Board OK's five-year solar moratorium

The Metro Council unanimously voted on Monday to impose a five-year moratorium on future large-scale solar farm development in Moore County.

Metro Moore Attorney Bill Rieder said the abeyance would allow the county to study the long-term effects of the Silicon Ranch solar farm on Highway 55 near the Moore-Coffee county line.

“The reason for that – a five-year moratorium – is because you want to see what impact this is going to have on the county and study that to see if there are any other types of restrictions or requirements that you place on those in the future,” Rieder said. “It does not impact the one [Silicon Ranch] already approved.”

Silicon Ranch will build, own, and operate the solar facility and be responsible for property taxes during the project’s life. It purchased 3,400 acres from Cumberland Springs Land Company, the fourth generation of Motlows to manage 6,000 acres of family land. Less than 1,500 acres will be used for solar panels.

Jack Daniel Distillery will consume 20 MW – about three-quarters of the distillery’s electricity needs – of the farm’s energy by design as part of TVA’s Green Invest program.

On Monday, District 3 council member and Planning and Zoning chairman Dexter Golden made the motion for the moratorium, which Peggy Sue Blackburn seconded. The motion passed unanimously with yea votes from Golden, Blackburn, Robert Bracewell, Gerald Burnett, Arvis Bobo, Douglas Carson, Marty Cashion, Bradley Dye, Greg Guinn, John Taylor, and Shane Taylor.

Three council members were absent: Amy Cashion, Jimmy Hammond, and Houston Lindsey.

A public hearing to hear residents’ thoughts on the moratorium is scheduled for 6:20 p.m. March 17 before the Metro Council’s regularly scheduled meeting.