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HomeMy WebLinkAboutKYLE AVENUE SOLAR ARRAY - PDP / FDP - FDP180026 - CORRESPONDENCE - CORRESPONDENCE-NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING (5)on to move the Array periodically (-10 minute intervals) as the sun makes its arc, and in between movements is not running Q. What are the lifespan of the solar panels? A. The lease on the property is 20 years at which time the panels would either be removed or replaced depending on future needs. Lighting Q. Will there be lighting on the site? A. No lighting is proposed. Natural Areas Q. Has the city considered leasing or buying that land to keep the property a natural area? A. The Natural Areas Department does purchase private property but only if there is a willing seller. Please speak with Mark Sears in the Natural Areas Department for greater details as to whether a purchase of the property could be considered. Follow-up Response. Namoste has a binding lease for the property, so the landowner would need to break that lease. Q. Can the project be put on the humane society land instead? A. Natural Areas Department has not considered this for their property. Further conversation would be required to see if the Natural Areas Department would be interested in a solar system on their site. Q. I'm concerned that the Natural Areas Department wouldn't want this next to their property and that they will not be aware that it is being developed. A. The Natural Areas Department does review all projects at both the Conceptual Review and Project Development Plan phases. They recently conducted a site visit and will be requiring a 35' buffer for this site. Comment. Prairie Dog Meadows is a saltwater/wetland with natural springs there. Additionally, it is the headwaters of Stone Creek. Other Comments Q. Are City employees' investors in Namaste? Can we get that information? A. If a decision make for this project was an investor City policy requires that they recuse themselves due to conflict of interest. Follow-up Response. No city employees/representative are investors in Namaste Solar. Q. What would stop someone from putting more solar on the other portion of the site? A. It could be subdivided and developed at a future time Comment. Time -of -day electric pricing is social engineering. disabled or elderly persons Residential Cluster Wildlife rescue and Development education centers Accessory buildings For more information please visit, https:lllibrory.municode.com/co/fort collins/codes/land use?nodeld=ART4Dl DIV4.2URESDI Proposed Project Namaste solar offered to meet with neighborhood group to make this a successful project. Design Q. What will the fence look like — what is the height? A. The proposed fence will be 7' deer fence. Which is constructed using timber posts and welded wire fencing. The design may be subject to change based on input from the City of Fort Collins Natural Areas Department. Q. Can the project size be reduced? A. If the solar site were smaller in size it would reduce the financial feasibility of the project. Landscaping Q. Can we require line -of -sight renderings of how the site will look visually from several perspectives that include the view from Kyle Ave, looking west from Brittany Knolls and south from Huntington Hills. A. Yes. Q. The proposal only shows landscaping along Kyle Ave — Could there be landscaping that goes around the project? A. Yes, our landscaping and tree protection standards under Land Use Code Section 3.2.1 ensure that the project will contribute to visual quality and continuity within and between developments, provide screening and mitigation of potential conflicts between activity areas and site elements, enhance outdoor spaces, reduce erosion and stormwater runoff, encourage water conservation and mitigate air pollution. Though, the previously mentioned intent can be achieved in a variety, there may be limitation of the appropriateness of the type of trees on the site considering that it may interfere with sunlight reaching the solar array. The applicant will be required to submit a landscape plan at time of submittal and it will be reviewed to meet the standards of the City of Fort Collins Land Use Code. Q. My biggest concern is visual issue — can landscaping go all around? A. Yes, screening and landscaping will be required under the Land Use Code, see the previous comment for more detailed information. Equipment Q. How loud will the motors be that tilt the solar system? Follow-up Response. There are expected to be three 2 horsepower electric motors moving the modules. At (3) meters the ambient noise level for each motor is 43 db and the motor running level was 53 db. The motors turn Q. In the Land Use Code under 3.8.32— Solar Energy Systems it indicates that medium -scale solar energy systems lot size is between one half and five acres. Since the overall lot size of the solar site is approximately 8- acres, wouldn't this project exceed the standard and really be considered a large-scale solar system? A. Staffs interpretation of the code is that the solar system is measured by the area of solar panel coverage. Follow-up Response. Though 3.8.32 does mention lot size, 5.1.2 defines Solar energy system medium -scale as solar energy system covering between one half (0.5) acre and five (5) acres. Though 3.8.32 does refer to lot size it was the original legislative intent of the ordinance was to base the measurement of solar installations on their ground cover, not the site's lot size. Staff will seek to make necessary changes to the Land Use Code. Correction. Staff incorrectly stated that the Urban Estate (UE) zone district permitted only residential and non- commercial uses. The UE district is intended to be a setting for a predominance of low -density and large -lot housing; however, it also permits land uses categorized residential, institutional/civic/public, commercial/retail, and industrial. For clarification uses permitted in the UE zone district are as follows: Residential Institutional/Civic/Public Commercial/Retail Industrial Accessory/Mist. Shelters for victims Minor Public Facilities Child care centers Resource Accessory of domestic extraction, buildings violence processes and sales Short term primary Parks, recreation and Bed & breakfast Composting Accessory uses rentals other open lands, except establishments with facilities neighborhood parks as no more than six defined by the Parks and beds Recreation Policy Plan. Single-family Cemeteries Plant nurseries and Small-scale and Farm animals detached dwelling greenhouses medium scale solar energy systems Two-family Public and private Animal boarding Urban Agriculture dwellings schools for elementary, (limited to intermediate and high farm/large animals school education Single-family Places of worship or attached