HAMLET — City Council will decide after hearing public comment Tuesday whether to allow a solar farm to be built on a 37-acre tract on East Hamlet Avenue.

During their regular meeting last month, council members approved rezoning the acreage from “residential agricultural” to “light industrial,” following the lead of the city’s Planning Board, which granted its unanimous approval of the rezoning in May.

Yan Solihin, a professor in N.C. State University’s College of Electrical and Computer Engineering, owns the land, which is part of a former dairy farm. His company, Greentegrity, wants to lease a 37-acre portion of the tract to ESA Renewables of Sanford, Florida, which would build the solar farm.

Solihin wants to plant back the tract’s remaining 200-plus acres for timber growth.

Richmond County has six solar farms and one approved for the Hamlet area that has yet to be built.

The new solar farm would be built near the site of the old Coca-Cola bottling plant and across U.S. 74 from Unique Stone.

The public hearing will take place at council chambers, 201 Main St., Hamlet, soon after the regular council meeting begins at 7 p.m.

Daily Journal file photo Hamlet City Council is set to approve, or not, a proposed solar farm at Tuesday’s meeting.
https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_solarpanel_crop-2-.jpgDaily Journal file photo Hamlet City Council is set to approve, or not, a proposed solar farm at Tuesday’s meeting.

Staff report