Keep True Blue green

Does a solar installation proposed to include 180,000 panels, a substation and a switchyard belong on farmland alongside a quiet country road? It's hard to visualize the impact when looking at the developer's concept plan below. Check out the two photos that follow the concept plan. These were taken along True Blue Road, which bisects the proposed project - is this setting appropriate placement for a utility scale solar installation?

The developer's landscaping plan is shown below. It depicts the layout of the project and the proposed landscaping is color coded to represent areas that will retain vegetation or have new or supplemental vegetation added. In the black circle, the two rectangles behind the block shaded pink represent the proposed location of the 2-acre substation and 2-acre switchyard. The pink shading represents existing greenery that the developer says will remain in place as a buffer.

The photo below was taken on True Blue Road (photo location represented by the star in the photo above). The substation and switchyard, comprising a total of 4 acres, are proposed to be constructed immediately behind the bank of trees on the right side of the photo below. This area is currently farmland. The height of the proposed substation has not yet been identified. However, a substation proposed as part of a BayWa project in 2019 in Culpeper County was identified as up to 60 feet in height. The fields behind the proposed substation and switchyard location, all the way to the farthest tree line visible in the photo, will be covered in panels. This industrial use of agriculturally zoned land is unacceptable.

Below, a look at True Blue Road. Orange County should confirm that the developer will cover road damage if the project is approved. Damage to this narrow state road is likely during construction due to the expected hundreds of vehicle trips involving heavy construction equipment as well as traffic from panel deliveries and workers' vehicles.

As of this writing, the developer has resubmitted the project appliation twice with changes. However, the developer has not prepared a traffic study, despite VDOT's request for such a study during the project's initial review by the county. Also, traffic was a major concern expressed by the the Planning Commission during the commissioners' work session for the proposal. Traffic is a concern for two reasons: the potential impact to True Blue and residents along the road, and the public safety concern related to the project's primary use of the True Blue/Route 522 intersection.

The True Blue community is the wrong place for this utility scale solar project.