Hamilton councillors defer decision on solar farm
Councillors are grappling with whether a rocky patch in Flamborough should be a solar farm or farmland.
At Tuesday morning’s planning committee meeting at Hamilton City Hall, councillors heard a proposal from Samsung to install 60,000 solar panels on a Mountsberg-area property. If approved by the province, the plan would generate 15 megawatts of power — enough to provide clean electricity for 3,000 to 5,000 homes.
The catch? The proposed location, though not designated as “prime agricultural land,” is currently being farmed. As a result, the proposal didn’t sit well with several councillors, particularly Ward 14 Coun. Rob Pasuta. A lifelong farmer, Pasuta argued that regardless of the land’s agricultural classification, the city should not support an industrial project on property that can grow crops.
“This is good farming land,” he said. “It’s not about the land itself, it’s about the farmer that works it. It’s just wrong,”
But property owner Lily Usik, who says she’s lived on the property for 40 years, says her land parcel is relatively small — only 100 acres — and full of stones and gravel. She’s been renting the property to farmers for several years and now hopes to rent her property to Samsung.
“I’m proud to be here standing in front of you as a supporter of clean energy,” she said. “As a longtime farmer, it’s important to me that the project does not take place on prime agricultural land. The most important thing in my belief is it’s clean energy with no carbon emissions.”
Ultimately, councillors decided to a delay a decision to hear feedback from a public meeting in Carlisle Tuesday evening. About 60 people attended the meeting at the Carlisle Memorial Hall.
Samsung communications manager Tim Smitheman called the response from residents “positive,” but admitted there were concerns and questions.
Some of the residents to which The Spectator spoke were unsure about the project and were concerned about its impact on the environment, property values and the rural nature of the area.
Kerry Arnett, 53, lives in Hamilton, but is from the area and has family living near the proposed solar farm. She wants to return some day and is opposed to the project because of environmental worries.
“I’m not slamming them, but they haven’t satisfied that,” she said.
Her mother Marion Pawlick, 83, hasn’t made up her mind yet, but is concerned about losing the rural flavour around her home. Samsung has promised to plant trees to shade the panels from resident’s sightlines, but she will believe it when it happens.
“We’ve been used to looking at birds and deer,” she said. “If they’re going to curtail that, we’re not for it.”
Paul Lochner, 56, came from Dundas to see what the project entails. He is a former Flamborough resident. While he was “impressed” and believed it was “the way of our future,” he wondered if the Mountsberg farm was the right spot for the panels and whether such power should be in the hands of a public utility.
Smitheman said if the project is permitted to proceed by the province this December, all residents’ questions and concerns will be addressed and dealt with through the Renewable Energy Assessment process. He said Samsung would also have to satisfy concerns from the Ministry of Natural Resources and that would take three years to get the project up and running.
Ward 15 Coun. Judi Partridge, whose ward includes the project, says she’s leaning toward lending her support to it. She says the city tends to shy away from clean energy projects when they’re presented, but still advocates for them i n general.
“We keep beating this drum about renewable energy, and yet the projects come forward and there always seems to be some pushback somewhere along the line,” she said.
Regardless of council’s decision, the project f alls under the province’s Green Energy Act. That means the province will have the final say.
However, the province will award points to Samsung’s application if it comes along with a letter of city support. Samsung’s deadline to apply for provincial funding for the project is Sept. 1.
The Mountsberg site extends south of Campbellville Road, between Milburough Line and Highway 6, with the southern extent along Concession 12 East and Mountsberg Road.
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