Concerned Citizens Of Gloucester Offer Planning Commission Solar Farm Discussion Suggestions

Greetings,

On behalf of, Concerned Citizens of Gloucester, we present the following suggestions and information pertaining to the Solar discussion for your consideration.

·       A Virginia County made a requirement in one of their CUP’s, for the inclusion of an educational kiosk with a platform that overlooks the solar fields so school kids can be bussed there for class. Suggest requiring the same where practical. Suggest kiosk “factually represent” the pros and cons of such solar energy facilities, including energy storage and path of energy transmission aspects.

·       Suggest adding requirement that all materials used in the construction of commercial solar facilities must be manufactured in the USA. It may or may not be relevant, but Rapidan Service Authority has required USA manufactured materials in the construction and repair of their jurisdiction’s water and wastewater systems for years. Not sure if this is possible with solar facilities, but it sure would help the Country.

·       Suggest sustained soils testing requirements for the life of the facility and as a requirement of the decommissioning process. Suggest testing for every potentially harmful element contained in any and all facility materials at least biannually. Including testing of all associated storm water facilities and outfalls to rivers, creeks, lakes, ponds and streams if a testing trail of contamination dictates such. Suggest including a provision requiring testing after any cataclysmic event that causes breakage of panels and other components containing potentially hazardous elements. Suggest including provision for abatement and replacement of soils found to be contaminated and for the removal of damaged and otherwise unserviceable components within a reasonable time (maybe 30 days). Suggest requiring the County be notified immediately in the event of damage to components containing toxic or otherwise harmful elements.

·       Suggest prohibiting the disposal of any and all solar facility components, including contaminated soils, within the boundaries of Gloucester County. Such disposal may very well upset the projected lifespan of the landfill if left unchecked. Requiring recycling of materials as the only option may cause issues if such recycling facilities are not available for damaged or otherwise unusable components or when it is time to decommission the facility. What will happen then? Suggest requiring a detailed disposal plan.

·       Several localities require seeding and planting with pollinator friendly grasses and plants as part of landscaping. Suggest requiring the same in Gloucester.

·       Suggest fully exploring energy revenue share options provided in the Code of Virginia, with significant focus on the long-term revenue picture. Machines and Tools taxes will provide little revenue and Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery Depreciation (if applicable) will quickly decrease that revenue to nothing. Suggest clarifying how the facility’s real estate will be taxed, i.e., commercial, agriculture, etc. Suggest a requirement to review revenue sharing and other potential revenue avenues every five or so years.

·       Suggest requiring data supported water usage estimates for construction and post construction operations. A lot of residents rely on well water. If well drilling is necessary during construction, the impact on nearby wells may need to be considered. If public water is used, it may be prudent to know what long- and short-term impacts there may be on the system.

·       Suggest requiring applicants to coordinate with local emergency management staff and first responders to provide annual materials, education and/or training on hazardous elements contained in the facility and how to safely respond to and mitigate on-site emergencies.

·       Suggest spelling out the acceptable forms of surety for decommissioning, etc. and what happens to sureties when ownership changes through sale, bankruptcy, etc. In other words, a way to ensure the existence and availability of those funds throughout the life of the facility?

·       Suggest a requirement for power generated by solar facilities in Gloucester to be used only in Gloucester in the event of extended power outages.

·       Suggest including below ground fixtures, apparatuses and other components to those items that must be removed during decommissioning.

·       Suggest creating initiative to raise landowner awareness of the benefits and potential pit falls of entering into an agreement with solar companies. Maybe even requiring the landowner to acknowledge their awareness as part of the application process. In many instances throughout the country, landowners have been taken advantage of in various ways. See presentation on this topic at this link: http://wiseenergy.org/Energy/Solar/Leaseholder_Solar.pdf

We have included links to various Counties’ solar ordinances, to the Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley, Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation’s Utility-Scale Solar Ordinance Recommendations, and other informative information. We hope information found at these links and our suggestions will be helpful in the process of developing comprehensive rules for solar development in our County.

Respectfully,

Kenny Hogge, Sr.

