County commissioners look at zoning for solar farms: Moore hired as new attorney

SHELBY - On the agenda for Tuesday night's Cleveland County Commissioners meeting, topics ranged from zoning for solar farms to the hiring of a new county attorney.

Gantts Grove Solar Farm, LLC, submitted a petition to amend the zoning language to include solar power electric generation in residential zoning. With the proposed amendment, solar farms would still need permits to build, but they would be allowed into residential areas without having to rezone the area to light industrial or another zone that allows solar farms.

During the public hearing on the amendment, several members of the public stepped forward to voice their concerns for the amendment. Thomas Spurling, mayor pro-tem of Belwood, spoke as a representative for the town. He told commissioners the town believes standards need to be put in place, but this amendment needed to be denied.

The commissioners agreed with Spurling that standards should be put in place. They denied the petition, but challenged the county planning board and county manager Jeff Richardson to establish some standards that could be used to help with the implementation of future solar farms in the county.

“Just to be clear we are not against solar farms, we just want a more defined language,” said vice chairman Eddie Holbrook.

Commissioner Johnny Hutchins also agreed with asking the planning board and county manager for a plan and said it could allow solar farm projects and similar projects to have an easier time obtaining rezoning.

The commissioners gave the planning board and county manager 60 days to devise a plan.

“We have been very supportive of solar farms, and we want the people to be supportive as well,” said Falls during a phone interview with The Star on Wednesday.

The meeting began with the hiring of Tim Moore as the new county attorney. The N.C. Speaker of the House was present at the meeting and was grateful for the opportunity to serve his native county.

Moore joked about having another job that gave him “some insight” about what is going on in the state and communities but still had a law practice to keep up.

After Moore was sworn in, the commissioner’s meeting took a different turn.

Beauford Burton, who has spoken at numerous meetings in the county in opposition to the proposed casino in Kings Mountain, took the podium during the citizens' recognition portion. He spoke about his Letter to the Editor that appeared in both The Star and the Kings Mountain Herald about the commissioners not using Jesus' name in prayers at the meeting.

Commissioner chairman Jason Falls replied quickly to Burton.

“Any issues that are discussed in citizens' recognition should pertain to Cleveland County,” Falls said. “You have no right to speak about anyone's (on the board's) faith. If you continue, there is a sheriff’s deputy here and he will escort you out.”

Burton said that this issue was the only thing he would be speaking on. Falls asked Burton three times to step down, and he refused. Falls asked the deputy on duty to escort Burton out.

Falls apologized for the disruption, but said, "He believed it was the right thing to do."

Joyce Orlando can be reached at 704-669-3341, jorlando@shelbystar.com or on Twitter at @Star_J_Orlando.