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Home My WebLink About06-04-2020 CAC Minutes I Town of Lansing 2 Conservation Advisory Council Minutes 3 Thursday, June 4, 2020 6:30 PM 4 5 Present via Zoom Excused 6 Robyn Bailey Andra Benson 7 Thomas Butler John Fleming 8 Karen Edelstein Todd Walter 9 John Greenly 10 Carrie Koplinka-Loehr 11 David Wolfe 12 13 Other Staff via Zoom 14 C.J. Randall, Planning Director Sue Munson, Code Clerk 15 16 Public Present via Zoom Meetings 17 David Kay, Senior Extension Associate 18 Terry Carroll and Amy Alexis Gonzalaz, Cornell Cooperative Extension 19 20 Co-Chair Tom Butler opened the meeting at 6:32 pm 21 22 Public Comments via email to tolcodes@lansingtown.com 23 - No Public Comments by email before or while meeting was live streaming on youtube at 24 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs2FgU2xFnDVGS8DwXgoJwA 25 26 Presentation on Challenges of Large Scale Solar Electric Siting in New York State—Presented by 27 David Kay Page 1 of 9 _ �arr�ell�dLS Gdlye of 4pric�lmie and Life 3denoe5 Community and Regional Der�elapment Institute Large Scale Solar: _ FootprintThe ap- David Kay, SeniorAssociate . - 28 How much solar electric does �. the state need? owntwn Vail St F-i The�a market ill *{w totaloron the Wind and natural gas-fired generators led U.S.power � sector capacity additions in 2019 V.S.c1miric gar Iing c pn ky add Id—1901$� �?- mr,gsxa^s1Mh'; L 2-3 GW solar wa ,IL nafuraigas u,a ctaur W.3 fo fal '7i 328 Y WWI � 3� 20 GW more than 14.32@ rtiorfhua>3 daw3 1 A,dnPSi 5,125 0 r 5000 IGAM 15,000 24,400 2�OGG 29T � 30 31 32 Page 2 of 9 NYS Transmission System and Distribution System — Projects in the NYISO "Queue" NYISO govarns irgeroonnecftonto Me eledocgrid Oftiahy a •ro -r projects •r posi r in the queue HtIYTORfS 1141}Ef'EJri}E147 srsrFnl o�rrxrus 33 Solar Projects in NYISO Queue by Size of Propo-sed Project Z 3 Takeaway: Many 2C MW proposals(100 acres+) Most proposed capacity is frorn large facilities ;- CO 4JM 3' d❑ y F � r dY mod` 3jA] iL 10 IPM I, t' - ]5-50 RIW ■ Ste:10-19 MW 20 MW 21-25 MW 51-100 MW 101-150 MW 151-000 MW 34 �P.j.-B -M-uw 35 36 37 Page 3 of 9 Projects in Article 10 review L F+ 38 Article 10 : Solar Projects Under Review Projects Step 1:Public Involvement Program Submittals 23 Projects,4.3 GW underStep 2: Preliminary Scooing 5tatemerrt5ubmittels 11 Projects,1.8GW Step 3:Appllcatlons Submitted 4 Projects,0.2 GW Review Step 4:Applications Deemed Compliant 1 Project,0.1 GW Step 5:ARpIIcatlorls Ap proved 1 Project,0.1 G Step 6:Certified Protects U NO SOLAR PROJECTS HAVE About 6.5 GW total COMPLETED ARTICLE 10 REVIEW 39 40 41 42 Page 4 of 9 � a Article 10 : :, ._.. Active [..�. -Sa,s Solar [, o Y ['9nw nr Yl t frrm 3u,wri Projects „� V �}Gr,^f 1'i'JI C�Y2 Cry'° r il4rif ,}alat ibnpirs •`- - }rr�>.r 4r uaw�s [.iu..pn nrq}ry Mruar nap. r'" p • *r ku :,rryr [r�enct �r4 PPlrarl NY5 ElSolar projects under A ticle 10 review Agricultural 4b ❑IStricts warm ss 43 " M All areas are prime farmland h Sense of Scale ❑Prime farmlandifdrained - y}ti srsYsar"*. Y Livingston County= 640 rni sq r ! Town of Mt. Morris = 50 sq mi r Agricultural land Within Boundary Ile � 23%of pa reels � p E5%ofacreage Moms edge-afar ' U 72%of assessed land value 175 megawatt PV 45%of assessed land+building value 20 MW battery � storage possible +' Acreage in project boundary shown" 24 sq mi • "Facility willuftimatelybesited I { on approx.1,0150 acres[-1.6.sq L mi.I of leased private land within the Facility Area,which consists f primarily of cleaned land." • 1000 acres implies 5.7 'R - acresJMW L 44 .��.a, 45 46 47 Page 5 of 9 What categories of land cover are within proposed Article 10 project boundaries? Other Pasture hay 23% Forest 4 farmed` 33°,G Cultivated crops *Compared to 4696 of acreage 40active prof ects analyzed 259M dassified as agricuFturaI byloaI WeHands assessors 120A S 48 Soils within the Prime iar*nlan d,�1. -rime farmland if dreined, boundaries of 25% 40 Article 10 Projects riot prime farmland,23-% Farmland of state, under review importance,R Nate:Analysis of"land cover"(satellite data)is sim 11ar:4-9%agricuItu re,forest 33%,woody ---- wetland 12% 49 50 51 52 Page 6 of 9 Context: proportion of soil types in pasture/hay/row crops _ (LULC 2011 data only for 28 counties with solar projects under state review) - More acreage in pasture/hay than row crops for all soil types ell over half of prime soils were farmed ■Row Crops -Some less well suited soils were farmed ■ pasture/hay 0 s 53 &OMC§STA1l J1 M-1'. k MIM FAAmMAAC OFs f M—M 1.