January 20,2015
The Monterey County Planning Commission on an 8 to 0 vote approved a huge solar plant to be located nearby Parkfield in Central California.
The Commission will recommend that the Board of Supervisors approve the California Flats Solar project. The 3,000-acre, 280-megawatt photovoltaic solar farm would be located off an existing power transmission line in the Cholame Valley near the SLO County line.
The plant is being proposed by First Solar who built a solar farm in the Carrizo Plain nearby.
The Monterey newspaper reported that “Attorney Tony Lombardo, representing the applicant, pointed out the project site on the 72,000-acre Jack Ranch, owned by the Hearst Corp., had been identified by the state as a preferred site for a solar farm. He argued the rows of solar panels would resemble vineyards from the nearby Van Boxtel family ranch, whose owners showed up to oppose the project.”
