you you you you So moved. We have a motion of secondary and further discussion. I will be there a piece of the second by saying aye. Aye. Be opposed. Be gentle and gentle and adopted. Approval of the minutes. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. I have a motion of secondary and further discussion. I will, please say goodbye to saying aye. Aye. We are now at the other citizens of Board of Zone Appeals that are in the other agenda for them. We are citizens, and this is opportunity for citizens to comment on any matter, not scheduled for public hearing. Are there any other members that have taken advantage of citizens other questions? Any other questions? Any other questions? Any other questions? Any other questions? Any other questions? Any other questions?. As I asked, I have direct questions and comments to each other. Speakers are not allowed additional time for rebuttal. This is a hearing out of debate. Questions made to be directed. The commissioners are commuting to the public staff during office hours. We're in that item number A, zoning ordinance, text number, text, two, four dash, oh, oh, two, two, nine, six, and interview storage facilities. Thank you. Welcome. Good evening. As discussed this morning, this is a zoning ordinance text amendment to establish a new use category for battery energy storage systems. This was initiated by the Board of Supervisors in May 2024, and the Planning Commission has held work sessions on this topic in November and February. Staff has considered ordinances from other jurisdictions, industry research and guidance, the Faulkier County requirements for utility-scale solar facilities, and the Planning Commission's feedback at both work sessions into consideration and developing the draft ordinance for battery energy storage systems. Staff has proposed a definition consistent with guiding documents and other jurisdictions, including a tiered approach based on the kilowatt hours stored and types of technology used. Tier 1 systems would be site specific with a capacity of less than 600 kilowatt hours. These would typically be supplemental power supplies for residential or commercial use and would be permitted by right in all zoning districts. Tier 2 systems would be utility scale with a capacity 600 kilowatt hours or greater, only permitted with special exception approval following a comprehensive plan compliance review, and the agriculture industrial park industrial general and business park districts. These districts are consistent with those for utility scale solar, with the addition of business park to accommodate a potential system in conjunction with the data center. Other additional standards that were included in their proposed ordinance relate to the construction operation and maintenance and its compliance with all industry standards, the fire code, the electrical code, and the building code. Heights, setbacks, fencing, landscaping, utilities, an emergency response plan, and then following the work session from last month, we updated the language regarding change of ownership to 30 days instead of 90 days and then following this morning and the changes discussed we have made condition number three now reads the following additional minimum setback shall apply from the project's fence or wall a a hundred foot to the property line, 150 feet to any existing residential dwelling, 500 feet to any property with a public facility, a thousand feet to a right of way line with a street identified as a corridor of statewide significance with the same finding as discussed last month. We've also added a new condition number four that all battery enclosures and associated equipment, be set back a minimum of 100 feet from the project's fencer wall. This area shall be maintained with gravel or another non-flammable surface and additionally there shall be no vegetation inside the fencer wall. I did reach out to the fire marshal and he was comfortable with the 100 feet between the batteries and any proposed vegetation. And then in response to Commissioner Smith's questions about access in the major collector, I added the word direct in front of access so it was no question that the entrance ideally would be off of a road designated as a major collector. I'm happy to go into any more detail or answer any other questions. Any questions to staff at this point? I was interested to see that the emergency response plan now is called for a draft response plan. That was updated following last month's work session. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought it was a change today. That's okay. There's a lot of colors on the resolution. I like that change too. Okay, good. And that would allow them time to flush everything through and it just had to be finally approved within 30 days. Before. Before everyone is understanding of this, green is from this morning and blue is from last night. Correct. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Marshall. Open public hearing. If you're doing one present and like to speak to this application, please come forward. State your name. Welcome, sir. