After an hour of line-by-line review of possible impact, and another hour of public questions and comments, the Ancram Planning Board voted at its June 5 meeting to continue the public hearing on a proposed solar array located on less than ten acres of private agricultural property, half a mile off Route 82, at its next session on July 10.
The solar project is being advanced by Jim Miller, Ancram’s highway superintendent and a former partner in Millerhurst Farm, who plans to lease 10 acres of his 95-acre property to RIC Energy, a renewable energy developer. Miller purchased the land in 2016 after leaving the family business and said in an earlier interview with the Herald that the lease would allow his family to keep the land while generating income.
The project has stirred debate within the community and within Miller’s own family. His sister-in-law, Emily Miller, who lives nearby and co-manages Millerhurst Farm, has circulated petitions opposing the plan. “I’m not opposed to solar in general,” she told the Herald in April. “But I don’t want to look at it.” The land is currently leased for farming and will remain in agricultural use outside the project footprint, which is screened from the road by trees and vegetation.
Chair Joe Crocco led the board through the myriad questions mandated for Planning Board approval, covering potential environmental, geological, water, agricultural, animal, historical, visual, noise, open space, transportation, human health, and other impacts. On essentially every issue, the impact was judged by the board to be small or none. The solar array will have an impact on energy, but Crocco pointed out, not for the first time, that creating additional sources of sustainable energy in Ancram is in accord with its comprehensive plan.
Columbia County had just that afternoon sent the Ancram board its approval of the project, along with a number of suggestions —compliance with zoning laws, fire and EMT access, minimizing visual impact, and others — many of which had already been discussed at previous meetings.
RIC Energy spokespersons Assistant Project Manager Ciara Hopkins and Development Director Rob Quierolo opened their comments saying that they have added additional screening for adjacent properties to their landscaping plan.
They then answered questions from the public. Concerning access for emergency vehicles, the applicants said there would be an access road. Concerning possible glare seen from not just Route 82 but Skyline, Poole’s Hill, and Cottontail Roads, the applicants said that the anti-reflective surfacing on the panels creates less glare than that from windows in a standard home.
Tina Aiken, whose veterinary practice and horse paddocks are also along Route 82, asked if the repurposed land could also be a “wildlife habitat.” Quierolo responded that the plantings in the array areas include pollinators, specifically to attract birds, bees, and other insects.
Another public attendee recommended that RIC formally reach out to all of the neighboring property owners and create a forum to answer their questions.
A participant on Zoom shared what she claimed were the dangers of solar energy, including that “Chinese-sourced products are loaded with invasive mechanisms.” Crocco interrupted, “What you are saying is just conspiracy theories,” and had her muted. The attendees present asked him to let her finish, which he did.
RIC will provide specific responses to all of the county’s suggestions, and at RIC’s request, the Planning Board will have its planning and engineering consultants also review the prescribed impact data collected. The public hearing will continue at the next Planning Board meeting, 7 p.m. Thursday, July 10.
Separately, the board set July 9 as a date for a public hearing on the proposed cell tower to be developed for Verizon off Route 22. David Kenny, with the law firm Snyder & Snyder, appeared for the Homeland Towers project, which proposes to add reception for Verizon Wireless along a currently unserviced stretch of Route 22. He had provided additional information to the board this week and asked that the application be deemed complete so that it could proceed to a public hearing.
Crocco laid out the next steps: Homeland Towers will present their application, including representation of the tower as seen from different vantage points, at a special meeting also open to the public, 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 9. Subsequently, the Planning Board will go through an impact review of the proposal before deciding whether to approve the project. Concurrently, Homeland Towers can approach the Zoning Board of Appeals for a variance for the anticipated 150’ height of the tower (greater than the 100’ zoning regulation).
In other matters, the Bronx House Emanuel Camp on Empire Road, also known as the Berkshire Hills Eisenberg Camp, has applied to add several new structures to its property. Executive Director Adam Weinstein appeared on Zoom and offered to schedule a site visit for the board “any time except opening day or closing day of our summer sessions [June 26–July 20, July 21–August 13]; I am here all the time.”
Additionally, Building Inspector Ed Ferratto sent Mr. and Mrs. Michael Cawley to the Planning Board because the remodeling of their two-car garage has grown, since work was permitted and began in 2018, to now qualify as an ADU (accessory dwelling unit), with a kitchen, shower, and toilet. The board voted to approve the project without additional site plan review, because it has been built to conform with the town’s ADU regulations. Approval is conditional upon Ferratto or the Cawleys forwarding to the board the county health department septic approval.