Rural solar farm will not be coming to Sumter

If someone is moving to Rembert or Dalzell - two of Sumter's beautiful rural areas - they likely want a peaceful area to reside in, they likely want the environment to thrive and, as was proven at the Sumter City-County Board of Zoning Appeals meeting on Wednesday, what they don't want is a solar farm nearby.

The maximum capacity in the city's council chambers is 70, but that capacity quickly filled on the afternoon of May 14. The line to the elevator to council chambers was snaking out Sumter Opera House's back door, and many attendees crowded in the lobby outside the meeting area waiting for their turn to speak out against what would have been a massive solar panel project.

The project, officially called White Palmetto Solar, would have been built on more than 1,700 acres of land in Rembert and Dalzell - a majority of which is heavily wooded. The project itself would have spanned about 1,100 of those 1,700 acres. The Texas-based company behind it, Treaty Oak Clean Energy, was leasing the land from three landowners for a 30-year time period to place its solar panels.

Now, however, the company has not received the approval required to continue with its development plans after a vote by the board to deny its request to establish the solar energy system. The denial came with celebratory cheers from the large crowd in attendance, who held up signs that protested the project, reading "SOLAR FARM" with a slash through it.

At meetings with this many attendees and people lined up for public comment, the board likes for residents to provide new information when they speak at the podium instead of all saying the same thing. The meeting may have had many speakers, but everyone brought a new concern to the table. For example, what would happen if the panels were damaged? Would they be thrown in the landfill? Would the care of the facility require pesticides that could contaminate the land? How would required chemicals be transported? How would electrical surges affect residents with pacemakers? What would happen in the event of a fire?

The list continued and pointed to clear public agreement in opposition of the solar farm. Of the attendees at the meeting, only two people spoke in favor of the request, and they were both speaking on behalf of their family owned land. Alongside the more than 70 people in attendance at the meeting, 927 people signed a change.org petition against the solar farm.

One of the owners of the land, who is a Kershaw County resident, said the solar project would help preserve her family land, prevent overdevelopment and provide clean energy for the community.

Up until now, the project had been well on its way to being allowed to begin, with Sumter County Council having third reading on Feb. 11 for an ordinance that would see a fee-in-lieu of taxes and special source revenue agreement between Sumter County and Treaty Oak Clean Energy. The company also donated $200,000 toward recreation efforts in the Rembert and Rafting Creek areas, which Councilman Carlton Washington said was going to be used as jumpstart money to go toward a gym at Rafting Creek Community Center.

Many residents in attendance said they did not know about the project until two weeks ago when signs were put out advertising the zoning appeals meeting, leaving them feeling blindsided. The company told the board it sent out 1,800 postcards about the project, which some attendees denied ever receiving. A representative from Treaty Oak Clean Energy, Marshall Cooper, said this was because they were mistakenly sent out to only one of the zip codes in the area, though the project land spanned two zip codes. Cooper also said a meeting was held as a community outreach effort, which had about 25 attendees.

The project had a large scope and would have had frontage along or near Black River Road, Borden Road, Cimmaron Road, Log Cabin Road and New Hope Church Road.

Residents' worries varied, but some of the biggest concerns revolved around the environment. The project would have involved removing trees to make room for the panels, subsequently displacing wildlife. One federally listed rare species that may have been affected was the Tricolored bat. State-listed rare species that were a concern included Rafinesque's Big-eared Bat, the Swallow-Tailed Kite, the Spotted Turtle, the Southern Hog-nosed Snake and the Carolina Pygmy Sunfish. This information was provided by Treaty Oak.

One Rembert resident, Tanya Eddins, was happy to see quail and wild turkey returning to the area and even making stops in her yard. Her fear? The heavy deforestation of the more than 1,000 acres would take that away.

Rembert resident Jeremy Miller raises honeybees and said the smoke from the extraction of tree stumps for the project would make his bees abscond from the hive. He attested the same would happen with natural bees in the area.

The land itself also has a historical side to it, with Thomas Sumter having lived for a brief period on one of the parcels before his death.

The Board of Zoning Appeals meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 3 p.m. in Council Chambers on the fourth floor of the Opera House at 21 N. Main St.