The Chocowinity Board of Commissioners opted not to entertain adding a conditional use clause to its residential zoning, essentially killing a solar farm project proposed on land just outside town limits.

Tuesday night, a crowd of Chocowinity residents turned out for the public hearing to speak up about the addition of the conditional use clause prior to the town board’s meeting. Adding the clause was under consideration, as Cornelius-based solar farm company O2 Energies had approached the city about purchasing land and zoning to build a solar farm. The 77-acres under discussion is bordered by U.S. Highway 17 Business, U.S. Highway 17 and Bragaw Lane, north of town limits.

After a brief presentation by representatives from O2 Energies, Mayor Jimmy Mobley opened the floor for public comment.

Chocowinity resident Harold Smith was the first to speak about the proposed ordinance change.

“My primary concern is that you’re considering a conditional use permit for residential property,” Smith said, adding that he understood O2 Energies has a good reputation and bore no ill will toward the company itself.

“Granting this special use permit will open the door to others,” Smith said. “It doesn’t fit with the good, controlled growth we’ve experienced up to this point.”

Last month, Chocowinity’s Planning Board recommended the Board of Commissioners address adding a conditional use clause at its next meeting, but after several Chocowinity residents, most of whom live in the neighborhood closest to the proposed solar farm, stood up and expressed concerns about its construction on land zoned residential, the commissioners elected not to bring the conditional use addition to a vote.

During discussion by the town board, Mayor Pro Tempore William Albritton made a point of sharing all of the positive feedback he’d received from officials and residents in Mount Airy and Fairmont, where two of O2 Energies solar farms are located.

“I see a lot of positives for Chocowinity,” Albritton said.

However, while Commissioners Arlene Jones and M.L. Dunbar both acknowledged the same, both said they believed it was the wrong location. Commissioner Louise Furman brought up the fact that the 77 acres had been for sale for many years and, as the land’s owner, Frank Hitt, lived out of state and has refused to subdivide the land, buyers were rare.

“It this gentleman will not sell that land except in one piece, it will benefit no one,” Furman said.

O2 Energies offered voluntary annexation of the land to the town, which would have increased Chocowinity’s property tax base by $2 million. Over the solar farm’s five-month construction period, the company would have employed 100-plus individuals and contractors, many of them through job placement from Beaufort County Community College, with a chance to continue work on other O2 Energies projects, according to an interview last month with Joel Olsen, president of O2 Energies.

But after hearing from the public, including those who stand to be affected the most by any development of the land, the proposed project came to an abrupt halt with no vote at all.