“A public hearing about a proposed solar farm in the town of Schuyler Tuesday was dominated by a discussion about property access.
The Schuyler Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) conducted the hearing on the 20-megawatt project proposed by SunEast Development for a 172.3-acre site in the towns of Schuyler and Herkimer. No votes were taken Tuesday.
ZBA Chairman Ronald Beach Jr. said committee members wanted to discuss some of the issues raised with their attorney before making a decision. Another meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 6, at the Schuyler Town Hall.
R. Jason Dickey, a senior project manager with TRC Solutions who is serving as a consultant to SunEast, said the project’s development and permitting stage has taken about two years.
“Since then, we’ve been reviewing the site plan and we’ve reached the point where we hope the next step will be to approve the site plan,” he said.
Clean renewable energy generated by the solar farm would feed directly into the power grid with the National Grid substation on Watkins Road as the point of connection, Dickey said.
The towns, county and school districts would benefit through a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement, Dickey said. He noted that SunEast has a decommissioning agreement with both the towns of Schuyler and Herkimer to remove the installation in about 30 years when its useful life is complete.”
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Thompson, Donna. Times Telegram 30 July 2020.