File Photo / NWA Democrat-Gazette / STACY RYBURN The Washington County Courthouse is seen in Fayetteville on July 27th.
FAYETTEVILLE – Washington County's planners on Thursday approved tentative plans for a solar battery storage facility near Lincoln.
The planning authority unanimously approved plans for the Ozarks Solar Park. Approval for the site was approved by the Board on November 5th and approved by the Quorum Court at its November 19th meeting.
According to the county's planners, the location is around 11147s. Wedington Blacktop Road is 16.5 acres on the west side of the road. It's outside of the Lincoln planning area.
According to the planning report, the entire surrounding land is used for single-family houses or agricultural purposes. A residence is on land adjacent to the property and the home is approximately 90 feet from the property line.
Notices were sent to all owners within 300 feet of the proposed property for the facility and no comments were received from the planning staff.
The board of directors unanimously approved a permit for a wireless communications tower on property near Hogeye at Thursday's meeting.
Verizon Wireless requested the Hogeye Wireless Communications Facility to erect a tower on property at 14652 Hogeye Road. The 305 foot tower would sit on approximately 0.24 acres of the 51 acre property. The relaxed area would be approximately 10 feet by 100 feet. The tower would be in a fenced area about 70 by 70 feet.
The regulations for communication towers this size require a setback of approximately 472.5 feet from the property line, and the planning staff stated the site meets this requirement. According to the employee report, there are no apartment buildings within 715 feet of the tower site, and the only other structure within that radius is a gas station and supermarket.
According to the planning staff, there are no other communication towers within 1.6 km of the site. There are five towers with a radius of 8 km.
Planning staff said notices were sent to neighboring owners and two responded with comments against the project. The neighbors said the tower was incompatible with the rural residential character of the area and would encourage additional, similar development in the area.