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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2-16-2023tifTOWN OF GROTON PLANNING BOARD Minutes of Regular Meeting - Thursday, February 16, 2023 - 7:30 pm Town Hall Court Room - 101 Conger Boulevard - Groton, NY Board Members ('Absent) Others Present Mark Baxendell, Chairmen Jessica Rankin, Recording Secretary Leon Brockway, Jr., Vice Chairman Brian Klumpp, Town Board Monica Carey Mack Rankin, Deputy Highway Superintendent Dan Cerretani Robin Cargian, Town Clerk Edward Neuhauser Sam Rose 'Lisa Maloney Hahn Public Present Dan Carey, Community Advisory Board Barry Siebe, Community Advisory Board REGULAR MEETING The Regular Meeting was called to order at 7:30 pm by Chairmen, Mark Baxendell. Approval of Minutes- January 19, 2023 A motion was made by Chairmen, Mark Baxendell to approve the Town of Groton Planning Board Minutes of January 19, 2023, as submitted. The motion was seconded by Member Sam Rose with the vote record as follows: Ayes: Member Cerretani Nays: Member Neuhauser Absent: Member Maloney Hahn Vice Chair Brockway Member Carey Motion carried. This becomes Action #1 of 2023. Old Business Welcome new recording secretary. Jessica Rankin. Joan Fitch, former Recording Secretary has now retired. Jessica Rankin introduces herself to the board as replacement for Recording Secretary. Page 1 of 5 New Business Review of the Town Website Planning page for suggestions. Robin Cargian, Town Clerk shares the website for the board to review. Mark Baxendell, Chairmen comments that they are having Robin share the website with us today because the goal is to make the Planning Board section more user friendly. When someone applies or has questions, the customer's first impression is our website. The page clearly shows the Planning Board Members, when we meet, and the various applications. Each application is readily available to print. Robin states that she will add the land Use Table in a separate section, so it is easier to access. Brian Klumpp, Town Board asks if the Zoning Map available on the site as well. Robin replies that she can add it to the site as well. She will add boxes and link the items directly at the top of the page. Dan Cerretani, Member — Asks if the form is automated to send or does it need to be printed or emailed. Robin responds that she can look into that option for the forms. The board agrees that this would be ideal for the submission process. Robin has also added a calendar feature to the bottom portion of the main page. She will include meeting dates and times. This will provide a quick snapshot for the viewer. The board concurs that this is a wonderful idea. With no other questions or comments from the board, the review of the Town Website Planning page is concluded. New Business Community Advisory Committee on Code updates to Lage Scale Green energy The Community Advisory Committee consists of Barry Siebe, 800 S. Main St., Dan Carey, and Brian Klumpp, Town Board Councilperson. Barry shares that he has implemented and shared a Petition from residents concerning Delaware River Solar Proposal on South Main St., with the Town Board. This is a solar project that is proposed to be developed directly across the road from him and his wife. Barry states that he had reviewed the town's zoning and didn't see much information regarding these solar projects. The goal of this committee is to implement conditions to provide a consistent review process. Once finalized, Barry plans to present the Page 2 of 5 comprehensive plan and conditions to the board for approval. Barry stressed the importance of getting the Planning Board's thoughts and concerns. He also acknowledged that the idea is not to eliminate solar, since it is ultimately inevitable in this time. Barry shares that his main concerns include water retention, noise, appearance, property value, and quality control. The board then shares their thoughts, concerns, and benefits with Barry. Water Retention Barry Siebe — What would happen down the road to the new ball field -could there be major flooding and damage? Dan Carey — Would there be a possibility of increased waterflow into the village and how would we manage that? Brian Klumpp — we intend on making them submit a plan as if they were a developer. Noise Barry Siebe - Shifting and setting panels will require large equipment. How do you eliminate the noise? What is the ambient sound going to be like? Brian Klumpp — A vegetative buffer, such as trees or shrubs could act as a sound barrier. There would need to be enforced and tracked. Barry Siebe — The vegetation plan has to be written and approved by a licensed landscape architect. Community Character & Appearance Barry Siebe - How do we value our community character? Sam Rose — Would the state allow us to create a barrier guideline as far as looks? Edward Neuhauser — There are certain trees and