Moratorium on Solar Energy in The Town of Homer Passes

Lily Byrne, X101 News:

A six-month moratorium on solar energy systems was passed at Wednesday night’s Homer Town Board meeting.

During a Public Hearing on the local law, resident Victor Siegle expressed his support for the moratorium.

“I’m not in favor of forests being cut down, I’m not in favor of prime farmland being used, but there’s lots of other land,” Siegle said during the hearing.

“My question about this moratorium is it doesn’t stop the big solar farms,” resident Michael Broughton said. “It stops community solar, which is one way people who live here can actually save a little on their utility bills.”

“We want to protect our farmland and look out for the town of Homer as far as battery storage, or make it more reliable,” Town Supervisor Michael Park said. “If you want to put it on your house, we are not interfering with that.”

The Town Board also voted on a resolution of support for New York Congressman Nick Langworthy’s (NY-23) Energy Choice Act and opposition to New York State’s natural gas ban.

“This is just a crazy, crazy ban,” Park said. “We don’t have the electricity to offset this. It’s crazy that we could even begin to think that we do.”

In 2023, Governor Hochul signed into law provisions within the state budget that will ban natural gas and other fossil fuel hookups for most new residential and commercial buildings. The law goes into effect this January for smaller buildings (less than 7 stories) and in 2029 for all new construction.

During the Privilege of the Floor, Mayor Pat Clune stated that the county is looking to raise the tipping fees from 90 to 105 dollars per ton, a 16.6% percent increase.

“In reality, it does affect the village budget because we don’t have trash pickup, but it affects everyone in our town, because everyone has to pay,” Park said. “The downside of the raise is more trash on the side of the road.”

The Town Board also passed their budget, after no one commented on it during a Public Hearing.