “The board maintains its position of protecting owner property rights, local control, land use and permitting authority and the importance of renewable energy while preserving the county’s rich agricultural farmland.”
In July 2023, after several public hearings and a recommendation from the Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission, Carroll County commissioners adopted an ordinance stating that solar energy generating facilities are not allowed on farmland in the county; instead, they should be built on land zoned for commercial and industrial use.
Since then, six applicants have applied to the state to build solar farms on farmland in Hampstead, Sykesville and Westminster.
None of the six solar projects currently going through the state’s application process has been submitted to the county for development review. The Spring Valley Solar 1 LLC project is one of the six applicants.
“In April 2024, Spring Valley Solar applied to the Maryland Public Service Commission for what is known as a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, which grants an applicant the authority to construct an energy generating station or high-voltage transmission line in Maryland,” a news release from the state agency states. “According to the application, the solar facility, intended as part of Maryland’s community solar program, would be built on 14 acres of an 80-acre property located at 1500 Fannie Dorsey Road in Sykesville.”
Wednesday’s hearing will include a presentation by the developer, followed by statements from the Power Plant Research Program of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel and the commission’s technical staff.
This is not the first solar facility proposal on farmland that the county commissioners have spoken against.
In May, the commissioners sent a letter to the Public Service Commission stating that though they support solar development in Carroll, they are against a proposal from Chaberton Solar Pine Rock LLC, to construct a 3.0-megawatt solar farm on 18 acres of agricultural land at 1151 Sullivan Road in Westminster.
“The county is not opposed to solar, rather we are concerned about its location,” that letter states. “We believe in smart solar development that maximizes the potential for the energy source without significant negative impacts on the nation’s farmland and its production.”
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