shrubbery that will be easily consumed by deer. Brian Klumpp — We would like to create a required vegetative fence. We are just as concerned about the view of the array from day one as we are at day twenty-five. Property Value & Tax Barry Siebe — How will this effect property value? There are studies that show no effect to property taxes and other that show impacts as you get down the road. Brian Klumpp — There could be a direct impact on immediate neighbors. Barry Siebe — Once the land is out of production, it is highly unlikely that it will ever go back into production. Mark Baxendell — I was having as conversation with a colleague, and asked, what about the taxes for this? They are all tax exempt. In that case, who is paying the school tax, the Page 3 of 5 town taxes, etc.? Who is making up all that loss- All the tax payers, neighbors and people in the town will have to absorb what they're not paying. Brian Klumpp — If the solar project is over a certain size the State Energy Commission takes over everything and handle all approvals. Brian Klumpp — Barry and I both spent some time reading different articles and I read three or four done on property value. Every single one of them said community wide there is not an impact. However, at the very end it stated the residences within a thousand feet of the solar array dropped off anywhere from 20-30% of their market value. It does have an impact on the immediate neighbors. Business & Quality Control Barry Siebe — There must be a process for the panels end of life or in cases of replacements and upgrades. There can be cases where the solar company switches hands and sells to another. How do we track and hold accountability? There is no federal statute to recycle old panels. Mark Baxendell — Agrees on the likelihood of the solar property changing hands multiple times during its lifetime. Fire Monica Carey — What would we do in case of a fire? Would our fire department need special training and equipment? Toxic Waste Brian Klumpp — How would we handle toxic waste and clean up? Electrical Grid Barry Siebe — How does this impact our local grid? Ed Neuhauser — This would be a utility issue and shouldn't be of concern. Farmland Preservation Sam Rose — Considering that Groton has always been farm community are there any sort of stipulations which state that an 'Y' amount of land needs to stay farmland? Brian Klumpp — One of the items that they discussed on incorporating into the zoning was that Tompkins County had a Green Energy document published and within that it stated their goal was to have 1.5% of Tompkins County land being used for reusable energy sources. This should be added to our code, that once we reach this threshold, there be a moratorium on any new solar facilities until the remaining towns and counties catch up. An issue we may run into is that we have a lot of open space and existing infrastructure that solar companies can easily hook up to. Monica Carey — When you think about the big solar farm that wants to go in on West Groton it's going to take up half the farmland in the town. In a solar webinar I watched, Page 4 of 5 they stated that prime farmland is something they don't want to build solar projects on. think we need to look into the definition of prime farmland and what it means today. Mark Baxendell — These solar farms can build in swamps or anywhere. They are bypassing regulations the rest of us must follow. Brian Klumpp — I read an article where these solar arrays were being build on impermeable services like parking lots. And I think they look great. Ed Neuhauser — Robin sent out a four-part seminar, you should all look at that. It was very good and there were three good references from varying different opinions. They showed a lot of very innovative things, and I was very blown away. You can grow lots of crops by doing this at the same time. Monica Carey - As far as doing any farming underneath these solar arrays, today's equipment will not fit underneath them. Ed Neuhauser — There is all kinds of examples you need to look at. There were examples of modifications made to equipment. Monica Carey — How much is that going to cost the farmer to change equipment around? Dan Cerretani — there is a lot of movement away from the fixed access panels. There are some that rotate, they can go vertical, and some equipment can move under them. It showed pictures of haybines going underneath these and doing hay. The whole idea is the way to enhance agriculture first and then solar second. I think its worth looking at Lewis County's plan. They did some intense mapping of the area on which areas would be most suitable. Adjournment At 8:50 pm, a motion was made by Member Edward Neuhauser to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Vice Chairman Leon Brockway, Jr., with all members present voting in favor. g�� AOO� essica Rankin, Recording Secretary Page 5 of 5