Solar systems face delay, regulations

A public hearing will be held Oct. 19 on a proposed one-year moratorium on ground-mounted solar energy systems. There also will be a hearing on a proposed law to regulate all solar electricity systems in the towns.

The hearing on the law is to start at 7:15 p.m., followed by the moratorium hearing at 7:30.

The proposed law on regulating solar power systems was revived after the developer of a proposed array on state Route 32 submitted plans that were far larger than expected for a hillside area that overlooks the hamlet of Eddyville.

“This is essentially the same law we proposed in 2016 with some changes based on comments from [previous] public hearings,” said town Su-

pervisor James Quigley.

Cyprus Creek Renewables/Landau Solar submitted a plan this past July for a single 2-megawatt system on about 35 acres of a 190-acre parcel that straddles Route 32. The system would have been on the east side of the property but the project has been revised twice since the application was filed.

Quigley said the developer followed the application with a proposal to build three installations of 2 megawatts each on the east side of the property and then recently added a fourth installation on the west side. He said the town Planning Board has requested that a State Environmental Quality Review, or SEQR, treat the proposals as a single project.

“If we’re going to do a SEQR ... we want [it] on the entire action and not on the incremental steps to get to the final action,” the supervisor said.

The site is at 3040 state Route 32 and owned by the Eddyville Corp., which previously attempted to revive mining operations on the property. The owners ultimately lost court challenges over an eight-year period when seeking to overturn 2004 zoning revisions that barred mining on the property.

Of the property overlooking Eddyville, Quigley said the developer promised during a recent site visit to keep the equipment out of view.

“We had specific discussions when we walked up there on how to locate the panels so they would not be observable from Eddyville,” he said.

Under the proposed regulation of solar energy systems in the town:

• Rooftop and buildingmounted solar collectors would be permitted in all zoning districts but subject to permits for installation. They also would not be allowed to extend more than 4 feet above any building.

• Secure containers or enclosures would be required for the storage of solar batteries.

• Ground-mounted solar collectors that do not function as intended for more than 12 consecutive months would have to be removed.

• Freestanding and ground-mounted installations would be limited to side or rear yards and could not exceed 10 feet in height.

• And site that has a decommissioned solar array would be required to restore the property to “as natural a condition as possible” within a year.

The proposed one-year moratorium seeks to “prevent the premature and inappropriate installation” of solar systems and aims to limit the clearing of trees.