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A clear sky. Low 53F. Winds light and variable..

A clear sky. Low 53F. Winds light and variable.

The family of Lottie Nunn, former member of the Halifax County Board of Supervisors, accepts a resolution in her memory at Tuesday evening’s board of supervisors meeting. Board Chairman Calvin “Ricky” Short (far right) presents the resolution to the family. Nunn represented Election District 7 on the board of supervisors for four terms, starting Jan. 1, 2000, and ending Dec. 31, 2015.

Halifax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Calvin “Ricky” Short (right) reads a proclamation recognizing September as library card sign up month at the supervisors’ Tuesday evening meeting in the Mary Bethune Office Complex. Pictured with Short is Jay Stevens, director of the Halifax County/South Boston Library System.

Clover Creek Solar, a 90-megawatt solar facility, soon will be part of the landscape of eastern Halifax County.

The solar facility will be located on 26 parcels of land on Dryburg and Ashcake Creek Road bordering Charlotte County, along the Staunton River.

The Halifax County Board of Supervisors approved a conditional use permit and siting agreement with Dominion Energy for the solar facility at its Tuesday evening meeting. Both the CUP application and siting agreement were approved by a unanimous vote.

ED-2 Supervisor Larry Roller made the motion to approve the CUP application for Clover Creek Solar, and ED-5 Supervisor Dean Throckmorton seconded the motion.

“The location provides good screening from the public roadways and residents in the area and has minimal prime farmland involved,” Roller said, citing his reasons for approving the application. “The project provides significant revenue to the county.”

Roller said an adjoining landowner has expressed to him concerns about erosion control related to the project, which he passed along to project representatives in the hopes that they will be addressed.

Adam Thompson, senior business development manager for Dominion Energy Virginia, told supervisors and the Halifax County Planning Commission in a joint Aug. 16 meeting that, if approved, construction on Clover Creek Solar would start in 2024 and the solar facility would begin operating in 2025. The solar panels will encompass 841 acres of land.

Halifax County Administrator Scott Simpson told supervisors and commissioners in the joint meeting that Clover Creek Solar would bring $2.25 million in revenue share, made in four payments, to the county. Simpson said all of that revenue would be placed into the county’s capital funds, which can be used for construction projects, broadband or establishing other services the county deems necessary for its citizens.

Touting the benefits of Clover Creek Solar, Thompson told supervisors at the Aug. 16 meeting the project would create approximately 150 jobs during the construction phase and generate $7.6 million in labor income. ED-8 Supervisor William Bryant Claiborne asked Thompson at Tuesday’s meeting how many local jobs specifically the solar project would create.

Thompson replied while he could not name an exact number of local jobs the project would create, Dominion Energy was committed to using “local contractors,” and the company’s definition of local contractors is “Virginia businesses.” Claiborne indicated he would like to see a narrower definition of “local contractors,” and Thompson said Dominion Energy would make an effort to involve Southside Virginia contractors specifically in the project.

In his overview of the Clover Creek Solar project, Thompson also discussed Dominion Energy’s plans to use controlled burns to burn brush and wood prior to constructing the solar panels, and using curtains to minimize smoke in the area during those times.

Board Chairman Calvin “Ricky” Short asked Thompson at Tuesday’s meeting if he could guarantee no smoke would escape the curtain. He shared his concern about receiving calls of complaints from residents about smoke during the burns.

Thompson said while the curtains would minimize the amount of smoke emanating from the burn, he could not say the curtains would eliminate smoke outside the area of the controlled burn “100%.”

Roller expressed his view that the burns are a better solution than hauling the wood off site, creating more truck traffic on the secondary roads.

Simpson noted Dominion Energy must submit a burn plan to the county in advance. He also said the county has not had any issues with the Piney Creek Solar project, a Dominion Energy project in the county that has been under construction for the past four months.

Supervisors Vice Chairman Garland Ricketts asked Thompson the same question he had asked at the Aug. 16 meeting: How much tax revenue would the Clover Creek Solar project bring to Halifax County?

