Reminder: Public Hearing Today For Solar Moratorium in Town of Cortlandville

Today, Wednesday, September 17th, at 5pm, the Town of Cortlandville will have a public hearing regarding a local law that would implement a 6-month solar moratorium in the Town of Cortlandville. The public hearing will take place at the Raymond G. Thorpe Municipal Building at 3577 Terrace Road in Cortland.

Under the proposed local law of a solar moratorium, it would impose a temporary moratorium on acceptance and approval of new applications regarding solar energy systems within the town. The town says the moratorium is needed to allow the town adequate time to study and analyze numerous considerations relating to local impacts of the siting, construction and operation of solar energy systems and then to work on drafting a suitable legislation relative to compatible zoning for solar projects.

The town previously tabled voting on issuing the local law of a 6-month moratorium during their last board meeting on September 3rd following 45 minutes of public comments from residents, mainly from Carr Hill Road. Keegan Coughlin, of Coughlin and Gerhart, who the town hired to assist with solar projects, said during the previous town board meeting, the town would “clean up” the proposed local law prior to a final vote.

Tonight’s public hearing comes as two projects have been presented to the Cortlandville Planning Board, both on Carr Hill Road. The projects, OMNI Cortlandville Solar LLC, and Zogg East & West, both propose to build solar fields, with Zogg also proposing battery storage facilities. OMNI Cortlandville Solar LLC looks to construct a nearly 24 acre solar field at 3877 Carr Hill Road, with just over 11,500 solar panels. Zogg East & West is being developed by CP Cortlandville One LLC, an affiliate of ClearPath Energy LLC of Boston.

The proposed Local Law of a 6-month moratorium on the acceptance and approvals of new solar project applications may be found HERE.