On January 21, 2023, the Pine Plains, NY, Planning Board held a public hearing for the community on a proposal for a large solar panel project to be constructed in the township. While an official Zoom video will be on the Planning Board’s YouTube channel, I documented it as a private citizen because I felt it was important to share the experience from the point of view of a community member sitting in the audience. You can watch the full meeting, unedited, here.
The unedited public comments on the second hearing of March 11, 2023 are below.
Thank you Stan for documenting this and so many other important parts of PP history.
I was not able to attend but would have pointed out that I walked the entire property and could see no neighbors who would see any solar panels. I also would note that the Town did a power line and substation capacity study that showed there is little opportunity to do additional solar farms in PP. This proposal is not a giant one like many other small town are facing and in fact would allow local people to purchase power at a guaranteed 10% discount under the Central Hudson price. They also will put the entire site in an agricultural conservation easement in perpetuity when the solar farm is decommissioned. We face the threat of destroying the earth from continuing to burn fossil fuels. This project could provide energy to 100s of homes in PP allowing the Town to do its share of reducing fossil fuel use. No adjoining neighbors will be able to see the panels. Seems like a good location and a project good for all of us.
That’s not true there are people who will see the field, I guess you are not one of them.