The newest would-be solar project in the Town of Sharon has hit some roadblocks that will need to be sorted out before it moves ahead.
The proposed 5-MW project off Route 20 at Sharon Hill is landlocked with no legal access, is in a Rural-Center Zone, which doesn’t allow for solar; and doesn’t meet the minimum acreage requirement of 15 acres “for producing electricity on land not farmed,” Code Enforcement Officer Jerry Weiss said after meeting with Adam Rowles of Greenwood Sustainable Infrastructure on June 21.
They’re all issues GSI will have to get resolved in order for the project to go anywhere, said Supervisor Sandy Manko.
In 2015, two years before word of the then-proposed 50-MW NextEra solar project–also off Route 20–became public, the Town of Sharon adopted a local law regulating solar.
Because of its size, that law didn’t apply to the NextEra project, which was reviewed and eventually permitted by the state Public Service Commission and quietly went online in May.
That was also about the time GSI’s plans surfaced.
GSI, which has offices in Ontario, Canada, and New York City, is looking to build a 5-MW project on 15-20 acres of leased and purchased land at Route 20 and Argusville Road, Mr. Rowles, Senior Project Developer, said in June.
GSI has already written the town a check for $50,000–$10,000 per megawatt–for a required escrow to help fund any needed engineering studies or legal advice once it moves onto the Joint Planning Board, which would need to issue a special use permit for the project.
GSI could seek a variance for the zoning requirement, but would still need to resolve the access issue first.
Mr. Rowles said GSI pays $17,500 annually in community host benefits and $25,000 in taxes for two projects totaling 10-MW north of Penn Yan in Yates County in the Finger Lakes.
There’s also the question of a PILOT–payment in lieu of taxes--and essentially a tax break used historically to spur development that creates jobs.
Ms. Manko said Mr. Rowles seems to be receptive to the idea of a PILOT.
Under resolutions passed by the Schoharie County Board of Supervisors and the Schoharie County Industrial Development Agency in 2021 and 2022, the minimum PILOT allowed for solar–and wind–is $20,000 per megawatt.
Those resolutions also established a non-refundable per-MW application fee of $10,000.