A joint public hearing between the Charlotte County Board of Supervisors and the Charlotte County Planning Commission has been set for March 12 at 7 p.m.

The hearing will hear public comment concerning proposed solar zoning amendments for the county.

At a December joint public hearing concerning proposed amendments for solar uses, County Planner and Purchasing Agent Monica Elder said, “because of the importance of this issue, we felt like we needed some additional time maybe to go back and do some research and come back to this.”

Elder said the county was initially approached by North Carolina Solar Developer, Holocene, in September 2015 with a solar application.

During the December public hearing, she said the county’s zoning ordinance did not include any information relating to solar uses. Because of this, the planning commission decided to review options.

At this time, a 15 megawatt solar farm is planned for Drakes Branch, with the proposed location east of Drakes Branch near the intersection of Highway 59 and Ingleside Lane.

Elder previously said, “At the time, there were only a couple of solar projects in the state,” said Elder. She said the first draft was adopted in July 2016 and the application from Holocene was approved in August of this year.

“Since then, the planning commission of Charlotte County and the other surrounding localities have learned a great deal about solar and solar presence in Virginia has significantly increased,” Elder said.

She said based on the increase in knowledge, the planning commission decided it would be important to review some of the points in the original regulations.