At Monday evening’s town board meeting resident Kevin Lemaster addressed the board at the public hearing for a special use permit for AC Power 14’s community solar facility, urging the Lancaster Town Board to do more research.

The Lancaster Bee reported today:

AC Power 14, LLC, submitted a site plan 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.

The Lancaster Planning Board approved the site plan at its Dec. 2 meeting. The Lancaster Town Board split the vote to approve the AC Power 14 site plan on Dec. 21 for a community solar facility.

Lemaster said he submitted questions to AC Power 14 before the public hearing and said some answers he received were less than satisfactory.
“They’re telling me to do the research, and I have to FOIA [file a request under the Freedom of Information Act] the information on a project they’re bringing forward to the town,” Lemaster said, urging the board to do more research.

Board Member Bob Leary supported Lemaster's concerns saying he doesn’t believe the board should approve the special use permit until they know who the private investors are.

Leary questioned the financial benefit package associated with the project, and the attorney stated the package is in no way tied to the special-use permit, which was the focus of the hearing.

“I don’t think that we should move forward until we get some of these questions answered as to who the additional owners will be of this project,” Leary said. “I’d like to know where these panels are coming from, what countries they are being manufactured in, and I think there’s a lot of things involved in this … this is something important to all of the people in the Town of Lancaster.”

Comment

The Lancaster Bee report can but cover a small portion of what transpired at the public hearing. Lemaster did a masterful job in presenting data and statistics that on the shortcomings of solar energy regarding toxicity concerns, decommissioning solar farms, environmental impacts, and other.

Councilman Leary was equally proficient in his research and in questioning applicant representatives. Many of Lemaster’s and Leary’s questions and concerns went unanswered by the applicant with the refrain ‘this has nothing to do with the special use permit request’.

The presentation was outstanding in the data, statistics and concerns presented can be heard in its entirety on the town’s website recording:

https://soundcloud.com/user-329292372

The hearing on the 2021-03-01 town board meeting runs from 19:00 through 42:25.

A worthwhile listen – IMHO!