Gloucester Point

Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley, Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation’s Utility-Scale Solar Ordinance Recommendations

https://shenandoahalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Alliance-Solar-Recommendations-FINAL-3_28_19.pdf

Page County Solar Regulation (Draft) 11-17-2020

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14kLkoiN3nP5n3JpmZUY_2yAYT8_SBcGt/view

Culpeper County Solar Policy

https://web.culpepercounty.gov/Portals/0/Departments/Planning_and_Zoning/2019%20Amended%20Solar%20Policy%20(signed).pdf?ver=2019-10-08-112446-437

Halifax County Solar Ordinance

https://library.municode.com/va/halifax_county/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=COOR_CH53ZO_ARTV.IISOENFA_S53-153PUIN

The Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS), established in 1986.

https://rethinkelectric.com/macrs-for-businesses/

New York Solar Law Model

http://wiseenergy.org/Energy/Solar/NY_Model_Solar_Law.pdf

Toxic Chemicals In Solar Panels

https://sciencing.com/toxic-chemicals-solar-panels-18393.html 

Gloucester, VA Planning Commission Meeting Video Sept. 2014

Planning commission video for the month of September, 2014.  One of the many areas to watch so that you know and understand where your tax dollars are going.  If you are not keeping on eye on everything, how do you know that maybe, just maybe, you are way overpaying taxes?  It's everyone's job to stay on top of these issues.  We just try to make it a little easier.

Related articles

• Gloucester Board of Supervisors Sept 2, 2014 meeting Open Letter to the Citizens of Gloucester County Virginia
• Gloucester, VA Board of Supervisors Meeting, Notes, Report Card For September, 2014
• Governor McAuliffe Announces Matching Tourism Grants
• EDA & Woodville School, Gloucester, Virginia
• Abolish the Economic Development Authority of Gloucester County, Virginia
• Everything You Know About Getting a Tax Refund Is Wrong

Gloucester, VA FOIA Fraud?

Watch the above video all the way through if you can, it's about 4 hours long, but to make a long story short, we were at this meeting and we watched everything going on during the entire meeting.  Here is what we sent to Mr Chriscoe, Board of Supervisor member at large.

"Mr Chriscoe:  We are going to FIOA your text messages made and received during the BoS meeting.  We not only saw what you were doing, we also heard your phone going off numerous times.  Thought there was a policy passed last year that prohibited this.  Since it was done during a BoS meeting, it becomes BoS business.  May we suggest you refrain from this in the future?"

A response from Mr Chriscoe;

My phone did not go off during the meeting.  I did receive a text during the meeting, not pertaining to county business.  I also used my phone as a calculator during a portion of the meeting.  I do not send texts during meetings of any kind they are sent automatically by the meeting setting on my phone.

Thank you for the interest in what I do.  Sorry to disappoint.

Regards,

Ashley Chriscoe

Board of Supervisors

Our Response;

" All we can do is go by what we see and hear.  Your phone seemed to have beeped numerous times during the meeting.  Also, your claim that you were making calculations is of concern as you did not bring up any numbers during the meeting that would release you of such a claim.  May we point out that appearance should always be a concern that must be taken into consideration at all times during a Board meeting.  Also, conversations with numerous people after the meeting, the consensus was unanimous, that the appearance was you were texting during the meeting.  

  We are not trying to be offensive to you.  We are showing you what we are seeing and are simply asking for transparency.  Please go back and review the meeting video and take an honest look at yourself and ask what it is that everyone else is seeing."

Again Mr Chriscoe Responds;

" I understand your point.  My harshest critic watches all of the meetings.  And at no time did my mom say anything about my phone.  She says I am an on it all the time and she made no mention of it.  I do keep my phone silenced and if I do get a text I get a green light that blinks.  My mother is a widow and I have two kids at home.  If something happens to one of them someone can always get a hold of me.  At our next meeting if you are there I will show you the feature I use so that the phone does not vibrate or make a sound.  I apologize if it looked like I was using my phone. 

I did have to use my iPad during the meting because the laptop on the counter quit working prior to the meeting.  

Thanks for watching.  Keep pointing these things out.  They are helpful.

Regards,

Ashley Chriscoe

Board of Supervisors"

There is an old saying that we have adopted here.  Trust but verify.  So as we stated, we did a FOIA request for any and all text messages.  It went like this.

"Hello Christie;

  Attached is a PDF formal FOIA request for information regarding any and all text messages sent and or received by Ashley Chriscoe during the July 1st, 2014 Board of Supervisor's meeting between the hours of 7:00 PM and 11:00 PM.  As always, thank you for everything that you do."

The response back from Christie Lewis is as follows.

I am in receipt of your attached FOIA request as emailed and received on Tuesday, July 8, 2014 for “ digital copies of any and all text messages of Ashley Chriscoe during the July 1st, 2014 Board of Supervisor's meeting between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m.” 

Mr. Chriscoe has indicated that he reviewed all text messages and only one text message was received and one was sent through automatic response during the timeframe specified.  These texts were not related to public business and do not constitute public records as defined under “Public Records” in the Code of Virginia § 2.2-3701.

FOIA provisions allow a locality to charge a reasonable fee to access and search for requested records.  Total time being charged for this request is 45 minutes at a rate of $15 per hour for a total charge of $11.25.  Please remit payment by check made payable to the “County of Gloucester” for the total amount and mail to Gloucester Community Education, P.O. Box 1306, Gloucester, VA 23061 or you may bring payment in person to our office.  We ask that you call ahead to 693-5730 to ensure staff is available to receive payment.  We are unable to make change, so we ask to please bring the exact amount if paying in person.

