Now that the state has issued a draft permit for Rock District Solar, neighbors and opponents are gearing up for all-out war for what they refuse to concede is a done deal.
The Office of Renewable Energy Siting quietly posted the draft permit on its website on August 2.
By the 5th, ORES was back with a date for the required public hearing: Wednesday, October 9 at SUNY Cobleskill.
If Rock District Solar gets final approval—a decision is expected before the end of the year—the 370-acre, 20MW project would be built on both sides of Brown Road in the Town of Carlisle on land owned by Thomas Barbarie and on land Mr. Barbarie owns off Route 10, just down the road in the Town of Seward; that’s where the substation will go.
Bill Toohey, Tracey Metz and Kathy Sweetser all live on Gordon Road in the Town of Seward, a stone’s throw from Brown Road, and the proposed site for the panels.
As members of CASA—Citizens Against Solar Arrays—they took their concerns to Carlisle Wednesday and then Monday, minus Ms. Metz, but with the addition of Marge Lawston, to Seward. (See related story.)
“We’re trying to get out ahead of it,” Mr. Toohey said, handing the Seward Town Board—who he said has been more sympathetic to their cause than Carlisle’s—a bulleted list of issues relating to October 9 meeting:
• Who’ll be there representing the state, developer Cypress Creek, and the towns?
• Will there be an agenda? When?
• And will the Seward and Carlisle Town Boards be submitting comments?
Yes, to the last, said Supervisor Earlin Rosa.
As far as the rest goes, they still have questions.
Mr. Rosa said he and Carlisle Supervisor John Leavitt met with attorney Dylan Harris, who’s been representing the towns since Cypress Creek moved the project from local review to ORES, Friday.
“We’re preparing statements as we speak,” he said. “We’re preparing.
“But like it or not, this is a losing battle. What we need to do is get the best valuation [assessed value] on this project.”
That won’t be easy or pleasant, said Charlene Ruszkowski, assessor for Seward and Carlisle and for the Town of Sharon, where the 50MW NextEra project went online in May.
For tax and assessment purposes, Ms. Ruszkowski said she had to come up with her own value for the NextEra project after developers wouldn’t provide them.
Minus the switchyard and substation, it’s $22.5 million; the substation, which she said NextEra “gifted” to National Grid for $10, is assessed at $10 million.
Those assessments will impact everyone else in the town, she said.
There’s also a penalty—a five-year rollback of taxes—when land switches from agriculture to solar—that the landowner must pay.
There are some winners.
In NextEra’s case, the $81,750.70 in penalties will be divided between the town--$9,137.20—Sharon Springs Central School--$46,939.20—and the county, $25,674.30—though Sharon Supervisor Sandy Manko said none of that amounts to much.
“All the leases are different,” Ms. Ruszkowski warned.
Then there’s the question of what happens when solar projects are sold or shut down or the state realizes it’s “not going to work,” Ms. Ruszkowski said, and of who pays the real cost of cleanup if the land’s condemned.
“I’m trying to be the devil’s advocate,” Mr. Rosa said.
“This is home-rule versus state rule. We had home-rule until solar came in.”