This is a letter sent to the solar company today on our behalf. Please keep signing and sharing. Our goal is 200 supporters by Friday.
This is the letter sent to the Solar Company today on our behalf.
Please keep signing and sharing the petition.
From: The concerned citizens of Chuckatuck Village and surrounding areas
To: Borrego Solar Project Manager of Suffolk, Crittenden Road
We are writing this letter to inform of our intentions to oppose the Solar farm at Crittenden Rd. Suffolk, VA. The 25-acre parcel of land you are proposing to lease.
First of all, you may be unaware of the comprehensive growth plan for the City of Suffolk which clearly presents our area of Chuckatuck, Sandy Bottom, Hobson, Oakland and Kings’ hwy as a Rural/Agricultural Conservation District. Your application should never have been submitted or accepted for this area.
Chuckatuck Village has history dating back to the 1600s and was one of the very first places on the east coast for early settlers. Crooked Creek Farm of which the Proposed property was a parcel, is one of the very first farms in Virginia and is registered with the Virginia Dept. of Agriculture as protected under Conservation and Environmental program. Learn more about Chuckatuck Village history and the Pre-Civil War History of Crooked Creek Farm (links attached). A few hundred yards away from the proposed site is a beautifully preserved colonial kitchen building built in the 1750’s that has been featured in several Virginia historical articles and publications.
The exact field proposed for this Solar project has archaeological value because of dozens of Nansemond Indian Tribe artifacts that have been found the former tenant of the house throughout the 1980s. That exact field also has an underground terra-cotta drainage system dating back more than a century that is still functional and provides storm drainage for our area.
Your Solar Project would do significant damage to the historical heritage of the land and significant damage to our property values and taxes. We have spoken to neighbors of the solar fields on hwy 460, Oliver Farm Solar field in Isle of Wight and several landowners around the solar fields in Surry County. We have yet to find one single person who does not detest the look and feel of these Industrial structures destroying farmland and providing zero benefit and zero jobs for our communities. We have seen the pictures of the dozens of abandoned houses surrounding the solar farms in Accomack County. This is only a partial list of our many concerns (viewshed, temperature rise, taxes, property values wildlife and water are some other we will address) Decommissioning estimate and fully funded bond are important factors too.
We have filed a petition to present to Suffolk Planning Commission and City Council and have over 130 signatures in less than 2 days from the citizens of Chuckatuck Village, Sandy Bottom, Hobson, Oakland, Eclipse, King’s Hwy and surrounding areas. Please read and consider our petition. We are in the process of selecting a lawyer to represent us. We are also gathering information to start a website to spread awareness of conserving Suffolk’s agricultural and historical lands from Solar companies (similar to stopthesolarfarms and citizensforresponsiblesolar but specific to our city).
This letter is simply a request for you to reconsider this particular solar project in the interest of our small village and our heritage. Your interests would best be served if you speculate elsewhere. And perhaps you would consider gathering community consensus and support before you apply and destroy relationships between neighbors.
Sincerely,
Concerned Citizens of Chuckatuck Village and Surrounding Communities