Special Exception (Consent) – Palm River Dairy Inc.– Special Exception for a Solar Electric Power Collection Facility (Solar Farm) and Substation in a A-R Agricultural-Residential District and A-C Agricultural District – Southeast Pasco County – East of Paul S Buchman Highway, South of Jerry Road, West of Saunders Road, North of County Line Road – Containing Approximately 576.199 Acres (PC: 5/6/21, 1:30 p.m.; DC Hybrid Virtual Meeting)

25:57Okay, we're now going to move on to item PC two and uh Liam Devine will be presenting that item and I will be sharing my screen. So if you give me just a moment.

26:06Okay.

26:25Agenda item P C two.

26:30PDD 21-7532 in the name of Palm River Dairy Inc., it is a special exception for a solar electric power collection facility, solar farm, and substation in an AR agricultural residential district and an AC agricultural district.

26:49The subject site is located east of Paul S. Buckman Highway, south of Jerry Road, west of Saunders Road, and north of County Line Road.

27:00The subject site contains a dairy farm and single-family dwellings on approximately 576.199 acres. The owner slash applicants propose a solar electricity. generation facility that will employ thin film photovoltaic panels that absorb sunlight and directly produce electricity. The pro the project will encompass approximately 95 acres of the total subject site and having a maximum generation capacity of

27:3074.9 megawatts or less.

27:35The surrounding area area is characterized by residential, agricultural, commercial, and industrial uses. The subject site has a future land use classification of Res1, residential one dwelling unit per acre and IL, industrial light under the comprehensive plan. A Solar Electric Power Collection Facility, Solar Farm, and Sation under 75 MW in capacity is a minor public slash semi-public facility that is in allowable use in all future

28:06land use classifications.

28:09This is a look at at the surrounding zonings. I will point out the MPUD to the north, uh the south. I'm sorry, correction, to the south, which is Martin Mer Marietti. Um Materials MPUD, which is an aggregate aggregate transfer facility, an asphalt clamp.

28:32And this is a look at the surrounding future land use classifications.

28:42And then this is a lookout of the access. And this is going to be coming to the board with a recommendation of approval with conditions.

28:53Um I don't know if the board would like me to read through all of the conditions. I I can if you guys would like.

29:01Well can you check go back to the aerial and show us where it is on that? In that five hundred acre piece of property where this uh farm is supposed to go.

29:14So so it's it's currently being used as a dairy farm. Um the The the special exception is to allow a um solar facil a solar farm in this um zoning of AR and AC. C

29:29as a special exception.

29:32only for seventy five acres, right?

29:35Well let me let me see if I can pull a site plan for you just a moment.

29:40Okay, I don't see that. It's a s smaller percentage.

29:44Yeah.

29:47There is a sight line on that.

29:49And use a cycling attached to your a job.

29:52Yeah.

29:53That's why I put on the um

29:57Oh yeah, wait.

30:02You know I'm technically challenged.

30:08The

30:08site plan should be attachment four.

30:24Yeah.

30:38Well, I don't have a paper copy of it, so

30:47Yeah, is that it? Okay. So That's that represents seventy-five acres where the white is. I

30:58think a seventy five is the meta loss. So it's gonna be 74.9 megawatts. The uh total acreage, I believe Liam stated is five hundred and seventy-six or so acres.

31:10Yes. Yeah, but I thought he said it wasn't I thought he said the actual Yeah, it's not

31:17the percentage of the property that's actually covered.

31:20Ninety ninety five acres. Ninety five acres,

31:23yeah. The project will encompass approximately ninety-five acres of the total subject site.

31:30Okay, so that wh that's why I'm asking you to if you show me the the total site and how it r how it relates to the Out of this farm relates to the total site. I'd just like to get an idea in my mind. How it lays out.

31:49Here's the total site.

31:57That's the black boundary, Denise.

32:00The red boundary is

32:05As a total site.

32:09Blacks the total site, right?

32:12The red here is the total site. So everything that is around says the total site.

32:19Looks like it covers.

32:20I apologize. So you're seeing you're not seeing what I'm seeing. Stop sharing.

32:24It really covers most of the property, is what what you're saying.

32:30Uh that's f it's deceiving to me because

32:35It looks like it covers all pretty much all five hundred acres.

