County Commission Recommends Approval of Sharon Solar Project

SHARON — A proposed five megawatt AC solar energy facility in the Town of Sharon took a step forward at the Monday, April 6 Schoharie County Planning Commission meeting when the PC unanimously recommended its approval.

The facility, called Sharon Solar Vista, would be constructed on an approximately 9.7-acre piece of the Helen Roberts Farm on Slate Hill Road near Route 20. Chad Dickason, owner of Sharon Solar Vista and Free State Solar, attended the April 6 meeting to present the plan and answer questions.

The lead agency on the project is the Sharon Springs Joint Planning Board. That agency will hold a public hearing on the matter at its next meeting Wednesday, April 15, with the hearing scheduled to start at 6:45 p.m. in the Library Community Room at 129 Main Street in Sharon Springs. Joint Planning Board members could then vote that night after the hearing to approve the project, depending on members' comfort level with it at the time.

In answering questions at the April 6 County PC meeting, Dickason said the facility must be returned to its agricultural state once it's decommissioned several years down the road, adding that the facility is technically considered a temporary use.

He added that there are plans to have animals grazing near and among the solar panels to keep vegetation growth down, and that the facility would be designed to power the Town of Sharon and the surrounding community.

Just before the Sharon Solar Vista matter, the county PC at the April 6 meeting briefly discussed the proposed short-term rentals law in the Town of Richmondville and voted 6-4 that the matter did not have countywide significance and so did not take another vote on recommending its approval.

A public hearing on the matter is set for the next Town of Richmondville Board meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 9 in the municipal building just off Podpadic Road. The board could vote to approve the law after the hearing.

Before the county PC's vote on countywide significance, Zachary Thompson _ a planner with the county Planning and Development Agency who attends the PC meetings and advises the commission _ said that it was nevertheless appropriate for the proposed short-term rentals law to be referred to the county Planning Commission.