Solar in Critical Areas – Maryland, Virginia and Delaware
Qual é a área crítica? Ao longo de nossa preciosa linha costeira da Baía de Chesapeake e de seus afluentes, tivemos muitos proprietários que desejam aproveitar a paisagem à beira -mar com
The Critical Area includes all land within 1,000 feet of Maryland’s tidal waters and tidal wetlands. Along our precious shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, we have had many homeowners looking to take advantage of enhancing their waterfront landscape with painéis solares . Para proteger o meio ambiente, preservar nossos recursos naturais e deixar o mundo um lugar melhor. Com isso dito, a instalação de energia solar nas áreas críticas nos incentiva a cumprir dois regulamentos importantes que garantem a preservação da linha da costa. Nossa primeira etapa do processo é preparar uma planilha de “cálculo de cobertura de lote” que indica a quantidade de cobertura de lotes que você tem disponível e garante que haja espaço legalmente suficiente para explicar a metragem quadrada de seus novos painéis solares. O plano de gerenciamento de buffers exige que todos os pés quadrados de cobertura de lote adicionais sejam mitigados pelo plantio de gramíneas, arbustos ou árvores a 30 metros da costa. O objetivo dessa mitigação é desacelerar a erosão da costa, e somos grandes apoiadores dessa missão. Há alguma flexibilidade com os tipos de flora que podem ser plantados nesta área, por isso consultamos o proprietário na seleção de plantas preferidas para seu novo oásis costeiro. Todo município tem uma reviravolta ligeiramente diferente em seus requisitos de permissão, e isso ajuda empresas locais como o SES a prosperar.
Aside from the clear economic advantages, we are in solar for all the right reasons; to protect the environment, preserve our natural resources, and to leave the world a better place. With that said, installing solar in the critical areas encourages us to comply with two important regulations that ensure shoreline preservation.
Lot Coverage
In the critical area, you are allotted a certain amount of lot coverage depending on the size of your lot. Our first step in the process is to prepare a “Lot Coverage Calculation” worksheet that indicates how much lot coverage you have available and ensures that there is legally enough space to account for the square footage of your new solar panels.
Buffer Management Plan
Though lot coverage is not impacted by solar installations outside of the critical area, the total area of additional lot coverage leads us to our next calculation. The Buffer Management Plan requires that every square foot of additional lot coverage is mitigated by planting either grasses, shrubs, or trees within 100 feet of the shoreline. The goal for this mitigation is to slow down the erosion of the shoreline, and we are big supporters of this mission. There is some flexibility with the types of flora that can be planted in this area, so we consult the homeowner in selecting preferred plants for their new shoreline oasis.
Though this process involves a few more steps in terms of permits, we have become subject matter experts thanks to our waterfront solar supporters in Kent County, Queen Anne’s County, Talbot County, Dorchester County and Anne Arundel County. Every county has a slightly different twist on their permitting requirements, and this helps local companies like SES thrive.