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Ron Hart. I'm a union energy. I see your business development manager in charge of battery storage. you all or your consideration of our comments and your future of your other meetings. One comment I hear here concerning the set. storage. Thank you all for your consideration of our comments and your future of your other meetings. One comment I hear had here concerning the setback requirements. This says in four all battery enclosures and associated equipment shall be set back a minimum 100 foot from the project Spencer Wall. Just wanted to communicate that sometimes there is storage boxes, list of the column, context boxes which are smaller containers, that basically will house storage materials for open-end operation maintenance. Those are typically less than eight to 10 feet from the fence line. So by moving or increasing the setback requirements inside of the fence, it would require the entirety of the project to basically shrink. So for instance, I just kind of sketched real quick back here. Sir, couldn't that O&M box actually go in where one of the battery boxes go instead of moving everything back? It would cause a redesign. Perhaps on the facility to figure out where the appropriate place to place that, but in addition to that, there's skated boxes which are telecommunications that facility, telecommunications, back to the operations facility on a 24-seven basis. That's kind of just computer and technology equipment. Those things are typically not very famed, flammable, or caused in a post any additional risk. So by moving that, again, you essentially would shrink the footprint of the facility, which might all treat some constraints in terms of the desire and then I'll put it at the particular facility itself. So for instance, just imagine we have the fence line, right, with a hundred foot setback from the fence line from the property line. So everything within side of fence is a buildable area. But once you add a secondary setback requirement that a hundred foot setback is applied to each side of the facility effectively shrinking the workable area for the project. So I just wanted to highlight that for the commission's consideration. Thank you. Thank you. Please sign in at our signing sheet. Any questions of the speaker? Yeah, I'm sorry. One commissioner has a question. Sorry, it's hard to be simple minded about this, but these boxes, the O&M, the operations, whatever box that you're talking about. So step the mic is. We were concerned about making sure there was no inhibition for access for equipment that might need to come in to help put out a fire or deal with something within that 100 feet. So from the battery storage facility itself to that wall, you're saying you all historically or traditionally use some of that space for some of these boxes you're talking about. Yes, and so typically the sites are laid out, is there access rooms, all throughout the site so that emergency responders and maintenance could be conducted. are laid out, is their access routes, the skull routes, all throughout the site so that emergency responders and maintenance could be conducted throughout the site. And so essentially, especially with our spacing requirements, there's significant room available. So another thing, since you mentioned that perhaps might be a consideration, is we have emerging technologies that at some point will head to system that are non-lethian, which are non-phonic. And then, so maybe the consideration for those type of technologies to the fence line, may not be a hundred foot, right? So that's maybe something to consider. Another thing as well is perhaps some conditioning or some language to affect the, depending on the spacing requirements of the technology, those interior setbacks can be adjusted. So for instance, you know, if you have containers that are closer together, maybe you want more of a setback. But maybe if there's farther apart, maybe you have zero or less of a setback. If you decide to head internal setbacks at all. But I guess my recommendation would be internal setbacks. Because again, it really shrinks. You know the local boy area. These context boxes are generally 8 by 20 or 8 by 40. 8 by 20. They're small. So they run parallel with the fence or per ridiculous defense? They're all to the fence. OK. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you. It's very helpful. Is there anyone else who likes to speak to this application? Please come forward. Welcome, sir. Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Chairman and members of the Planning Commission. My name is Blake Cox, I'm with Energy Right. My organization is engaged with you guys in the class in the past with the board and the Planning Commission may recognize. The name Skylar Zonkey's been up here way more than me speaking with you all. But just wanna start off say thank you guys for the diligent work on clean energy projects to date. You know, you guys have said yes to some of the high quality projects but also been willing to say no to the bad projects or the ones that you don't see that fin the county. We're happy to see this conversation on best take place in Falkier. You know, we see best is incredibly important to our grid and something that will help make Virginia's grid more competitive down the line. Ornance is very strong and we're pleased by some of the updates that we've seen on and over the past couple of months. We just want to emphasize that best projects can be decided on relatively small parcels and also can be shielded from you as you all know. I know conservation is something that's top of mind for many folks here in Falky year. And best is something that can strengthen our grid, while reducing the need for new and costly and sometimes unsightly power lines within the county. Battery systems, battery systems absorb power when there's too much of it on the existing