MAYFIELD — Solar battery sites will be prohibited in Mayfield until December.
Town lawmakers on Tuesday doubled an existing six-month moratorium on installations in hopes of buying time to flesh out new regulations on the technology.
“We're not trying to make it impossible to have one,” said Mayfield Town Supervisor Brandon Lehr. “But we're making sure the regulations are there to keep everybody around it safe and prevent future issues that may arise with a catastrophic failure.”
Enacted under the administration of then-Town Supervisor Richard Argotsinger was the temporary ban. The yesteryear legislation was originally scheduled to sunset on June 12.
The town Planning Board, tasked with providing policy recommendations to lawmakers, requested an extension. The group has also asked the town to create a special committee dedicated to the issue.
“I would assume that, if we get a committee together to work with the Planning Board, it would make sense that way because we're all on the same team,” Lehr said.
Mayfield Supervisor Brandon Lehr at a Fulton County Board of Supervisors meeting on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024.
The committee would include town councilors, code enforcement officer Norman Barbosa, two planning officials and an official from the Mayfield and Broadalbin-Kennyetto fire departments, respectively.
Among topics, the group would address ways to keep local firefighters safe during solar battery site fires and environmental concerns associated with decommissioning, according to Fulton County planner Aaron Enfield, who is contracted with the Mayfield Planning Board.
“Given Fulton County's history with many toxic properties, that’s something that the town of Mayfield will have to take into consideration,” Enfield said.
So far, there are no solar battery sites in Mayfield, but Lehr believes it's possible there could be in the future.
Discussions over battery storage sites and solar farms have taken up hours and hours of time at rural planning board meetings across the state as the demand for renewable energy increases.
Solar energy has been incentivized by the state under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019. The law aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 85% by 2050 and requires 70% of electricity be generated by renewable sources come 2030.
The town of Johnstown is currently in its second solar farm moratorium, which includes temporary restrictions on battery storage facilities. Mayfield’s first moratorium on solar farms was in 2019 — two years before the town of Johnstown.
The Great Sacandaga Lake community is expected to eventually be home to the largest solar farm in the county and the Adirondack Park. A 40-megawatt solar project, planned by the renewable energy company Boralex, is expected to encompass 200 acres of the Close Family Farm on Lakeview Road by 2026.
Because the project exceeds 25 megawatts, it’s out of the town’s control. The state Office of Renewable Energy Siting, instead, is at the helm of the review process.
Boralex officials in the past have said that they strive to be in regular communication with the public in order to bolster community relations. Last year, the Quebec-based company held two public feedback open houses, only one of which was state-mandated.
Before Lehr entered office in January, a project manager twice approached him. Since then, he’s also been in close contact with farm owner Jon Close.
“They just keep bringing me up to speed on stuff and Jon Close has been excellent with everything, very accommodating to our wishes,” Lehr said. “It's been a good experience.”
