PINE PLAINS – Residents showed up in numbers on Saturday, Jan. 21, at the Community Room of the Pine Plains Free Library to state concerns and their largely overwhelming opposition to a proposed 10-megawatt community solar project at Pulver’s Corners.
More than 60 people attended a two-and-a-half-hour Planning Board public hearing to hear about the project from the project sponsor, Carson Power of New York City, and to ask questions and lodge testimony before town officials.
Andrew Gordon, a representative of Carson Power, began the hearing with a presentation of the project. The company proposes to install a 43-acre solar farm comprising 24,000 panels on 171 acres of agricultural and forested land located at 454 Bean River Road. Access is planned to be sited just west of the Central Hudson’s Pulver’s Corners substation near the intersection of Route 199 and Prospect Hill Road.
The project as outlined by Carson Power calls for a six- to eight-month construction period. The company also says the life cycle of the project is 25-40 years, after which time the solar farm would be decommissioned and the 171-acre property would be put into a permanent conservation easement.
Carson Power plans to participate in New York state’s NY-Sun community solar program, a private-public partnership to promote solar energy production. The project would allow town residents to subscribe and receive credits on electric bills. New York State provides incentives for companies that develop such projects. Carson Power plans to partner with SolaREIT, a real-estate investment trust in Vienna, Virginia, which would be the owner of the 171 acres. Another partner, Nexamp, would be a co-developer and manage construction, operation and subscriptions, Gordon said.
Planning Board Chairman Michael Stabile called upon more than a dozen residents who had signed up to make public comment about the project. Others submitted letters to the board.
Leanne Fremar, who lives on Bean River Road, was among the first to speak.
“I live less than 1 mile from this site,” she said, adding that she was concerned about the “impact on wildlife, about heat and light pollution, and runoff into wells and property values.”
Fremar’s comments drew strong applause from other residents at the hearing.
In his presentation, Gordon said that there are no wetlands and no critical habitats for local threatened or endangered species that would be affected, and added that there were no sensitive archeological resources on the property. Questions, however, were raised by residents who debated his statements, and were accompanied by a call for a more thorough study.
Speakers who followed echoed comments about environmental issues and property values, and raised a litany of concerns ranging from the visual impact of the project on the farmland viewsheds to specific questions related to due diligence in evaluating the project in terms of its timing, whether other companies would be considered for such a community solar project and whether New York State incentives are lapsing at year-end, a suggestion that implied an urgency created for Carson Power’s benefit.
Residents also had questions about the added tax revenue accruing to the town over a 20-year period—said to be valued at an additional $1 million—compared to the impact on the landscape and on property values.
Eric Galliher, a new resident of Skunks Misery Road who built a home approximately five years ago for his young family, spoke near the end of the public hearing. His home would be within view of the solar farm and he urged the Planning Board members not to rush in evaluating the project.
Galliher summed up what other speakers had said, expressing the view that there seemed to be more questions than answers at this point.
“I hope this is the beginning,” he said, to vigorous applause from those present.
The next meeting is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 18, at 11 a.m. at the Community Room if it is available.
The Pine Plains Planning Board posts information about meetings and the project at a Dropbox link, and on Facebook and Youtube. To find the links, go to www.pineplains-ny.gov/boards-committees/planning-board/
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