Planning Board issues negative declaration for 58.9-acre solar project, conditions planting and look-back for glare mitigation

The Town of Goshen Planning Board issued a negative declaration under SEQRA for a proposed 58.9-acre solar energy system submitted by Solar Liberty Energy Systems Inc., and the board approved the project’s draft negative declaration with multiple recommended clarifications and conditions addressing glare mitigation, landscaping, and operations.

Ari Goldberg of Barclay Damon, representing the applicant, described a revised glare-mitigation plan that focuses on two key planting areas (referred to in materials as Screening Areas 2 and 8, including an "improved tree line" along Millburn Road). The applicant’s glare and landscaping consultant presented three glare analyses projecting glare minutes across different future scenarios: fall 2026 (initial plantings), fall 2027 (1–2 years growth), and fall 2028 (further maturity). The applicant proposes immediate planting of 158 12-foot “Green Giant” arborvitae in the primary screening areas (64 in Area 2 and 94 in Area 8), plus 350 evergreen plantings (6 feet) and 70 deciduous trees (6 feet), for a total of 578 trees at planting height as presented to the board.

The glare analyses measured minutes of glare along Millburn Road and at discrete observation points (homes). At the earliest scenario modeled (fall 2026, the applicant’s projected initial planting and first-year growth), the analysis identified about 2,600 minutes of "yellow" glare along Millburn Road’s driveway/dead-end corridor; observation points at homes registered 0 minutes in that same modeled scenario. By the fall 2028 modeled scenario, the applicant’s analysis projects yellow glare reduced to approximately 763 minutes and green glare reduced to about 60 minutes. The applicant emphasized that glare is concentrated along a stretch of roadway and that topography and elevation affect how glare appears at nearby houses.

Board members pressed the applicant on tree growth assumptions (the applicant used about 4 feet of height growth for the first year for the 12-foot plantings) and asked for documentation from the planting contractor or landscape architect to justify assumed growth rates. The board discussed requiring a planting bond or a long-term bond (board members cited one local example where a 10-year planting bond was used) to ensure survival and replacement of trees. Board members also discussed conditions including: requiring the applicant to plant screening areas prior to or early in the project timeline; inclusion of these plantings in the operations and maintenance (O&M) plan; providing a one-year post-commercial "look-back" to determine whether additional plantings or other mitigation are required; and periodic O&M/landscape reports.

The board requested that the negative declaration and draft resolution be edited to: (1) list the specific planting quantities and planting heights as proposed at the time of planting; (2) reference the updated glare analysis submitted (09/04/2025); (3) break out yellow and green glare values for the cited years; (4) confirm the basis for modeling assumptions (growth rates and planting stock size); and (5) include the look-back provision and language that additional planting or mitigation may be required following the look-back. The applicant represented that tree plantings can proceed without a building permit and that the planting would be at the applicant's risk if later site logistics (laydown areas, access, or panel installation) required relocation or replacement of some plantings.

After discussion and edits on the record, the planning board voted to approve the negative declaration as modified and to proceed with conditioned approvals predicated on the revised landscaping/glare mitigation plan, the look-back, and finalization of the O&M plan and bonding as appropriate.