The city will reopen public hearings on tabled requests for two properties to be rezoned by conditional use permits to allow solar farms at its last meeting. Expert testimony is expected on solar arrays after someone brought up concerns about possible health affects of solar power.
The city is looking at two sites. A 64.78 acre tract on McColl Road and a 31.16 acre tract on Stewartsville Road. Only one site will be used.
The proposed solar farm – a 2.3 megawatt solar photovoltaic array – would be the largest in the state, according to energy officials.
The $20 million project would be a joint effort of four companies – power company Progress Energy, finance company MP2 Capital, developer Birdseye Renewable Energy and solar producer groSolar.
The city will also vote on a request to rezone 5.27 acres to on the northwest corner of West Boulevard and U.S. 15-401 Bypass from residential to general business conditional use district.
The conditional use permit would allow city council to set specific criteria for the property that can only be changed by an appearance before council, regardless of site ownership.
The site plans calls for a retailer and a restaurant to move onto the space, with certain requirements for drainage and buffering.
The request was made by CBS, LLC, a Rockingham-based developer.
The developer rezoned an adjacent property to bring in a Staples, but $700,000 in required street improvements have made the developer unable to make a profit on the one retailer.
City Council will also weigh making changes to its billing-adjustment policy to allow customers and city to go back as far as three years in the case of a billing error. The change would allow customers to go back three years to fix issues such as over billing, but would also allow the city to look back three years for problems such as under payment.
The body will also consider transferring $25,000 from Water/Sewer Fund to pay for a study of the WestPoint Stevens water and sewer plants.
The Laurinburg City Council meets at 7p.m. on the first Tuesday after the 15 of each month in the City Council Chambers, located above the police station.
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