A 4.7 MW installation by the proposed lessee in Vineland, NJ.
Click image for views of other of its projects.
PSEG LI would be responsible for a 2-mile connection on public and utility rights of way to a substation "located at Railroad Avenue and the Moriches Bypass" in Center Moriches.
The Town recognizes that the SEQRA process for identifying potential significant adverse environmental impacts applies to the proposed lease. Does the information considered in the proposed Neg Dec and the referenced Environmental Assessment Form (not yet available) cover all the potential impacts and rightly conclude that they are not significant? Take a look for yourself by clicking here.
Some possible concerns not mentioned in the Neg Dec:
- Will the reduction in composting activities at the facility have impacts elsewhere in Town because either less material is being composted or it is composted elsewhere?
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- No plan for screening any part of the solar facility has been disclosed so far.
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- Pilots of planes flying over thousands of panels, particularly at lower elevations, might be affected by the glare (this is a recognized problem with solar arrays near airports). Spadaro and Lufker Airports are about 2 miles southeast of the Compost Facility. Will typically low-flying planes from there be impacted?
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- There is no description so far of the cabling needed to get from the facility to the substation in Center Moriches and whether it will be above or below ground. Will it impact vistas?
Meanwhile, the regulations governing solar facilities in the Town seem to be in flux. A portion of the Town Code does govern such facilities (85-812 through -817), but 2 proposals to amend it have been offered and then withdrawn. The County recently adopted a model code--with significant differences from Brookhaven's current code--and Town officials were involved in its preparation. What rules are to be followed by the lessee in constructing and operating the proposed facility? Will the lease require conformance to the current Town Code? . . . to the proposed amendments? . . . or to the County's model code?
Town Law says that when a town board "lease[s] real property in the name of the town, [the] resolution shall be subject to a permissive referendum". Town Law also gives the procedures: a referendum must be held if, within 30 days after the resolution is adopted, a petition is filed asking for the referendum by voters (as specified in the law) "in number equal to at least five per centum of the total vote cast for governor in said town at the last general election". Resolution 458 recognizes this procedure.