The Local Source for News and Information Since 1980
DENTON – Despite the county’s yearlong effort to prevent a community solar array on residential-zoned property outside Federalsburg, a Maryland Public Service Commission judge has given the Chaberton project the green light.
In a 57-page proposed order, Public Utility Law Judge Christine Burke on Oct. 20, 2025, approved Chaberton Solar Pahar LLC’s application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) to construct a 3.0-megawatt solar photovoltaic facility on Idlewild Road.
The proposed order will become a final order of the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) on Nov. 20, 2025, “unless before that time an appeal is noted with the Commission by any party” to the proceeding.
On Nov. 5, County Attorney Stewart Barroll said the county “has no plans to appeal the proposed order.”
The Idlewild property is 42 acres, but the fixed-tilt solar panels will occupy about 20 acres. The project would connect exclusively to the Delmarva Power grid. Chaberton plans to begin construction of the community solar project in the second or third quarter of 2026.
The R1-zoned property is “specifically designated for residential development,” said Caroline County Planning and Codes Director Crystal Dadds at a June 12 Maryland Public Service Commission public hearing at the Federalsburg Library. “It is one of the few areas within the county that is located near (a town) served by public water and sewer.”
Dadds, along with other Planning and Codes officials and the Caroline County Commissioners, presented their case opposing the Chaberton Pahar project on several occasions and in written testimony.
At the June 12 public hearing, Dadds said the property was “an ideal location for future residential growth, especially the kind of higher density, affordable housing that the state of Maryland has long urged local governments to promote near these municipalities with infrastructure capacity. In fact, the state has directed counties and municipalities for years to concentrate growth within and around the towns for precisely this reason: they are best suited to support it. … Our Comprehensive Plan echoes this policy and specifically seeks to preserve these limited R1 areas for their intended purpose.”
Dadds cited statistics to “underscore just how rare this zoning is in Caroline County. Out of roughly the 205,000 acres countywide, only about 3,600 acres are zoned R1,” she said. “Of that, fewer than 780 acres remain undeveloped and are located near a town with public water and sewer. That is less than one-tenth of 1% of the county's total land area. And in stark contrast, over 187,000 acres – more than 91% of the county’s land – is zoned in a manner that would allow for solar development as a permitted or conditional use. Caroline County is not opposed to solar development.”
Burke noted the County’s objections based on the project’s conflicts with “State planning, zoning and land use law which the County is required to comply with.” Those laws, passed by the Maryland General Assembly, are the Planning Act, the Smart Growth Act, the state’s Septic Law and the Housing Element Law, “which obligates the County to address the need for affordable housing in its Comprehensive Plan,” she wrote.
“The County maintained that Chaberton knew early on in the development process that the Project Site was not consistent with County zoning, but (Chaberton) did not attempt to resolve the discrepancy but instead relied on the CPCN application process,” Burke wrote.
However, the testimony of Supida Piwkhow, a project manager in the Power Plant Research Program (PPRP) within the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), was persuasive.
“PPRP concluded that given the uncertainties associated with water and sewer funding and the Property owner’s land use choices, it is speculative to deny the CPCN at this time, based on current information,” Burke’s proposed order stated. “Witness Piwkhow stated PPRP does not support holding the parcel for unknown future development when it could be used for solar development furthering the State’s RPS.” RPS stands for Maryland’s Renewable Portfolio Standards.
While its CPCN application was admittedly inconsistent with the county’s and town’s comprehensive plans, Chaberton contended the project acreage met all of their siting requirements “and that suitable land (which can support interconnection) in Caroline County is limited due to (Delmarva Power and Light’s) small service territory and an exemption that allows electric cooperatives to decline to participate in the community solar program.” In a footnote, Burke wrote, “Most of Caroline County is in the Choptank Electric Cooperative service territory which does not participate in the Community Solar Program.”
Based on Chaberton’s estimates, Burke wrote the project “will lower electric costs for neighbors and business owners and bring economic benefits to the county without requiring services such as water, schooling, or sewer in return,” generating “approximately $1 million in property taxes to Caroline County and $2 million in state income tax without requiring any services or resulting in costs to the County or State. Chaberton estimated the total financial benefits of the Project over its lifetime to be over $6 million.”
While Chaberton projected about two dozen jobs would be created for site construction, it was unclear whether employees would be locally hired.
Finally, Burke explicitly recognized the project’s inconsistency “with both Caroline County’s zoning and Comprehensive Plan. However, the Supreme Court of Maryland has held ‘it is clear that the General Assembly intended to vest final authority for the siting and location of solar energy generating systems requiring a certificate of public convenience and necessity with the Maryland Public Service Commission … and did not expressly provide concurrent legislative authority to the local jurisdiction or require compliance with local planning and zoning ordinances.’”
“I have duly considered the County’s opposition and arguments against the Project,” Burke wrote. “However, the record in this case supports the conclusion that, considering Maryland’s renewable energy goals, subject to appropriate license conditions, on balance the benefits of this proposed Project strongly outweigh any potential negative impacts, and should override local zoning authority.”
In other words, “There’s no land use area that is safe,” said Caroline County Assistant Director of Planning Leslie Grunden on Nov 4.
# # #
