SW1210503_Add Info_20210618

ROY COOPER
Governor
JOHN NICHOLSON
interim Secretary
BRIAN WRENN
Director
Jeff Ruppert, PE
39845 Mathews Lane
Paonia, CO 81428
NORTH CAROLINA
Environmental Quality
June 18, 2021
Subject: Request for Additional Information
Stormwater Permit No. SW1210503
Hot Spring Microgrid
Madison County
Dear Mr. Ruppert:
The Division of Energy, Mineral and Land Resources (DEMLR), received a Stormwater
Management Permit Application for the subject project on May 19, 2021. A review of that
information has determined that the application is not complete. The following information is
needed to continue the stormwater review:
1. Per the provided ground lease agreement, it appears as though the Permittee/Property
Owner relationship may be better defined as "Lessee" rather than "Developer" (Section
III, lc). If this is a lessee relationship, you will need to provided documentation showing
the legal relationship between Duke Energy Progress, LLC and the Permittee, United
Renewable Energy, LLC.
2. Please clarify the project area for this project (Section IV, 7). Per the Application, it
appears as though the entire property area is being covered under this permit however,
the plans appear to indicate the area to be permitted as a smaller subset of the total
property area. You can use either the entire property area or an appropriate subset of the
total property area/a user -defined area (such as a Limit of Disturbance, the area to be
leased, etc...), it just needs to be consistent throughout the submission.
3. For projects with existing BUA you are allowed to exclude the existing BUA from
project density calculations per 15A NCAC 02H .1003(1)(b) (Section IV, 8).
4. Typically, low -density projects only have a single drainage area, the entire project area,
however in situations where part of the project area drains to one classified surface water
and the other portion of the project area drains to a different classified surface water
(such as this project), then the low -density project would have two drainage areas that
add up to the entire project area. Please revise Section IV, 9 & 10 to account for this.
D E Q�� North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality I Division of Energy, Mineral and Land Resources
512 North Salisbury Street 1 1612 Mail Service Center I Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1612
NORTH CAROLINA _
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5. As mentioned above, for low -density projects, the "drainage area" listed in the table in
Section IV, 10 refers to the entire project area (or portion of the entire project area for
projects that drain to multiple receiving waters). Due to this fact, there should not be an
off -site component to the drainage area (since the drainage area corresponds to the
project area).
6. Please include the existing BUA (if applicable) within the drainage area (project area) in
the table in Section IV, 10.
7. The BUA associated with the proposed solar farm project should not be classified as
"Future" BUA since this BUA is what is currently being permitted (Section IV, 10).
"Future" BUA refers to BUA that will be built at some future time after the project to be
permitted is complete (for example, a Phase 2). The proposed BUA should be broken
down, as much as possible, into one of the predefined impervious area types and should
correspond to the information in the plans.
8. Since there are no off -site components to a low -density drainage area, the off -site
impervious area determination is not required (Section IV, 11).
9. Please complete and provide both a Supplement-EZ Form and an O&M Agreement Form
(Section V & Section VI, 3). Both of these forms can be found at the following address:
https:Hdeq.nc. gov/about/divisions/energy-mineral-land-resources/energy-mineral-land-
permit-guidance/stormwater-bmp-manual. Solar farms have additional operation and
maintenance requirements when compared to a "typical" low -density project. These
requirements are outlined in Part E-6 of the Stormwater Design Manual and can be
incorporated into the 0&M Agreement Form via a "User Defined SCM" (see attached
example from a different solar farm project).
10. Please provide a detailed narrative describing the stormwater treatment that will be used
on this site (Section VI, 5). This is typically provided in a stormwater management report
and would describe what is being done to meet the stormwater requirements (both low -
density requirements and solar farm specific requirements).
11. Please provide project density calculations for this project (Section VI, 7).
12. Please dimension the extents of the project area using bearings and distances in the main
set of plans (Section VI, 8i). This is needed in order to determine the extent of the permit
coverage area.
13. Please delineate the on -site wetlands in the main set of plans or provide a note in the
plans that there are no wetlands located on -site (Section VI, 8m). Please also identify the
individual that made this determination.
14. Please indicate the drainage area divide (differentiating between the portion of the project
area that drains to the French Broad River and Spring Creek) for this project in the main
set of plans (Section VI, 8o).

15. Please provide the property deed for this property (Section VI, 10).
16. Please provide official documentation showing the title and position of Frankie Jenkins
and that the Property Owner, Madison Manufacturing Company, is in good standing with
the Secretary of State (Section VI, 11).
17. In order for the solar panel areas to be considered as pervious area, all of the items listed
in Part E-6 of the Stormwater Design Manual must be met:
a. Avoid Compaction of Soils — A note should be placed in the plans/sequence of
construction indicating that subsoil compaction is to be minimized during & after
construction.
b. Disconnect Runoff — Please indicate in the plans that the disconnection length
between rows of solar panels is sufficiently large (It appears as though it is). Since
most of this site contains slopes that are steeper than 8%, you will need to provide
some manner of maintaining sheet flow and for dissipating energy at the drip edge
of each row of panels.
c. Avoid Concentration of Stormwater — This appears to be met per the plans but
should be discussed in the stormwater narrative.
d. Minimize Use of Herbicides & Fertilizers — This will be covered in the O&M
Agreement but can also be included on the plans.
e. Plant Mix of Warm & Cool Season Grasses — Please ensure that the proposed
grass contains a mixture of warm and cool season grasses.
f. Limit Vertical Clearance to <= 10 Feet — Please indicate this on the plans. This
can be shown on a solar panel detail.
18. Provide pdfs of all revisions, 2 hardcopies of revised plan sheets, 1 hardcopy of other
documents, and a response to comments letter briefly describing how the comments have
been addressed.
a. Pdfs must be uploaded using the form at:
https:///edocs.deq.nc.gov/Forms/SW-Supplemental-Upload
NOTE: When uploading electronic forms through this portal, the appropriate file
type should be selected from the dropdown menu for each file. Additional file
types can be added to the submission by clicking the "Add Another Post -
Construction File Upload" link under the information upload section.
b. Hard copies must be mailed or delivered to the following address:

i. For FedEx/UPS:
Suzanne McCoy
512 N. Salisbury Street, Office 640K
Raleigh, NC 27604
ii. For USPS:
Suzanne McCoy
1612 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1612
Please note that this request for additional information is in response to a preliminary review.
The requested information should be received by this Office prior to July 18, 2021, or the
application will be returned as incomplete. The return of a project will necessitate resubmittal
of all required items, including the application fee. Please reference the State assigned project
number SW1210503 on all correspondence.
If you need additional time to submit the information, please submit your request for a time
extension to the Division at the contact below. The request must indicate the date by which you
expect to submit the required information. The Division is allowed 90 days from the receipt of
a completed application to issue the permit.
The construction of any impervious surfaces, other than a construction entrance under an
approved Sedimentation Erosion Control Plan, is a violation of NCGS 143-215.1 and is subject
to enforcement action pursuant to NCGS 143-215.6A.
If you have any questions concerning this matter please feel free to contact me at
[e-mail] or [phone].
Sincerely,
Jim Farkas
Environmental Engineer
Stormwater Program
cc: Asheville Regional Office