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance to you.

Regards,

Christi Lewis

Community Education Director

804-693-5730

We asked for a justification of the above expense as Mr Chriscoe had already went through his text messages prior to the request.  How can he have possibly spent one hour once again reviewing his messages and why would it take anyone so long?  Also, let's look at the facts.  Christie Lewis only asked Mr Chriscoe for any digital copies of any text messages that he may have sent or received during the time frame in question.  She did not search any phone records to verify anything.  She simply asked him for any records.  So we have no idea whether or not he is even telling the truth.  

  Second.  Christie Lewis asks Mr Chriscoe how much time he spent searching his phone records and just goes along with that.  No verification on time spent here either and all this after Mr Chriscoe already told me the same story prior to the FOIA request.  Does anyone wonder why we question the integrity of local government officials?  Here is more of the conversation.

Another email to us from Christie Lewis;

"Mr. Chriscoe indicated he spent approximately one hour reviewing and responding to your request.  The county guideline is to provide a courtesy 15 minutes of response time so we billed for 45 minutes at the clerical rate of $15 per hour."

Our response to this is as follows:

"Please ask Mr Chriscoe to justify his time spent going through his cell phone for one hour after having already provided information on such prior to said request."

Again, we were at the meeting and kept hearing cell phone tones that would indicate a message came in on someone's phone during the meeting and it was coming from the front of the meeting room.  Mr Chriscoe had his head down and looking at something in front of him throughout a great deal of the 4 hour meeting.  It looked as though he was in fact texting.  We tried to work with county officials to clear all of this up, but there has been no response to us from the last email we sent asking Mr Chriscoe to justify his time spent looking through his cell phone messages or was that possibly deleting his cell phone messages?  We are presently looking into potential fraud on this.  This is not what we expect nor is it what anyone should expect of any county officials at any time.  It's disgraceful.  

Related articles

• Gloucester, VA Planning Commission and BoS Meeting Video, June, 2014
• Gloucester, VA Real Estate Sales Along Highway 17 Are Telling
• Gloucester, VA Bos's Christ Hutson: Second Conflict of Interest Vote?
• Gloucester Main Street Preservation Trust, Secret Shadow Gloucester, VA Government Extended Into 2014?
• Gloucester, VA - FOIA and Private Email Accounts In Virginia
• Gloucester, VA Board of Supervisors Meeting, May, 2014 with Notes

Gloucester, VA Planning Commission and BoS Meeting Video, June, 2014

Do we mention the funny thing that happened to the BoS after their meeting with the microphones left and and with who said what about whom?  Nah.  Let's skip that, it's just not a nice thing to repeat.  But for those of us who know, it was very telling to say the least.

Mr Meyer's Notes from this meeting that he would like to convey to everyone in the county.  Sorry again for the massive delay on getting this up.

Fellow Citizens,

I want to thank those of you who were able to turn out Thursday night and

especially those who were able to voice their opinions on the Highway

Corridor Overlay District.  I was impressed with the reasoning and clarity

in the citizens' oral arguments - for and against limiting or eliminating

the HCOD.

I wish the Board and the Planning Commission had been as well prepared as

the citizens were.  It became clear that the two bodies had two different

concepts as to what the purpose of the meeting was.  Despite the resulting

inelegance, the outcome was pretty clear.  The BOS wants a severely reduced

version of the HCOD, and the PC will provide their opinion as to what they

think that should be.

To me, the underlying principle is property rights.  I think we've gotten a

little too enamored with telling our neighbors what they can or cannot do

with their property.  In this case, the 1998 Planning Commission decided

that they knew best what businesses on Hwy 14 and 17 should look like, and

thereby imposed their aesthetic standards on the people who actually own the

property.  I don't believe such government heavy-handiness is warranted.

The debate is still open until the end of the month, so it's not too late to

make your opinion known.  If you feel strongly about some aspect, or all

aspects of the HCOD, please write your District Supervisor and/or Ashley

Chriscoe and I.  We want to know what you think.

Thank you,

John Meyer

Related articles

• Gloucester, VA Bos's Christ Hutson: Second Conflict of Interest Vote?
• Gloucester, VA BoS Member, Chris Huston, Violating State Code? Conflict of Interests?
• Gloucester, VA Real Estate Sales Along Highway 17 Are Telling
• Gloucester, VA Board of Supervisors Meeting, May, 2014 with Notes
• Gloucester, VA Board of Supervisor's Video and Notes March 18th, 2014
• Gloucester, VA, A Thank You To 3 BoS Members