How many letters has the Town of Schoharie gotten in favor of the proposed Borrego solar project?
Two.
And that, opponents said Wednesday, proves their point.
“What more do these four ladies need to do? What more needs to happen?” asked Glen Sposato, whose Sunnyside Road property sits across the valley from the proposed Bliss Road site.
“What more needs to happen? Because these ladies will do it.”
The “ladies” are Marion Jaqueway, whose home and land borders the site; sisters Lisa Shaul, who owns a business nearby and her sister, Holly; and Julie Langan, who is also planning on building a retirement home on the other side of the valley.
The four organized a rally in front of the Schoharie Town Hall before the meeting; about 100 showed up for burgers and hot chocolate and t-shirts and masks opposing “industrial solar” and urging “Vote No.”
Because of COVID restrictions, only 25 people were allowed inside the meeting and about a dozen spoke for the crowd.
“I can look out the bathroom, the porch, the pool…and I can see it, I can see it,” Ms. Jaqueway said, of the proposed site, holding back tears.
“We like the Berdans [Len and Megan Berdan, whose land the project will be built on it approved]. We like the town. But you have to put your personal thoughts aside,” she told Supervisor Alan Tavenner and councilmen.
[And the Berdans] “they should have the you-know what to be here to face us.”
The town is taking written comments on the project through December 31.
After that, Mr. Tavenner said, they’ll issue a carefully considered written decision; “I hope it will be unanimous.”
Mr. Tavenner has already questioned whether any solar project is temporary—a requirement under the town’s Comprehensive Plan.
Wednesday, he said he also hates what they do to the view—singling out Route 32 through Greenville.
“I do a lot of business that way and I always thought it was one of the most beautiful drives,” he said. “I’m just appalled at how it looks now.”
But Mr. Tavenner also issued a warning, calling the state’s solar policy a plan by Governor Andrew Cuomo “to ram this down our throats no matter what it does…to our communities, our families. He is going to have his way.
“It’s a land grab. It’s disgusting and I’m appalled by that. Don’t lose heart when bigger projects [that we have no say over] come. Just prepare yourselves.”
“We can’t control those,” Ms. Jaqueway said, of the type of Article 23 and Article 10 projects the Town of Sharon and now, the Town of Middleburgh are facing.
“We can control the smaller ones.”