The Town of Middleburgh doesn’t need a solar moratorium.
It’s already protected by existing zoning, ZBA Chairman John Wingfield said Thursday, cautioning that a moratorium for a law the town doesn’t intend to write might imply otherwise: “That you do want it once you figure out what the rules are.”
Concerned about what neighbors like Schoharie and Sharon are facing with solar, Middleburgh had floated the idea of a six-month moratorium to give the Planning Board time to come up with regulations for large- or commercial-scale solar.
There’s no issues with residential or business solar, Supervisor Wes Laraway said; in fact, he’d like to see them encouraged and with more incentives to make them more affordable.
Mr. Wingfeld—invited to share his experience and expertise—and former Councilman Sue Makely were the only ones to speak at a public hearing on a possible moratorium.
Under Middleburgh’s zoning, Mr. Wingfield said, uses that aren’t listed as permitted are prohibited and that’s all the protection Middleburgh needs against large-scale solar.
In 2015, Mr. Wingfield said, Carver Sand & Gravel proposed a 26-acre five-megawatt commercial-scale solar project at its Middleburgh site.
The project was rejected by Code Enforcement Officer Tom Loucks--“Properly,” Mr. Wingfield said--because it wasn’t specifically permitted.
Carver asked for an interpretation from the ZBA, he said, arguing, based on a single ruling over a commercial-scale wind farm in Beekmantown in Clinton County, that it was a public utility and so allowed.
“Our attorney, Mike West, disagreed,” Mr. Wingfield said.
“We denied their request. They never appealed and they never took us to court.”
The situation today with solar is the same, Mr. Wingfield said.
“Why change? You don’t need a moratorium. And if someone proposes an Article 10 project, none of this matters; it will get licensed on state laws. You might get a new fire truck, but you won’t stop it and you won’t significantly modify it.”
Middleburgh had previously considered writing something into its code to regulate large-scale solar, while protecting local businesses, but that effort stalled.
Mr. Laraway and councilmen agreed to continue to explore ways to help businesses with solar, but voted unanimously against pursuing a moratorium.