The New Hartford Town Board has given its initial approval to a proposed solar project in Sauquoit; the first step in an exhaustive process for the proposal to become a reality.
The proposed solar farm would be located at 10130 Roberts Road in Sauquoit, and is being developed by BW Solar, a Canada-based solar energy company. At a Wednesday, July 12 meeting, staff from BW Solar met with the town board to get preliminary approval on the project.
The proposed project would be a little less than five megawatts.
The project has been in the works for about a year now, and the developers have the cooperation of the landowner. The BW Solar staff has promised to create buffers to block the view for most of the neighbors, but has run into complications with one neighbor, because his house sits on a hill and there is no way to block the view of the solar panels from his home.
“Outside of putting the solar project in an enclosed pole barn, we can’t prevent him from seeing portions of it,” Dan Huntington, senior project developer for BW Solar, said.
Huntington said that the neighbor is not thrilled about the project. Town Attorney Herbert Cully informed the developers that when working on other solar projects, the New Hartford Planning Board has taken great pains to ensure that all stakeholders are OK with the project.
“We just had one on Route 12, and there was one gentleman who was very, very concerned with the visual impact on his property, his site view of farmland and Route 12, and the Planning Board spent a great deal of time and would not approve this until the developer had resolved this with the one individual,” Cully said.
Huntington said that BW Solar wants to be a good neighbor, and will do everything that is reasonable and feasible to provide buffers.
“I’m sure it’s going to be something we’re going to have to dive into, and be prepared to present solutions for,” he said.
The board voted to move forward with the project. It will now go to the Planning Board, which will review the application, hold a public hearing and go through the site plan approval process. Then, it will go back to the town board for final approval.
