Deschutes County might get a fifth solar farm next year if a Virginia company’s plan for a 90-acre facility east of Bend is approved.

The project, which Charlottesville-based Bear Creek Solar Center LLC submitted planning permit applications for this month, is still under consideration by the county. The county’s planning division will accept written comments on the proposal until Dec. 2. If necessary, a public hearing will take place in the next three to four months.

The new solar farm would be built about half a mile east of Bend, between Neff Road and U.S. Highway 20, directly east of Hamby Road. Two other 80-acre solar farm projects are currently under construction about a mile east of the proposed site. The area is mostly land that’s zoned for farming, though the soil is rated by the state as rocky and having little agricultural potential. Under Oregon law, solar farms are allowed in such agricultural zones as long as they meet certain criteria.

Troy Snyder, a manager at solar company Oregon Solar Land Holdings, told The Bulletin last year that the area near Neff and Hamby roads is desirable for commercial solar projects. That’s because, aside from the unusable farmland, a Pacific Power substation located nearby can easily absorb the energy the facilities produce.

According to Bear Creek Solar Center LLC’s proposal, the new farm will be able to generate up to 10,000 kilowatts of electricity and will connect to the substation via power lines in order to sell electricity to customers.

Bear Creek Solar Center LLC wasn’t available for comment on Wednesday.

The county approved a 96-acre solar farm 5 miles south of Redmond, near U.S. Highway 97, in May. Central Electric Cooperative’s Bend office on SE 27th Street also built a solar facility last year.

Bear Creek Solar LLC aims to lease the land for the new solar farm from two property owners — Jane Heimbichner, who lives in Sacramento, California, and V. Pandian Living Trust, in Salem.

Heimbichner said Bear Creek Solar first contacted her in January 2014 about leasing her land for a solar facility.

“They called and asked if I would be interested in a solar farm, and I said yes because Bend is a green city,” said Heimbichner, who grew up in Bend and declined to discuss the specifics of the lease agreement because it’s still negotiable pending county approval. “Clean energy is a part of that. It’s going to be a good thing for the city.”

But some residents who live nearby have their doubts, at least when it comes to the impact on their neighborhood. John Jackson, whose house on Hamby Road already borders one of the solar farm projects currently under construction, said another facility would be too much.

“It’s going to completely enclose my house,” he said, adding that he built his home in 2015, before any of the solar farms had been proposed. “My house is right in the middle, and I’m concerned about the impacts that the construction and the farms are going to have.”

Added Larry Beebe, who also lives near the solar projects: “We’ve had to put up with the noise for the last six months, and now they’ll be going again from 6 a.m. to after dinner.”

Residents have already voiced their concerns to the Department of Environmental Quality and the county about the dust and noise that accompanies the construction. A DEQ spokesman said the agency “is aware” of those complaints. Deschutes County Planning Manager Peter Gatowski said that code enforcement deals with projects that aren’t in accordance with land use permits.

And even though Gatowski said the county hasn’t “truly evaluated” the future of local solar farm construction from a planning perspective, the county considers the projects as an appropriate use of the land.

“You have property — unproductive farmland with no history of irrigation — that’s being underutilized,” Gatowski said. “From the county’s standpoint, the Legislature acknowledged that solar farms are a use that can be permitted in a resource zone. So for a county that recognizes the importance of economic development and has made a commitment to try to incorporate land uses that are permissible, this is a use that qualifies.”

Jackson, who said he and other residents plan to contest the Bear Creek Solar Center proposal, disagrees.

“My preference is that the county put a moratorium on solar projects until it’s determined they do everything they say they’ll do,” he said. “It doesn’t seem like prudent government to keep rolling forward without stopping to evaluate what’s happening.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7829,

awest@bendbulletin.com