By Ashley M. Casey
Staff Writer
The town of Lysander is looking to add regulations for solar energy systems to its code, but residents are saying the proposed law isn’t so sunny. At the Dec. 12 town board meeting, several residents expressed concerns about the law’s impact on farmers and its relation to the town’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan.
The proposed law would require solar farms to be located on lots at least 20 acres in size with the solar array not to cover more than 50 percent of the parcel.
“It doesn’t really jibe with what I know about solar installations,” said Brian Reeves, who is a partner in Reeves Farms.
Reeves said most of the solar farm he has heard about fall within 10 to 15 acres and said a 20-acre requirement is too restrictive for landowners who may have a smaller plot with poor soil that is suitable for a solar array.
Town engineer Al Yager said lots for solar farms must be at least 15 acres to be “economically viable,” and solar equipment must be set back at least 200 feet from the property line, public roads and other structures.
Reeves said solar farm lease agreements generally are not favorable to farmers. Reeves is the president of the New York State Vegetable Growers Association and sits on the board of directors for Onondaga County Farm Bureau.
“The general feeling of the farming community right now is these solar farms are probably not a good thing to sign up for,” he said. “The people writing these leases aren’t looking out for the farmers.”
Reeves also expressed concern that the town did not directly consult the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets in drafting the law. Jack Corey, chair of the Lysander Planning Board, said the law was based on other municipalities’ laws that included Ag and Markets’ input.
Corey said solar lease agreements often do not lead to a profit for a farmer who leases their land. Corey also said large solar farms are incompatible with the Comprehensive Land Use Plan’s goal of preserving the rural viewshed of the town.
“Solar farms have a definite role to play in our society. But when you look at the Comprehensive Land Use Plan that was just adopted in this town and what it’s supposed to do, I can think of nothing that’s more against it than a solar commercial farm,” Corey said. “Whether it’s 10 acres or it’s 15 acres … it’s solid reflective metal over every inch of it.”
Corey said he is not against solar installations, but he wants to make sure they are sited and zoned properly.
“[Deputy Supervisor Bob] Geraci’s expressed his concern about preservation of open space. This one will do a lot more damage than a cluster development or anything that comes in under incentive zoning,” Corey said.
Corey said profits of solar installations in the Northeast are “marginal at best.” Corey added that an agricultural property maintains its tax classification once it is used for a commercial solar farm, but Reeves said that may not hold true across the state.
“There is no tax benefit to the town from these types of operations,” Corey said. “But the town does have the right under the PILOT program to negotiate with the [solar] provider a fee … to be paid to the municipality in lieu of taxes, and I would certainly encourage the town to look at that.”
Geraci thanked Corey for his and the planning board’s input and said his goal is still to preserve the rural look of Lysander.
“We can’t say ‘no,’ I guess, but we can certainly make the hoops that one has to go through tough enough that we don’t jeopardize the very character of our community,” Geraci said.
Resident Jim Stirushnik agreed with Corey’s opinion that solar arrays would clash with Lysander’s agricultural viewshed.
“I am against these on agricultural land. I live in agricultural land and I certainly wouldn’t want any of my neighbors to have 50 percent of their land covered by one of these things,” Stirushnik said. “To me, it is an industrial or commercial activity and should be placed in the industrial zone of the town or one of the commercial zones of the town. Any use in agriculture should be restricted to power generation for the agricultural facility itself, and not above that significantly.”
Solar farms might take productive farmland away from growers, Reeves said.
“Ag and Markets in general and many farmers don’t want to see these put on where there’s Class I soils or soils of state importance,” Reeves said. “But there are farms out there that have very marginal soils that would be great sites for a solar location.”
As for aesthetic concerns, Reeves said industrial or commercial locations may be closer to roadways and more visible than a remote agricultural property.
Fred Allen, a resident and farmer, questioned who would be responsible for removing a solar array once its useful life comes to an end. He said the proposed law’s language was ambiguous.
“You have to figure out who is really responsible for removing it, the landowner [or the operator]?” Allen asked.
Corey agreed that the wording was ambiguous but said the law’s intent is for the energy company to be responsible for decommissioning the solar array.
Supervisor Joe Saraceni acknowledged that the process of drafting the solar law has been more difficult than he expected.
“I thought we were going to get lucky and jump on the same train that some other municipalities had jumped on as far as legislation regarding solar farms or solar operations,” Saraceni said. “It’s never my intention to pass a perfect law because there is no such thing as the perfect law.”
Saraceni recommended keeping the public hearing open so the town board can answer the questions raised by the public. “We’ve got some homework to do,” he said.
Saraceni said the goal is to pass a law within the next month or two because there are some solar projects pending, but he said it would be very difficult to write legislation specifically protecting landowners from the pitfalls of a solar lease agreement. He said farmers should be able to lease their land to solar companies to generate extra revenue and make their properties more attractive to developers.
“[The goal] is to create legislation that doesn’t necessarily invite solar but doesn’t discourage it,” he said.
A copy of the proposed law is available in the town clerk’s office or online at bit.ly/LysanderSolar.