32:46Well, there's a lot of wetlands um throughout there, so obviously those won't be covered.

32:54What did you say, Chris?

32:56I said there's quite a bit of wetlands on there, so those obviously won't be covered. Or at least

33:03I thought there

33:04was

33:04a better illustration with the actual solar

33:11Yeah.

33:12That's the site plan. When you say you got a five hundred acre site and ninety-five acres of it are in solar panels. To me, that looks like you know, a fifth of it should be in solar panels, not all of it.

33:29Yeah, taking even taking into account the wetlands. Yeah. Yeah, it looks like it's

33:33So the applicant is on and the applicant can um perhaps provide additional information on the questions.

33:40Sounds good to me.

33:42Can we uh swear in anybody that's gonna speak? On this. Can we go ahead and do a swear in?

33:48Yeah, I think that would great. Thank you.

33:52If anybody is going to be speaking on um PC two, can you please raise your right hand? Do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give is the truth to help you God?

34:03Thank you.

34:07Okay. If the applicant's present, do they want to speak on the questions that we're asking?

34:25So Colin Rice is on for this item.

34:27I'm sorry, Denise. What did you say?

34:30Mr. Colin Rice should be on for this item.

34:33Okay.

34:48Colin, you're unmuted.

34:52We can't hear you. Yeah.

34:58I don't think I hear it or see.

35:08Did you hear anything? But you hear anything?

35:11We we can't hear him.

35:16Very we can hear you very low.

35:22Okay, does

35:22this any better?

35:24Oh. Yes, it's better.

35:27Sorry for the technical

35:28buttons.

35:33No, you're back at we can't hear you.

35:36Yeah.

35:52Just want uh to let the record reflect that Mr. Chris Williams is off now. Okay, he just sent a message saying that he had to leave the meeting.

36:00Okay. Thank you.

36:05Can you hear me now?

36:08Yes.

36:09Great.

36:10Sorry for that. Yeah.

36:15Terrible audio audio.

36:18Your audio is very, very bad. Very bad.

36:28So

36:31No. Is he at the podium or is he somewhere else?

36:36It appears to be that he's at the office. Okay.

36:54Wow. I want to try to propose. I'm going to propose while he's working on that. Let's hear comments.

37:00I'm going to hear from the kiosk. Okay. Yeah.

37:02Right.

37:03So we'll hear from the kiosk while that's being taken care of. Ed, would you please a ask the folks at the kiosk? Thank you.

37:11Okay, if you'd still uh you if you'd say your name and address please.

37:15Um

37:18Yes, yes, I've been sworn in. Yes, I'm John Schultz. Uh I live at [address removed]. Uh I I oppose the project because it's all around my house. You there's no studies sho I err all the research I did. I there's no study shown of what uh how would it how would it affect our property value, what would it uh Like long term effects of uh live right next to a solar farm, like, you know. I Yeah, there's not enough study

37:48shown like, you know good and bad is like right as you said, fifty feet from the fence. That's It's so close. And it's all around My whole property.

38:01Okay.

38:02Yeah, so I do a post.

38:05Okay. Anything else?

38:07Uh no sorry.

38:09Okay, just I wanna make sure you get all your questions out because uh you only have one opportunity, so I'm gonna make sure you get it covered.

38:19Oh yeah, my wife would like to speak also.

38:22Sure.

38:27You give your name and address, please.

38:29Yes, my name is Tiffany Schultz and I live at [address removed].

38:36Yeah. You've been sworn. Okay?

38:38Yes. And I oppose this um project. Uh Like my husband mentioned a second ago, we do live fifty feet from the fence line. Um, there is no studies on long term effects like if it causes cancer or um the heat like projects off of the solar panel could cause it to get hot. So then our electricity bill could cause like uh increase. So Just read

39:08from the paper.

39:11I don't want a solar panels next to my house. It is fifty feet from the fence line. It will not benefit me at all. If anything, my life bill will increase due to the solar panels project heat. Um my AC will work harder. And there is no studies on long term effects next to a solar farm, unknown if it causes cancer or any other harmful Thanks.

