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/
Built in 1820, 1168 Bangall Amenia Road sold for $875,000 on July 31 with the transfer recorded in August. It has a Millbrook post office and is located in the Webutuck school district.
STANFORD — The Town of Stanford with nine transfers in two months reached a median price in August of $573,000 for single family homes, still below Stanford’s all-time median high in August 2024 of $640,000.
At the beginning of October there is a large inventory of single-family homes listed for sale with only six of the 18 homes listed for below the median price of $573,000 and seven above $1 million.
July transfers
79 Ernest Road — 4 bedroom/2.5 bath home on 6.87 acres in 2 parcels sold to Matthew C. Marinetti for $1,225,000.
29 Drake Road — 3 bedroom/3.5 bath home on 2 acres sold to Harper Montgomery for $850,000.
6042 Route 82 — 4 bedroom/2 bath home on 1.09 acres sold to Spencer Thompson for $795,000.
125 Tick Tock Way — 3 bedroom/2.5 bath ranch on 1.9 acres sold to Fleur Touchard for $475,000.
August transfers
102 Prospect Hill Road — 3 bedroom/2 bath home on 6.35 acres sold to Karl Creighton Pfister for $565,000.
252 Ernest Road — 2 bedroom/1 bath cottage on .85 acres sold to Meg Bumie for $465,000.
1196 Bangall Amenia Road — 4 bedroom/2.5 bath home on 2.16 acres sold to Roderick Alleyne for $875,000.
Hunns Lake Road (#759929) — 59.1 acres of residential land sold to Argos Farm LLC for $3,325,000.
* Town of Stanford recorded real estate transfers from July 1 to August 31 provided by Dutchess County Real Property Office monthly transfer reports. Details on each property from Dutchess Parcel Access - properties with an # indicate location on Dutchess Parcel Access. Market data from One Key MLS and Infosparks .Compiled by Christine Bates, Real Estate Advisor with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, Licensed in Connecticut and New York.
Hunt club members and friends gathered near Pugsley Hill at the historic Wethersfield Estate and Gardens in Amenia for the opening meet of the 2025-2026 Millbrook Hunt Club season on Saturday, Oct. 4. Foxhunters took off from Wethersfield’s hilltop gardens just after 8 a.m. for a hunting jaunt around Amenia’s countryside.
Joining in the fun at the dedication of the new pollinator pathway garden at The Millbrook Library on Saturday, Oct. 4, local expert gardener Maryanne Snow Pitts provides information about a planting to Lorraine Mirabella of Poughkeepsie.
MILLBROOK — Participating in a patchwork of libraries that have planted pollinator pathway gardens to attract insects and birds to their native plantings was one of the accomplishments being celebrated at the dedication of a new pollinator garden at the Millbrook Library on Saturday, Oct. 4.
“A lot of work went into it,” said Emma Sweeney, past President of the Millbrook Garden Club, who started the local library’s initiative two years ago.
The Pollinator Pathway program is a national effort to plant native plants that native insects depend upon for sustenance and preferred plants for their own seasonal reproduction.
Jana Hogan of Ridgefield, Connecticut, Executive Director of the Pollinator Pathway program, was on hand to present a plaque to the library for its successful participation.
“A garden is not just a garden,” said garden designer Andy Durbridge of Wassaic, designer of the library’s garden. “It may serve as a model for other gardens along the line.”
Speaking to the 50 visitors at the dedication, Durbridge said that the library’s garden has a mission, that it is a working garden, planned to serve insects and birds over their seasons. The earliest plants support pollinators, while the full range of plants continues to serve the needs of those they attract, offering habitat, shelter and food.
A pollinator garden is akin to a prairie, rather than a formalized European garden, Durbridge noted.
The garden project was supported by the library’s Friends group using funds raised during the Holiday Silent Auction and ongoing book sale. A grant from the Millbrook Garden Club also provided support.
Amenia Town Hall on Route 22.
AMENIA — After gathering comments from the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals, as it considers adding alternate members to those boards, the Town Board discussed possible changes to local laws governing those boards at its meeting on Friday, Oct. 3. The meeting date, usually on a Thursday, had been changed to accommodate a holiday.
In recent weeks Town Board attorney Ian Lindars has been compiling comments from the affected boards along with comments from the Town Board. The new laws may bring the appointment of two alternate members to each board. Alternate members are likely to be required to attend all meetings and be prepared to be seated if needed and be familiar with the applications being discussed. They would also need to take training required of all board members.
Lindars will prepare a draft of the new local laws to be reviewed by the Town Board and the affected boards.
As the Town Board begins work on the town’s annual budget negotiation process and anticipating an increase in some budget lines to accommodate major projects, the board unanimously approved three resolutions. The first will override the tax levy limit imposed on municipalities by the state of New York, a limit generally tied to the rate of inflation.
A public hearing on the proposal to override the levy limit was set for Thursday, November 6, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall.