transmission lines and deploy power when there's too little on those lines. Help us make better use of what we have today and delay or prevent the need to create new infrastructure in the future. We actually shared some written comments with you all. I believe a few weeks back with the board and the planning commission were very happy to see some really good, you know, additions, I think to the ordinance and your just additions to the ordinance. I'm really happy to see robust emergency response playing good NFPA language. I'm in there but just want to say thank you guys for your diligent work. I think you're a leader on this issue and we can ever be a resource to you guys where we're happy to do so Thank you. Thank you. Please sign in. Anyone else like to speak to this application. Please come forward. State your name Seeing none, Mr. Smith. Would you like to close the public area? Yes, sir. Closes public care. Okay, it's your... I'm good to make my motion. And does anybody want to modify anything based on what the gentleman said, as far as the setbacks for the conics boxes. I'm trying to figure that out. Right. You know, your question about are they perpendicular to the parallel? So that means you're perhaps there's 20 feet less in that setback? No, it would be eight feet. Those conics ises are generally 20-something. Yeah, they're eight feet wide, 20 foot long, or 40 foot long, yes. So it's an inconsequential to me. I mean, if he's right, and I'm sure he is, that they have these interior roads and that kind of thing. What I'm struggling with is, is it, I just, this is an experience. The connection, the relative relationships between the site plan and the setbacks that we require and the ordinances, there's some reason for us, perhaps, to give this commission and or the Board of Supervisors some flexibility in how much that set back should be. I believe our zoning administrator has something to assist with this. So some of the discussion was about fire trucks and being able to go around the property. A typical fire apparatus road is a minimum of 20 feet. So 100 foot buffer around the outside gives plenty of room for fire and at the apparatus to be able to maneuver on the site. So from that standpoint, if that's the concern having these boxes eight feet from the fence would not impede the ability for the fire department to get around. And during the site plan process, we do look at those types of things, making sure there's turning radii for the larger vehicles to be able to get around the site. It's really if we put something in there like that, then the gentleman has just said that they will run parallel with the fence in length. They will not have put them to the fence, of course, that they would probably leave them off the fence six or eight feet. And if these conaxes are eight feet wide, that would be 16 feet to the side. I have a problem with those being there as long as we're sitting on ground and there's no vegetation around them. That's, and the reason I was focusing on it was our earlier conversation was about how there should be nothing in there, in that, in that hundred feet. But our ordinance was not drafted to say that. Am I correct? Yeah, we have to change it. The language on number four. Right. And the number four does not say it just says in main hand with growl or another non-flammable surface and no vegetation inside the fence. So we can't... We can't... That wouldn't prohibit having the boxes. You would have to strike the associated equipment. I'm sorry. All battery closures and associated equipment should be set back. I would just note that through the special exception process you could condition that those are sent a certain far off of the fence or a certain far distance off of the battery storage, or even that they run parallel with the fence at the time of the special exception, regardless of that being in there. Our concern this morning was, of course, fire spreading. So if fire isn't going probably will not be started by this context box it has O and M materials in it. But we are keeping the enclosures away 100 feet. So if these O and M boxes are within that 100 feet I have a problem with that. So if we wanted to say- So did we change number four? If we change number four and just said- Strike the associated equipment. Exactly. Okay. Exactly. And that could be done as part of the motion if that's the will of the commission. Yes. Any other comments? No. You mean the carry on this, Mr. Smith? Go ahead. It's trying to find the point. Trying to find what this number is of this thing. Well, I'm just going to call it. Amy, do you have Chairman, I move that we plan a commission forward this resolution forward to the board of Supervisors. It's amended this morning with one change. For instead of saying the way it's written, take out the word and associated equipment. So to this read all battery, enclosures shall be set back a minimum of 100 feet from the project's fence or wall. This area shall be maintained with gravel or other flammable surface. Additionally, there shall be no vegetation inside the fence or wall. I'll move that. That is his motion. Do I have a second on that? Second. Have a motion of second. Is there any further discussion on this? Hearing none, all of them, they're pleased to see that the type of saying aye. Any opposed like sign? We have moved on. Is there any other business to come before this commission this evening? Yes sir. Hearing none ladies and gentlemen thank you for coming. We are adjourned.