St. Armand enacts moratorium on community solar

BLOOMINGDALE | On June 22, the Town of St. Armand unanimously approved a 12-month moratorium on the construction, operation, and establishment of community solar. This decision was made after OurGeneration, a large community solar project developer, approached the town about developing a community solar farm in St. Armand, causing some apprehension among town officials. "We don't have anything in place for St. Armand. We don't have zoning; we don't have a building permit for that type of project; and we don't have a local law with any regulations or a decommissioning plan. So, because of all that, we don't have a mechanism in place to protect residents, property owners, or even commercial businesses," explained Town Supervisor Davina Thurston. "So, we wanted to enact this moratorium to give ourselves some time to make sure that we're doing what the majority of the people want." Before the vote took place, several local residents — some from the Town of St. Armand, others from the neighboring Town of Harrietstown, and the rest from surrounding communities — spoke on the temporary moratorium, including D. Griffin. "I'm here because I support technology that is environmentally sound and smart, and it sounds like you're making some good decisions moving forward," she said during the public hearing. "I appreciate that you're talking about a moratorium rather than a ban in this instance." Several towns throughout Essex County have either enacted or are considering enacting solar moratoriums, as the flat, open fields in Upstate New York have increasingly attracted companies seeking potential development sites. For instance, in April, the Town of Essex Planning Board denied Community Power Group's special use permit for a proposed 25-acre solar farm at Hickory Hill. The month prior, town officials decided to extend the solar moratorium for another six months. The Town of North Elba is currently considering imposing a temporary moratorium on solar and battery energy storage systems (BESS), although no companies have yet expressed interest in developing either solar farms or BESS facilities within the town limits. "It all started with the county," said Town of North Elba Supervisor Richard Preston, regarding specifically Essex County, in a previous interview. "The county decided that it wasn't in the best interest to do a moratorium itself because that's essentially them telling towns what to do, which is not in their scope, so instead, they reached out to each town personally, and each town went back and discussed it." And as for St. Armand, town officials are looking to take the necessary steps to potentially support a major project like that. OurGeneration will give a presentation on its proposed community solar project at the town hall on July 21 at 6:30 p.m. For more information or updates, visit townofstarmandny.gov.

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St. Armand enacts moratorium on community solar

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