Davidson Planning Board revising environmental ordinance

The Davidson Planning Board met in a work session Monday night to rewrite parts of the planning ordinance regarding environmental regulation.

In addition, members were curious about reports of Davidson College building a solar farm on a 55.6-acre parcel on Grey Road that the school bought in 2009 for $3.4 million. In an application filed with state regulators, Cornelius-based O2 Energies asked the N.C. Utilities Commission for permission to build a $10 million solar panel array on the parcel. It expects the array to produce three megawatts of electricity through the use of 15,000 to 20,000 solar modules. O2 Energies would lease the land from Davidson College.

Davidson Planning Manager Ben McCrary said the long-rumored plan was just that – a rumor.

“It’s very tentative,” he said of the proposal, which has been in discussion since 2006. McCrary said the town’s current ordinance is “silent” about solar farms, but if the plan were to gain momentum, amendments would be needed to the current ordinance since it doesn’t allow for power generation in city limits.

In revising the language on the environmental rules in the planning ordinance, members considered watershed protection guidelines primarily affecting the west side of town from Main Street west, looking at protecting the water supply from stormwater drainage. Planning Board members were in agreement with limiting “built upon” or impervious surface areas to 50 percent and a requirement for the placement of vegetative buffers next to stream channels that allow for natural filtration of stormwater.

However, several members raised concerns about “density averaging” language, saying it needed to be more specific.  Density averaging would allow the owner of a property who is developing land in a critical watershed to transfer impervious development rights between two parcels.  Planning Board members worried that the language under consideration, which is modeled on Huntersville’s planning ordinance, would lead to more intense development in critical watershed areas around Lake Norman.

Board members were in agreement with proposed revisions to other environmental chapters, including rules about flood plains, erosion control, post-construction stormwater management and stream buffers.

The board is rushing to complete an update on the planning ordinance in order to hold a public hearing on changes on Nov. 17. It hopes to provide its recommendations to the town by Nov. 17, so the town Board of Commissioners can take action at a Dec. 9 meeting.