Sunny days in Stafford will now be especially good for business after county supervisors approved a plan for another solar farm.
After several minutes of fairly intense questioning, the supervisors voted 5-2 Tuesday night in favor of the proposed Enon Road Community Solar Preserve at the southeast corner of Enon and Truslow roads.
The project will generate up to 3 megawatts of electricity and will be part of the Virginia Shared Solar Program, which enables residents to save money on their electric bills without having to install solar panels on their property.
Project developer ESA says it will produce power for about 600 low- to moderate-income homes as well as some businesses. ESA, based in Central Florida, is a solar development, engineering and construction company.
To subscribe to the Enon Road operation, residents would need to be Dominion Energy customers in the low-to-moderate income bracket.
Solar panels would cover 12.8 acres on the eastern half of the 37-acre site in Stafford’s Hartwood District. The western half, closer to Enon and Truslow, is proposed as a conservation area that would remain undeveloped.
Enon Road Community Solar Preserve will be the newest of a host of other solar facilities in the region. Another project is underway not far from the Enon site, while solar panels have been installed atop North Stafford High School. Even former landfill sites could be outfitted with panels.
ESA succeeded in getting the supervisors’ OK on the second try. A previous proposal that would have allowed for solar panels across the entire site was turned down in 2023.
This time around, the project saw a positive outcome even though the supervisor who represents the area in question, Darrell E. English, voted against it along with Rock Hill District Supervisor Crystal Vanuch.
Instead, Vice-Chairwoman Tinesha Allen made the motion for approval.
Allen, who represents the Griffis-Widewater District, said she has so many solar panels on her home that she barely pays an electric bill for a dwelling that serves seven people.
“I know the significant benefits,” Allen said. “I’m a firm believer in clean energy.”
She also said the county can collect more tax revenue from the Enon property because it will be more valuable with the solar farm than in its current undeveloped state.
The supervisors’ vote also was a win for the Enon property owner, Steven Jones, who lives in Aquia Harbour.
Jones told the supervisors he’s tried to develop the land for more than two decades. First, in 2004, he wanted to build aircraft and operate a private airstrip on the tract. But he said then-Hartwood District Supervisor Gary Snellings said that the endeavor would create too much noise.
Then, he signed a contract with Ryan Homes to build houses on the property. But he said Snellings torpedoed that and a subsequent plan for apartments.
Jones said the supervisors had the opportunity to “release the Gary ‘no-go’ grip” on his farm.
Outside the meeting after the vote, the landowner said his only comment was: “Just finally.”
Cara Romaine, ESA’s project manager, said the company is excited for the benefits the project will bring.
“We’re very excited and very grateful to everybody that contributed to this, all the neighbors and the community, and all the feedback to get us to where we are,” she said.
The supervisors’ vote came after a public hearing on the solar farm that attracted 16 speakers, 11 of whom supported the project, including neighbors who said they lived next door to the site.
Despite those comments from constituents, though, English still voted against the proposal.
“I have a lot of reservations on this,” he said.
Also, on Tuesday, the supervisors:
- Voted unanimously in favor of a water infrastructure agreement with Stack Infrastructure, which is building a large data center campus on roughly 500 acres on both sides of Eskimo Hill Road near the Rappahannock Regional Landfill.
The Stafford Technology Campus will use potable water during construction but will eventually reuse water that’s not potable for industrial cooling. Water doesn’t have to be safe enough to drink to be used like this.
- Agreed to have county staff prepare a letter to be sent to Del. Candi Mundon King, asking why she voted against state legislation earlier this year that would have granted the county more money for teacher salaries.
King, a Prince William County Democrat, represents part of Stafford, and the supervisors and Stafford School Board members also discussed sending her a letter at a meeting last month.
- Received a presentation from Commissioner of the Revenue Scott Mayausky on the administration of the disabled veteran tax-exemption program. Because of the program, Stafford is losing tax revenue, though no one seems to be upset with the program’s aim: to help service members. Vanuch said she’s concerned that debate about the issue has turned into taxpayers thinking their taxes are going to go up “because of the veterans.” “I feel like I’m not OK with that message,” she said.
- Discussed examining the county’s policy of paying out unused vacation and sick leave time when employees leave Stafford’s government.