39:41Do you uh did you happen to did you happen to uh have any uh any studies that you have in your possession that show that it affects your property value negatively or or create some kind of a public uh illnesses or anything like that. Do you have anything like that?

39:59No, there's no studies um found at the moment.

40:04Okay.

40:06Mr. Chairman

40:07Mariano.

40:08Yeah. Could we get the folks at the kiosk to identify exactly where their property is and then Have staff state what the buffering requirement would be from their property because there's various conditions and the approval about different buffer types. But I'm not sure where these folks live in relation to The proposed solar farm. So I think staff should be able to educate them on what the what the required buffer would be.

40:39And then maybe we can get their comments on the required buffer.

40:43Okay. Um Yeah, that was one of the things I wanted to ask him is that You know, what's the size of your property and how is it positioned relative to the to the seventy five hundred acres. Uh if you can There's a way to show us on the map.

40:59Yeah, so I can I can show you.

41:05Okay. Um you're gonna have to state your name again so we know who's talking. The record.

41:11Stop me. Yes, I'm John Schultz. Uh

41:16Okay. Can you see that map?

41:18Yeah, they live right here, I believe. That's last name is Schultz there.

41:22Michael and

41:22Irene Schultz.

41:24Okay.

41:25Is that it, Mr. Schultz? Yes.

41:27Okay. So and this ninety five acres of this five hundred acres It's supposed to have this solar farm on it. What I wanna know is Where is it in proximity to their property? Yeah. Look

41:41at that.

41:43All around

41:44It will it will it will wrap so they own this property, so it will wrap around the property. Um, but Liam can explain what the um what the actual buffering will be around these pieces of property.

41:56Okay, and who owns that little strip next to them?

42:01That strip is owned by someone named Gregory and Alexa Hess.

42:10All right. Okay. Uh so what we're gonna do is we're gonna Well we're gonna do we understand where your property is and I I think I understand where these Solar panels are going. What we're gonna do is explain what the requirements are for buffering your property. So you at least have that information. And, you know, if they get it approved. So um We could get that expla explanation for this property owner. Uh, so

42:40he can have a good understanding of Of exactly what he's ha what he's gonna be dealing with. Would that come from Liam?

42:48Yes.

42:49Liam, if you want to go ahead. Okay, I'm going to be going over the recommended conditions. Condition number five for setback and then condition number six with buffers. Condition number five for setbacks, a minimum setback for structures shall be 50 feet from all exterior property boundaries. And then condition number six, which is dealing with the buffers, unless otherwise approved through an alternative standard at the time of preliminary development plan and or preliminary site plan, the owner slash applicant

43:19shall maintain the buffering and landscaping requirements as follows. A. Fence with a minimum of six feet in height and will be placed interior to the landscaping along all exterior property boundaries. Wood fences are not allowed.

43:37Yeah, yeah.

43:40So I believe the applicant is proposing a um And and I don't want to speak for the applicant, but is proposing a um metal wire fence. Um

43:52So it's something it can see through. Correct. Okay.

43:59Um and then for this particular property, um, it's called out under 6D, a minimum buffer of 20 foot in width. With two staggered rows of trees with a maximum spacing of 60 feet on center per row required for the following subject properties. And all of those parcels are listed and those two parcels in particular are listed there. Existing natural vegetation may be used to meet

44:29buffering requirement buffering and landscaping requirements.

44:38Yeah.

44:39Okay, go ahead.

44:45I'm sorry, I was only calling out the bufferings for would you like the rest of the conditions for buffering? Okay, so that's it. It's trees. Those two conditions would be applied for buffering for this particular property. So the

45:01fifty feet from the pr adjoining property line. Of a a six foot fence that you can see through. and some trees every sixty feet.

45:13Two

45:13rows two rows of trees that are staggered sixty feet. For each row.

45:23Okay. And how far apart would the trees be?

45:27So from each tree would be thirty feet apart from each other.

45:32Yeah,

45:32okay.

45:35All right.

45:37Okay. Uh any questions from the Bay S.

45:41Well, uh

45:41Mr.

45:41Church, I'm sorry. Real quick, can we get the can we get the folks at the kiosk to now that they know what the buffering requirements are, can we just see if that addresses any of their concerns?

45:53Okay.

