The King George County Board of Supervisors didn’t have to look far to identify one beneficiary of the special exception permit request it considered during a public hearing earlier this week.
County attorney and state Sen. Richard Stuart (R-Westmoreland) owns the property associated with the Caledon Solar project.
The project is proposed to be built on land that Stuart purchased in 2016. The board voted 5-0 to approve the permit, although the planning commission voted 4-1 in September to recommend denial.
Board Chair William Davis of the Dahlgren District said the decision was strictly about the supervisors’ thoughts on the project, which developers say will generate $11.3 million in revenue over its lifespan. Davis said the supervisors are not the final authority on the debate regarding the $1.4 million open-space conservation easement that has been on the property since 2001.
“I did get asked by a constituent why the planning commission voted against it,” Davis said. “The planning commission kind of got into the legality of it, as far as the conservatorship … We’re not judges. We’re not lawyers. We’re not here to predict or to determine the legality of the case. That is for the state of Virginia and the lawyers involved to determine all those things. So, even if we said yes to this today, it would still go through the process of that, and if they say it’s not able to be done, then it wouldn’t be done.”
Supervisor David Sullins (at-large) added that Stuart owning the property played no role in the board’s decision.
Sullins said the land is flat, is not going to require restructuring; the project won’t impact waterways or be visible from the road, and the land isn’t suitable to grow crops, so “what are we conserving?”
“I think this is a clear case of property owners’ rights,” Sullins said. “We need to uphold that. It doesn’t matter who owns the property. We have a couple other small facilities like this that are coming before us. I don’t know who owns the property, but if they want to use it in this way, if it doesn’t affect the neighbors, if it doesn’t harm the environment, not going to hurt anybody, I have no issue with that regardless of who owns it. So, this has nothing to do with the fact that our county attorney owns this.”
The project’s applicant, Caledon Solar/TerraForm Power, requested to construct a solar farm on 215 acres of a 1,431-acre parcel that is zoned Agriculture Preservation.
The proposed facility would sit on 122 of the 215 acres required for the project, which would be located at 12181 Caledon Road.
Similar to the scene that played out during the planning commission public hearing, conservationists from around the Commonwealth spoke out against the project, saying that it is not consistent with the county’s comprehensive plan, which is a requirement for any project on land subject to a conservation easement. The board voted unanimously to declare that the project is consistent with the comprehensive plan.
Mike Kane, director of conservation for the Piedmont Environmental Council, said approving the project sets a bad precedent for the county and the state as developers may seek to build on protected land.
“As you all are aware, there has been much discussion about whether the Department of Conservation and Recreation has determined whether this proposal is consistent with the terms and provisions in that conservation easement,” Kane said. “They have specifically indicated that they are not. The easement does not provide for utility-scale solar or really envisioning in any manner the scale or disturbance anticipated under this proposal.”
However, the supervisors weren’t convinced.
Cathy Binder, who represents the Shiloh District, noted that Stuart began pursuing the project before he was hired as interim county attorney in 2024. He was appointed full-time county attorney in August. Binder said she toured the property and came to an unbiased decision. She said her only requirement is that an archaeological study be conducted in the first phase of the project.
She’s intrigued because in 2021, Stuart located gravestones on the property that were relocated from a historic Black cemetery in Washington, D.C. in 1960 to make room for a train station. With the help of state lawmakers and others, the headstones were repatriated at a memorial park in Maryland. Binder believes there may also be Native American relics on the land.
“That property has had a lot of history on it,” Binder said.
Supervisor T.C. Collins of the James Monroe District offered a “friendly amendment” to Sullins’ motion to approve the project. Collins’ amendment required all construction to occur Monday through Friday with no weekend work. That vote passed 3-2 with Binder and Davis also supporting it.
