Solar farm project ordered to obtain Copake flood plain construction permit

COPAKE — New York State has ruled that a proposed commercial solar farm in Copake cannot move forward until its developer obtains a permit from the town to build in a flood zone.

The ruling affects Hecate Energy LLC’s proposed Shepherd’s Run Solar Farm, a 42-megawatt project that would occupy about 215 acres of a 723-acre site near the intersection of Routes 7 and 23 in Craryville. The Chicago-based company has spent years seeking state approval to build the facility, which has faced sustained opposition from the Town of Copake and local residents.

Approximately 154 acres of the land is classified as regulated wetlands.

“We cannot find... a demonstration of compliance with the applicable State wetlands laws and regulations. We find that the application is deficient insofar as it is based on outdated delineation data from 2019 and 2020,” wrote Maureen F. Leary and Dawn MacKillop-Soller, administrative law judges at the New York State Department of Public Service’s Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission in a ruling on June 25.

The ruling, which is laid out in a 226-page summary, also concluded: “We also find that the application fails to address wetlands of unusual importance and is otherwise not in compliance with the State’s applicable wetlands laws and regulations.”

The company must now go back to town officials in Copake to obtain a permit allowing construction in a flood plain, according to the ruling. The permit process would require extensive study of the proposed construction and site to determine potential and expected impacts to wildlife, wetland habitat and other environmental factors.

“We were granted limited party status,” he added. “It is the first time, as far as I know, that any host community has been granted party status.”

Hecate’s pursuit of a permit from ORES has its origins dating back to 2017. The project, which initially called for a 60-megawatt facility, has been downsized over the years after the company lost control of a parcel of land. Longstanding opposition from state and local officials has buffeted the project, further contributing to delays.

The Town of Copake has opposed the project, and citizen groups have identified a host of issues ranging from impacts to schools, traffic, noise, fire threat and agricultural resources as well as land-use that have been added to the conversation about siting Shepherd’s Run in this farming hamlet.

The Town of Copake received an extension to appeal any portions of the latest ruling until July 10. The administrative law judges set July 27 as a date for ORES staff to respond with a summary of responses to the ruling. A final permit for the project could be issued by Oct. 8, the end of a deadline set to issue a permit.

Three citizen groups commented on the ruling: “After years of bringing up major concerns about wetlands, it is gratifying that the Ruling found the wetland issues raised by the Town of Copake, Craryville Farms, Sensible Solar, and Birch Hill Neighbors Association to be ‘substantive and significant,’” wrote Sara Traberman of Sensible Solar for Rural New York.