45:55Uh, not really. Uh it still didn't take care of pretty much any any of our issues that we really have. I you know, I I g uh as an eyes org, yeah, I I I you know, I can live with the eyes or but I'm more worried about the the impact it's gonna have on on on us and our families, um, due to, you know, the You know, w e all the you know, stuff we brought up.

46:23Okay. Mr Schultz, could you confirm how far from the southern property line your ref s residence is roughly? I'm not asking for an exact number, but could you confirm how far that might be?

46:35I I'm bad at estimating so like I I I would really hate to give you a a you know, like ballpark number because I you know, I I don't know, like, you know. If if I if I'd be I'd be pretty much lying to you if I told you a number. Okay.

46:50Fair enough.

46:52I'm sure you can look it up on the maps. I'm sure you're able to see it. See my house compared to

46:58Yeah, I'm I'm just trying to confirm which one is your house on the map. I do have a map up in in front of me. I'm just not sure which one is your is your house. There's a couple of different structures on the property.

47:08Yeah, yeah, there if you look at the uh there's a lake right in the front front of my uh house, uh Like ri I'm right off of uh Saunders. Like there's a little little not little lake, but like a little tension pond. Right above like right in front of my house. Okay. You can see that from there.

47:29Looks like it's about a hundred and twenty five feet. From the property line.

47:32Yeah. That's

47:33what I was saying. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Thank you.

47:38Okay. David, does that answer your question?

47:42Yes, it does. It seems that their concerns are more health related than visual related, so Um

47:50Yeah, I think it's health and value,

47:52property

47:52value.

47:54Okay. So I think you probably need to turn it over back over to the applicant now.

48:00Okay. So Having said that, then do we have any questions here from the dais? Is is the app is the app kinda able to speak now?

48:09Colin, can you try again? Yes, can

48:12you guys hear me now?

48:22If the applicant's not able to speak Uh David, would it be appropriate to Ask for continuance.

48:31Yes, I think so. I mean the applicant

48:36Unless the applicant has another representative that can Yeah. I think you'd have to continue it.

48:45I believe the applicant is saying he's gonna try to call in.

48:56We seem to have this problem some When uh A lot of times when they try to speak from their office.

49:03See it looks like that's green. See how it sees our boots? Yeah.

49:20Cool.

49:21Uh

49:24Well, I just think it's You know. Inappropriate to Or people that come come all the way over here to be here at this meeting to speak at the at the kiosk like we ask 'em to. and then we make 'em sit on their hands while The other person didn't show up. You know. And Then he has the same opportunity. So I I just think we need to Mm uh

49:55you know asked for a motion to continue and

50:00Yeah, we can do it at a later date.

50:05Any problem with that, David?

50:09I would also point out that we have plenty of other attorneys that Barb Will Hight, Joel Two, others that are able to address us just fine. So I'm not sure the box is on our end. I think it's on his end.

50:24I make the motion to continue. Is this supposed

50:27to work?

50:28Okay, we have a motion to continue. Do I have a second?

50:31A second. Chris Poole.

50:33Any further discussion on the motion. If not all all in favor, signify by roll call.

50:40Jamie Jordy? Don Anderson?

50:43Aye.

50:44Peter Hansel.

50:45Aye.

50:45Roberto Saiz.

50:47Bye.

50:49Christopher Poole?

50:50I could

50:51Chairman Charles Gray.

50:52All right.

50:53So for the record, the motion is to continue to the following Planning Commission meeting, which is on May twentieth at 130 in Newport Ritchie.

51:00Yeah, let me ask you uh if these people are from This side of the county, make sure we continue it to the Yeah. Of the meeting that's on this side of the county?

51:10Okay.

51:12Okay. Let me find the next meeting. Date.

51:18Um, then that would be a continuance to the June third. Planning Commission meeting at one thirty in Dade City.

51:26That's good. Everybody have everybody okay with that? The those folks are from the side of the county then? Yes.

51:34Oh yeah. This is not this is on this side of the county. Yeah.

51:37I'm okay with that, but just for the record, they could still come to the kiosk in Dade City for a Newport Ritchie meeting, correct?

51:43Um I do not believe they own the Dade City kiosk for a Newport Ritchie

51:47meeting. Very good. I'm fine with that then.