-Mk IA1f.1A111]YA HMFAum IF NYS Agricultural land "under" solar: - - -- What's a "small'fraction of prime farmland??? -- - - -- 40 Article 10 projects account for 6.5 GW capacity in 28 counties 4W 1.8%of all soils with agricultural potential in the 28 counties hosting projects 1.4i'o of prime farmland soils in those counties 3 * 6.5 GW capacity I > " 20 GW capacity (-projected need?) — 6%of all soils with agricultural potential (28 counties only) N 4% of prime formlond sails (28 counties only) 12 54 55 56 57 Page 7 of 9 Lorne l I CAL wi,g,ar 4pri.uituie o-d Life Roenoe Community and Regional Development Institute Thank • David Kay, Seniori Associate dlk2@cornell.edu 58 59 Summary 60 David's main focus is on Large Scale Solar. 61 - Local Governments will continue to be in the lead for small scale which is still pretty big. 62 o How much you ask?The market will decide. 63 - NYS might need 23GW of Solar. 64 - The Subset of projects in the ISO "Queue": 65 o Totals up to 6.5 GW if they all get accepted and completed. 66 o Issues are they can't or won't be able to cover all the acres they apply for. 67 o 6 MW per acre. 68 o Not every Project gets approved. 69 - A question commonly asked is "Shouldn't we be saving our prime soils? 70 o It would only use 6%of all soils for Solar. 71 o Pollinators and Grazers could benefit. 72 - Two Regimes Involved: 73 o State level 20 MW of 100 acres or more. 74 o Municipal Board Language in Local Law and State SEQRA Law. 75 - Protection of wetlands are governed by State and Federal Agencies. 76 - Zoning Laws can help with the impacts on the Community. 77 - Siting a Larger Solar Arrays is not that easy. 78 Update on revised draft Natural Resources Inventory-Terry Carroll, Cornell Cooperative 79 Extension 80 Page 8 of 9 81 Osamu is missed by all of us, he has done a great job. We will continue to help out the Town of 82 Lansing to achieve what you are looking to do. We have already started to put most of the 83 information into the Final Report Format. 84 Amy Alexis Gonzalaz is present and here to back up the CAC group. 85 The group can let Amy and I know what you (CAC) would like help with. 86 o The Open Space Section -The group is finding it difficult to gather. 87 0 We currently have Bensvue Farms and the Houser Farm. 88 ■ A Snapshot of all the open space would be great. 89 o Story Maps. 90 o A Map Open House. 91 o Climate assessments. 92 o Summary of the NRI —call out things that are unique or special. 93 o Scenic Areas—Start with the County Maps. 94 Talley of Conserving Natural Habitat 95 - Discussion of Bell Station—Need more than just the Resolution as it has not been purchased. 96 - Definitely submit-Sims Parcel was purchased and the Town supported the conservation. 97 Climate smart will pull together the data for: 98 - Greenhouse Gases (install heat pumps). 99 - Methane Gases 20-year time horizon (Dairy Manure) Option. 100 o Where is it being emitted? 101 o What's going on with it? 102 o What is the leakage rate? 103 o Where is it leaking from? 104 Any Questions on the NRI? 105 - Terry is interested in adding the Scenic Inventory. 106 - Robyn Bailey would like to work on the Scenic Inventory. 107 - C.J. can do the final edit after the Board reviews and edits. 108 - Executive Summary is a good idea. 109 - John Greenly would be happy to take pictures where ever needed. 110 Update on Climate Smart Communities completed actions—Terry Carroll, Cornell Cooperative 111 Extension was already discussed above. 112 113 Chair Carrie Koplinka-Loehr called the meeting to be Adjourned at 8:18pm. 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