Thompson provided a response similar to the one he gave at the previous meeting. He said while he could not provide an exact dollar amount of tax revenue the project would bring to the county, Dominion Energy would pay real estate taxes on the land for Clover Creek Solar, and the switching station that connects to the solar power grid would be taxed like any other substation in the county.

The board of supervisors also approved two rezoning applications at Tuesday’s meeting.

The first application rezones the Old Clover School property at 1085 Mt. Laurel Road from R-1, residential to A-1, agricultural, allowing for broader uses of the property. Property owner Wayne Ford told commissioners during a public hearing at an Aug. 16 meeting that he plans to operate a recreational vehicle park on the property, with the intention of using the proceeds from the park to renovate the school.

Roller made the motion to approve the rezoning of the Old Clover School property, noting the supervisors’ decision that evening was only to rezone the property and allowing the property to be used as the site of an RV park was not part of that. Following the rezoning of the property, the supervisors would have to approve a conditional use permit application to allow the operation of an RV park on the Old Clover School property.

The second application approved by supervisors rezones eight parcels of land on Halifax Road, Avondale Drive and Webb Street from B-2, commercial to R-1, residential. The county’s planning and zoning administrator, Detrick Easley, wrote in a letter to the rezoning permit applicants that the zoning of their properties as B-2, commercial when the surrounding properties were zoned as residential likely was done in error.

At the supervisors meeting, the county’s finance director Stephanie Jackson shared the news of a tax break on personal property taxes for Halifax County citizens this year.

Jackson shared that because the prices of used vehicles have increased and continue to rise, the county anticipated an additional $3.3 million in revenue from personal property taxes. She said a committee recommended the county retain $1 million of that revenue for public safety, creating a relief percentage of 42% on personal property taxes for Halifax County citizens this tax year. That percentage is up from last year’s personal property tax relief percentage, which was 21.5%.

In other action, supervisors approved the following items:

• The use of $300,000 allocated in the county’s volunteer fire departments’ capital plan for the purchase of new air packs and upgrade of older air packs for the fire departments.

• Authorizing the county administrator to execute acceptance of a Federal Aviation Administration grant and state grant for the reconstruction of runway lighting and the visual guidance system at William M. Tuck Airport. County staff applied for a federal grant of $110,684 and a state grant of $9,839 for the airport upgrades. The county will provide a match of $2,460 from the airport capital funds for the grant.

• A bronze plaque for the dedication of the newly renovated Halifax County Courthouse, after a couple of changes recommended by supervisors are made to the plaque. ED-4 Supervisor Ronnie Duffey suggested adding a line thanking the citizens of Halifax County because taxpayer dollars were used to help fund the courthouse renovation project. ED-3 Supervisor Hubert Pannell suggested including recognition to the supervisors who have served as chairmen. An asterisk will be placed by the names of each supervisor who has served as chairman, and a double asterisk will be placed by the name of each supervisor who has served as vice-chairman.

The family of Lottie Nunn, former member of the Halifax County Board of Supervisors, accepts a resolution in her memory at Tuesday evening’s board of supervisors meeting. Board Chairman Calvin “Ricky” Short (far right) presents the resolution to the family. Nunn represented Election District 7 on the board of supervisors for four terms, starting Jan. 1, 2000, and ending Dec. 31, 2015.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, Dr. Amy Huskin, new superintendent of Halifax County Public Schools, introduced herself to the board, and Jay Stevens, director of the Halifax County/South Boston Library System, gave a presentation on the library’s summer activities.

Halifax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Calvin “Ricky” Short (right) reads a proclamation recognizing September as library card sign up month at the supervisors’ Tuesday evening meeting in the Mary Bethune Office Complex. Pictured with Short is Jay Stevens, director of the Halifax County/South Boston Library System.

Chairman Short also presented a resolution to the family of Lottie Nunn, former member of the Halifax County Board of Supervisors. Nunn represented Election District 7 on the board of supervisors for four terms, starting Jan. 1, 2000, and ending Dec. 31, 2015.

Miranda Baines is a staff writer for The Gazette-Virginian. Contact her at mbaines@gazettevirginian.com.

Miranda Baines is a staff writer for The Gazette-Virginian. Contact her at mbaines@gazettevirginian.com.

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