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Lancaster Town approves AC Power 14 special use permit
April 08, 2021
by MARIA PERICOZZI Editor
After lengthy discussion during the work session and regular meeting Monday regarding the approval of a special use permit for AC Power 14, the Lancaster Town Board split the vote to approve the resolution.
Council members Adam Dickman and Bob Leary voted against the resolution. Supervisor Ronald Ruffino Sr. and council members David Mazur and Michael Wozniak voted for the resolution.
The resolution approves a special use permit for AC Power 14, LLC, to install two co-located ballasted community solar facilities on a closed landfill of 197 acres on Gunnville Road in the Town of Lancaster. The project will be on 40 acres, and the solar panels will cover 15 acres. The total project is estimated to cost $14 million.
“These folks have been working in good faith with the town engineer, code enforcement office since January or February of last year … I don’t understand the hiccup with all this,” Ruffino said.
The resolution was on the agenda as a pre-filed resolution, but that was questioned by Leary, because the resolution arrived to the Town Clerk’s office “late.”
Due to Friday’s holiday, resolutions were due to the Town Clerk’s office by 3 p.m. Wednesday. Ruffino said at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, they were told the resolution could not go on the agenda because the clerk’s office was short-staffed, and they did not have time to put it on the agenda.
“I don’t understand all this controversy with this,” Ruffino said. “We’re trying to bring business to the town. It’s a project that the piece of land has no use at all but this … It’s a great project that will use unusable land, it will generate some dollars for the schools, town and county. I don’t understand the hiccup with this. These projects are going on all over New York state, not just Lancaster.”
Town attorney Kevin Loftus stated that his office treated the late resolution as they would normally, warning the clerk’s office that it would be coming, and clerk Diane Terranova can either accept or deny the resolution as a pre-filed resolution.
“The clerk has the discretion to put it on, and she did,” Loftus said. “This has happened numerous times. Our office routinely gets late submissions and we’ve always been consistent.”
There are some circumstances beyond their control, Loftus said, which leads to late submissions, and Terranova either accepts or denies them.
Leary said he does not believe it should be at Terranova’s discretion to accept resolutions late.
“Anything that can go on the general agenda, I think it’s an advantage to go on the general agenda,” Loftus said. “This is not the first time we’ve submitted a late resolution.”
Leary requested an outside attorney to review whether or not the resolution should appear as a pre-filed or suspended resolution.
Leary read multiple emails between Loftus and AC Power 14 into the record during the meeting.
“This email to me, sounds like our town attorney is working very closely with [AC Power 14], and I object to him making the determination on whether it’s OK to put this resolution on at all tonight,” Leary said. “I think we should pay for an outside attorney to be brought in and make a determination on this.”
The motion was denied, as only Dickman and Leary voted for an outside attorney.
Leary also questioned why the resolution had been “pushed through.”
Mazur said the resolution is not being pushed through, that the planning board and LIDA approved of the permit, and the special use permit hearing was more than 30 days ago.
“We’re not pushing anything through,” Mazur said. “It’s just like a regular project.”
Leary also asked AC Power 14 who the private investor is and where the panels will be made, adding that residents have a right to know if these panels or parts are coming from “Communist China.”
An AC Power 14 representative said when their contract is signed, they will introduce the investor to the board, and when the final determination is made as to where the panels will be from, the board will have that information.
When the resolution was ready to be voted on, Leary asked that the resolution be taken off the agenda and put on the next meeting’s agenda.
Wozniak added conditions to the resolution, including that the special use permit take into account any deficiencies in the landfill cap and impacts to wildlife, that the applicant would be responsible to remedy the deficiencies or impacts prior to starting construction, and that a decommissioning bond be instituted prior to the start of construction, which would take into account projected expenses associated with the decommissioning of the panels.
After the vote, Leary asked why answers to his questions regarding who the private investor is and where the panels will be made were not added as conditions. Leary did not specifically ask for those added conditions while the resolution was in question.
“If you’re going to put these other conditions on there, why not put them all on there, and make them answer the questions they haven’t wanted to answer?” Leary asked, after the resolution had already passed.
No other conditions were added to the resolution after voting.
The next Lancaster Town Board meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, April 19. Residents can dial into the meeting by calling 800-4267 and using the PIN 1232. Residents are asked to mute their phones until they would like to speak during the public comment period.