The lawsuit filed by Borrego Solar against the Town of Schoharie has been tossed.
In a ruling released last Wednesday, the State Supreme Court found the town was absolutely within its right to deny Borrego’s request for a special use permit for a five-megawatt commercial solar project at 117 Bliss Road.
“...the Court finds no error in the [town] Board’s finding that this new large-scale commercial development would be out of place and inconsistent with the character of the area where it is proposed to be located, and therefore inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan,” Acting Justice of the Supreme Court James Ferreira wrote.
Judge Ferreira also found that despite Borrego’s charges, the Town Board was not “unduly influenced by…community pressure” when it voted 3-2 on March 31, 2021 to deny the special use permit.
In June 2019, Borrego filed an application for a special use permit for a five-megawatt and a two-megawatt commercial solar project–later reduced to just one five-MW project–on 41 acres of land owned by Margaret and Len Berdan off Route 30 just outside the Village of Schoharie.
Nearly two years of discussions and hearings followed over whether the project was consistent with the 1997 Comprehensive Plan when it came to historic and community character, scenic beauty, karst, steep slopes, groundwater, and visual impact, and whether it met the requirements of the town’s solar law–passed just before the application was filed.
In an Article 78 proceeding filed last fall, Borrego argued that its application met all of the necessary criteria for a special use permit and the town’s decision was “based on generalized community pressure, unsubstantiated conclusions, speculation and errors of fact…”
But the Town Board’s decision was not arbitrary and capricious as the Article 78 lawsuit charges, Judge Ferreira wrote.
The town had considerable discretion in acting on the permit and was within its right to deny it and “...the record firmly supports the Board’s finding that the location, size, and character of the proposed construction was inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan” and its goal of maintaining the rural small town character of the town and village, he said.
Neighboring towns have been waiting to see how the Court ruled on the lawsuit.
Among them, the Town of Middleburgh, where last August, Borrego requested a permit for a wind measuring tower for a two-turbine five-megawatt industrial wind project it wants to build at 674 Lawton Hollow Road in Huntersland.
The town has since established a six-month moratorium on both wind towers and wind projects while it reviews its land use law; the final public hearing on wind is set for tonight, Thursday, February 10, 6pm at the Shelter Building at 139 Cotton Hill Road.
Borrego representatives have said they plan to be on hand; Supervisor Wes Laraway plans to present them with a list of residents’ questions beforehand.
The grassroots group, No Turbines Here is also collecting signatures on its petition available on its website NoTurbinesHere.com.
Borrego is also one of at least two companies reaching out to residents of Lawyersville in the Town of Cobleskill, seeking to lease land for solar development.
A September 3, 2021 letter from National Land Realty, representing an unnamed “national solar development company” offers to pay “up to $1,500 per acre per year for a 20-year term.”
A January 14 letter from Borrego promises lease revenue of “most likely…between $30,000 and $50,000 per year depending on how big of a project we would be able to develop.”
The Hallenbeck Road, Cobleskill land targeted by Borrego in the January 2021 letter “is ideal for solar because it’s at least 20 acres, close to necessary NYSEG lines, near a National Grid substation, and appears to be free of wetlands and is not in a floodplain.”