TOWN OF MANLIUS – After a site plan review that lasted several months and included a debate over whether to put a moratorium on commercial solar farms, on Monday the Manlius Planning Board voted to approve the largest solar array ever proposed in the town.
The Duguid Road Solar Project, proposed by CVE North America, is an 11.5-megawatt project adjacent to Fayetteville-Manlius High School. When completed, the 240-acre project will include more than 35,000 solar panels and will produce enough energy to power about 2,500 homes.
For months, the board discussed whether the project would be treated as a single project or three projects. NYSERDA requires that community solar projects produce a maximum of 5 megawatts of power, so to move the project forward CVE North America proposed three projects on the same site, which would be subdivided to conform to the NYSERDA regulations.
Initially, that plan jeopardized the project because of the town’s ‘one-mile rule,’ a code that prohibits commercial solar projects from being sited within one mile of one another unless the planning board makes a specific finding that there will be no adverse impact to the community character of the area.
The board decided to treat the project as three separate applications but judged that the proximity of these projects would not adversely affect the community.
“No one’s going to know they’re there,” said planning board Chairman Joe Lupia, before the board voted to bypass the so-called ‘one mile rule.’ “In light of that I don’t think there is any adverse impact.”
“My instinct on this is that they are so well hidden that it shouldn’t be an issue,” said Rich Rossetti.
The 15-year special use permit is conditioned on the successful negotiation of a payment in lieu of taxes agreement and a community host agreement between CVE North America and the town board. Lupia said he had been told that the town had successfully negotiated a community host agreement, but he was unaware of the details.
To conform with the special use permit, CVE North America has one year to pull a building permit and two years to complete construction.
All the votes on the project were unanimous minus recusals from planning board Ann Kelly, who lives adjacent to the project site.