Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney: Conservation Easement Issue Should Not Be Part of Supervisors' Deliberations Around Caledon Solar Proposal
Supervisors heard a presentation from the developer at Tuesday's meeting.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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King George County supervisors will soon vote on whether to grant a special exception permit allowing for developing of a utility scale solar farm on property adjacent to Caledon State Park that is owned by State Senator—and County Attorney—Richard Stuart.
On Tuesday evening, the county’s deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney, Charlie Clark, warned supervisors against allowing questions about whether a conservation easement on the property permits such development into their decision-making process.
“The ordinance is very specific on how the board is supposed to approach special exception applications,” Clark told supervisors at Tuesday’s meeting. “If the board starts to consider whether or not an easement would or would not allow the commercial project, then the board starts turning themselves into a bit of a court… and could end up in situation where the board starts to give legal opinions on property owners’ rights and easement holders’ rights.”
The King George Planning Commission last month voted 6-0 to recommend denial of the special exception permit, which would allow for development of a utility scale solar farm on 122 acres.
Commissioner Denise Flatley’s motion to recommend denial cited land preservation and environmental concerns, which are the goals of the conservation easement.
The application is “not compatible with [the Planning Commission’s] responsibility to provide for the preservation of agricultural and forestal lands and other lands of significance for protection of the national environment,” Flatley said.
Commissioner Ian Fox said he was “wary about creating a precedent where easements can be potentially trampled on or negated in some way.”
The only commissioner to vote against the motion to recommend denial was Stanley Palivoda, who is currently running for the James Monroe district seat on the Board of Supervisors. Palivoda has been endorsed by the Private Property Rights Institute (PPRI), a Texas-based nonprofit that works to elect candidates who commit to “protecting individual property rights, ensuring landowners can make decisions about their property without excessive regulation” and “challenging restrictive zoning laws and bureaucratic red tape that stifle opportunity and drive away investment.”
PPRI’s political action committee spent just under $6,800 on pro-Palivoda mailers, yard signs, and text messages in September, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
Clark’s comments on Tuesday came in response to a question from current James Monroe district representative T.C. Collins, who asked Clark to address a letter from a “third party interest” that raised concerns about whether solar development is compatible with the existing open space easement.
The easement was dedicated in 2001 by James Nash, the property owner prior to Stuart. It is held by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and was purchased with a grant of $986,000 awarded by the federal U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which required a matching grant from non-federal agencies. The matching grant funds were provided by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation ($425,000), The Nature Conservancy ($150,000), the Trust for Public Land ($10,000), the Virginia DCR ($46,000), and the landowner ($400,000).
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined in a letter sent last summer to DCR director Matthew Wells that, “The proposed commercial solar development as described by the Department appears to be inconsistent with the purposes described in the competitive Federal grant proposal submitted by the Department on June 14, 2000, which the Service used to evaluate, rank and award Federal grant funds for the Easement acquisition.”
The applicants, Caledon Solar LLC/Terraform Power, contend that commercial solar is an approved use within the easement, pointing to a July 2024 letter to Stuart from the state state secretary of natural and historic resources, which states that “solar energy development is specifically permitted in certain areas of the property, where it is consistent with the easement.”
This letter was written in response to one from Stuart to Wells, in which Stuart asserted his right to develop the property and wrote that, “I also must advise you that if you take any action to impede my right to proceed, it will be met with swift legal action.”
The third-party interest letter referenced by Collins on Tuesday maintains that the proposed solar farm is not consistent with the terms of the easement.
Clark told supervisors that “the third party interest that submitted the concerns is not an easement holder here.”
“To my knowledge, there are no issues coming from the easement holder,” he said.
There will be a public hearing on the Caledon Solar proposal at an upcoming Board of Supervisors meeting.
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