SALISBURY — The Rowan County Planning Board voted during its meeting on Monday to recommend an amendment to the county ordinances that would allow for solar panels to be installed in the area of Mid-Carolina Regional Airport.

The amendment, requested by Top Tier Solar Solutions, would allow roof-mounted solar panels for residential uses within both the conical and horizontal surfaces surrounding the airport. Any solar panels must be equipped with some anti-glare reflective coating in order to reduce any risk of glare to the airplanes landing and taking off.

The rule disallowing solar panels inside the airport’s vicinity came after the Rowan County Board of Commissioners issued a moratorium on all ground-mounted solar energy systems larger than 6,000 square feet in 2019. After evaluating the county ordinances and land use plans for solar energy systems, the county issued four separate categories of systems. The relevant category on Monday was roof-mounted systems, which only had the limitation that they could not be placed in the area of the airport, according to a report from county planning staff.

Planning staff held discussions with Airport Director Valerie Stelle in order to receive feedback on the amendments, said Shane Stewart, assistant planning director for the county. Stewart reported that Steele gave the go-ahead on the amendment so long as it abided by three conditions, that it be limited to residential usage only, that the systems cannot exceed the smaller of 6,000 square feet or 10 percent of the lot size and that the panels receive an anti-reflective coating.

Michael Webber, a representative of Top Tier Solar Solutions, said that the company applied for the amendment after working with a client located three miles from the airport. He said that the company takes precautions to remove glare on all its solar panels and that the panels do not cause any more glare than glass buildings or nearby bodies of water.

“The FAA is actually treating this as not a problem anymore,” said Webber.

Webber also pointed to a review performed by the Federal Aviation Administration on the potential effects of solar panel systems on nearby airports. That review was aimed at solar panel systems that were placed on federal airports, but the Federal Register noted that it could also be applied to non-federal airports.

“Initially, FAA believed that solar energy systems could introduce a novel glint and glare effect to pilots on final approach. FAA has subsequently concluded that in most cases, the glint and glare from solar energy systems to pilots on final approach is similar to glint and glare pilots routinely experience from water bodies, glass-façade buildings, parking lots, and similar features,” the review stated.

The planning board voted unanimously to recommend approval of the text amendment, which followed the conditions laid out by Steele. The amendments and recommendation will be presented to the board of commissioners at a future meeting, who will have the final say on approval.