dwelling assembly Adult day/respite care centers Off -site construction staging Group homes for Golf courses Small Scale Wireless up to eight (8) reception centers telecommunication developmentally equipment Neighborhood Meeting Notes Namaste Medium -Scale Solar —6422 Kyle Rd Q. = Questions A. = Answer Solar Power Purchase Program Q. Under the Solar Power Purchase Program 2017 Program Guidelines it states, "The Solar Power Purchase Program (SP3) incentivizes the installation of new, local solar systems on commercial customer facilities." The question is— wouldn't funding solar on a residential site be in violation of the SP3 guidelines? Follow-up Response. Funding small-scale and medium -scale solar on an Urban Estate zoned property does not violate the SP3 program guidelines (please note these are program guidelines and are not City Code). The program guidelines for SP3 were designed to encourage larger PV installations than available to a resident's rooftop. Strongly referenced within the SP3 program guidelines are the land use planning process which includes specifics regarding zoning and even contain citations on ground -mounted solar systems. The SP3 initiative was endorsed by Council for promoting the development of larger solar systems within our community, and whereas the commercial customer class was targeted within the program guidelines, there would be no prohibition against reviewing other projects, always subject to zoning and planning rules. The process of selling energy to the Utility via the SP3 Solar Power Purchase Program warrants that the owner of the solar system executes a legal contract with Utilities (Power Purchase Agreement) whereas a commercial electric account is established for invoice of monthly energy consumption and payment for monthly energy production over a 20 years period. As precedence, the 999kW SP3 site commissioned Dec 2015 (1900 W LaPorte) is located on private property owned by Ernest Schmidtberger and the solar system owner WGL established commercial account in order to participate in the Power Purchase Agreement legal contract with the Utility. Q. Is there a contract already signed? A. There is a preliminary agreement, however, it is contingent on project approval by the Planning and Zoning Board. Land Use & Zoning Q. Who owns this land and how is it zoned? A. It is privately owner and is zoned Urban Estate. Q. Are there other properties in the area zoned for this? A. Yes, there are additional Urban Estate zoned properties in the area that would permit this type of use. Q. Why is the UE considered commercial property for development of solar? Follow-up Response. Though, at the neighborhood meeting it was communicated that the use would be accessory to the site, a medium -scale solar system is a 'primary use 'and would be classified under the industrial classification. It is only when solar is attached to a building that it is considered accessory. Q. When will the P&Z board hearing occur for this project? A. That is not known yet. You will receive a letter when that is scheduled. Rhonda, one attendee brought up the question about SP3 and project being located on sites with "commercial" accounts. This is listed on the program guidelines and not "Code". You and I had discussed this previously and FCU was fine with the project being on this site as it's essentially the same scenario as the Bella project. Please let me know if I'm missing anything major. I'm available today but will be out on vacation 9/5-9/11, returning the office on the 12tn Happy Friday. Heath Mackay Co -Owner // Director of Project Development CO namaste Qp SOLAR 303.447.0300 x235 (office) 303.960.6232 (cell) heath.mackav@namastesolar.com namastesolar.com 6707 Winchester Circle, Suite 700, Boulder, Colorado 80304 Offices in Colorado, California, and New York Transforming Energy / Transforming Business'" 2 Stephen Olt From: Heath Mackay <heath. mackay@ namastesolar.com > Sent: Friday, August 31, 2018 11:10 AM To: Kai Kleer; Stephanie Blochowiak Cc: Rhonda Gatzke Subject: Neighborhood Meeting Follow Up Importance: High Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Flagged Kai and Stephanie, Thanks for helping out with the meeting last night and I look forward to reviewing the notes. A few follow up items I have on my list are: 1. Conflict of interest — I verified that there are no City of FC employees or officials that are investors in Namaste Solar. 2. LUC and lot size for Medium Scale Solar. The gentleman brought up LUC 3.8.32 D(2)(a) that says the Lot size can't exceed 5 acres. I agree with Kai that the "lot size" relates to the footprint of the solar array modules and not the size of the entire parcel where the project is located. Please confirm this is the City's interpretation as well. 3. Landscaping — I'd like to clear up the City's expectations for landscaping around the project site. LUC 3.8.32 D(2)(e)1 states: Landscaping and/or screening materials shall be provided to assist in screening the facility from public rights -of -way and neighboring residences. This is the code reference I've been using when considering our options and why I included the landscaping buffer along Kyle Avenue. I don't consider the properties on the other side of Prairie Dog Meadows to be "neighboring residences" since they don't abut the project site and are a significant distance away. The closest residences across the open space are on Parliament Ct, which are about 650' feet from the proposed location of the solar modules. The closest residences on Compton Road are —1300 feet from the site. The closest residences on E Skyway Dr are —1000 from the project site. a. As I said last night, I'm not opposed to reasonable visual mitigation but want to confirm the actual requirement from the City's perspective then works towards a solution with our landscape architect. Since Natural Areas is the biggest neighbor, it's also import to me that any plan I develop has their input and support. I'm particularly interested in providing pollinator habitat on the site as part of our reclamation efforts. b. I'm also happy to prepare renderings with our full submittal. 4. Fencing and animals — we need a seven foot tall fence to meet NEC code and the proposed fence appears to be in line with the City's design standards. 5. Environmental Characterization Study —this is being written up now and I'll send over to Stephanie when complete 6. Glare study — a few folks talked to me about glare after the meeting and we'll put together analysis that looks at glare from various viewpoints. 7. Technical questions — the only question I heard was about the sound of the motors for the tracker systems. This system would involve three small 2hp motors that move the array millimeters at a time. Do you need me to provide decibel ratings for the motors?