REGIONAL GROUP TO BUY YORK SITE FOR SOLAR FARM
After years of negotiations, eastern Virginia’s regional facility authority will purchase 432 acres in York County on behalf of several localities in Hampton Roads.
Eastern Virginia Regional Industrial Facility Authority partnered with KDC Solar, which will buy the property for $1.35 million, in exchange for a lease to construct a solar farm on about 250 acres.
County Administrator Neil Morgan said the county has long been interested in the land.
“It was thought that (the land) had some potential for some type of nonresidential development that would help our economic base,” Morgan said.
EVRIFA’s acquisition of the property, formerly known as “Fuel Farm” in reference to its previous use as a naval fuel depot, will soon be home to a
20-megawatt solar facility.
“The old fuel farm has been sitting there for 50 years unused, and there were limited things you could do with it,” Morgan said. “This is a great way to reuse a brownfield site as a green energy source.”
So far, the transaction has involved the participation of York County and Isle of Wight County. By state law, at least two localities of the EVRIFA must agree for the transaction to occur, with several other localities joining the agreement for a formal vote later this month.
James Noel, director of economic development for York County, said this project could facilitate regional development.
“What [EVRIFA] does is give localities a financial motivation to partner and propagate regional economic development because you get to share tax revenue,” Noel said.
Proceeds from the land sale and tax revenue will go back to the localities, depending on howmuch they contributed to the budget, Noel explained. As the host locality, York County will be receiving an additional 5%.
The remaining 182 acres of property, proposed to be named “King’s Creek Commerce Center,” will be devoted to the construction of a light industrial park.
“I believe over time we will be able (to) realize significant revenue from light industrial land sales or ground leases,” Morgan wrote in a memorandum to the county board of supervisors.
The initial money for a draft of this agreement came from the GO Virginia fund, which was founded on the objective of getting counties to collaborate. Additionally, this marks the first project EVIRFA has undertaken since its inception last spring.
Morgan said that while the results of this coalition remain to be seen, he sees the project as a mechanism to stimulate growth. He explained that for business prospects in the past, governments in the area were limited to just one locality’s resources.
“Now you have this tool where several localities can pull together in response to that really good prospect that might come along some day,” he said. “I think this possibility, in the long term, is probably the most important thing that can come from this agreement.”