Henry County leaders approve special use permit for solar project
HENRY COUNTY, Va. (WSET) — Henry County leaders gave the green light on a special use permit for a proposed large-scale solar farm project on Wednesday afternoon at the county’s administration building.
Before, the public hearing, some residents let their voices be heard over the proposed project.
“That’s a lot of land, a lot of solar panels, a lot of steel, a lot of chemicals instead of trees,” said Rocky Wall who was against the project.
However, the majority of residents who spoke were in favor of the special use permit.
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“I think it will help clean the environment up,” said Jimmie Ford. “I think there is a lot of usable land in Henry County that should be used for solar energy.”
Ultimately, the county’s Board of Zoning Appeals approved the special use permit.
It did come with some changes.
The original plan called for a total of about 1,203 acres but a revision by Axton Solar, LLC. puts it at around 1,092 acres with about 434.5 acres of that used for solar.
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"One thing that you mentioned was asking for more land but also we actually decreased other parts of the land and ultimately as I think you've heard there will be fewer acres,” said Alex Rohr, Community Affairs Manager with the Axton Solar project.
Rohr explained the reasoning behind the decision.
“Because we heard feedback that was the important thing that I think you heard from several speakers is that we really Trey in particular our developer went out and talk to folks and heard what they had to say and made a project that fits better,” he said.
County spokesperson Brandon Martin explained the next steps in a text message and said, “now the company will develop our plan and work on getting its building permit, etc.”
