HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Hearing Comment, Norbut Solar Farms, March 3, 2021175 Gray Road
Ithaca, NY 14850
March 3, 2021
Mr. Dan Walker
Chairperson
Town of Enfield Planning Board
168 Enfield Main Road
Ithaca, NY 14850
Re: Public Hearing
Norbut Solar Farms –Applegate Road
March 3, 2021
Dear Mr. Walker:
I intend to be present and address the Town of Enfield Planning Board at tonight’s (second; per
corrected required notification) Public Hearing regarding the above-referenced application by
Norbut Solar Farms for a 20 Megawatt solar collection facility off Applegate Road. However,
there is a remot e possibil ity that a pressing family matter may preclude my attendance.
Therefore, I wish to place my written comment on the record.
As both an Enfield Town Councilperson and as a private citizen who resides in this t own, I
wholeheartedly support the Norbut proposal. I encourage your Planning Board take any and all
steps necessary and prudent to make this solar farm a reality. We stand to benefit from both the
increased revenue this project would generate for Town Government, and from the energy the
facility would collect to both enrich our lives and help save our planet.
The aesthetic and environmental impacts of Norbut’s proposal are minor, and company officials
have taken appro priate steps to mitigate those impacts as their proposal has advanced through
Planning Board review. My only continued advice is that should Norbut have no other
immediate plans to redevelop the unused portions of its 250-acre site, the company take steps to
keep that remaining land in either agricultural production or as forest. Such action would help
preserve Enfield’s rural character consistent with our Town’s Comprehensive Plan.
Again, I support the Norbut project. Let’s make it happen.
Respectfully submitted,
Robert A. Lynch
Councilperson
Town of Enfield