Residents urge school‑board outreach and comprehensive plan update on solar projects

Two speakers during public comment asked the board for community engagement and planning changes.

Zach Mezer, who identified himself as a local farmer and as representing the school board and Laughing Earth Farms, thanked residents for supporting the school budget and said the district expects another challenging budget year. "We want to start to solicit opinions from the community now," Mezer said, announcing upcoming listening sessions, surveys and coordination with the PTSA and inviting residents to attend school board meetings.

Resident Jim Tachic urged the board to consider a formal update to the town's comprehensive plan to address commercial solar projects and associated battery energy storage systems. Citing a document from what he referred to as "NAERTA," Tachic said the most important point is that "the New York state law requires land use regulations to be in accordance with a comprehensive plan" and argued that without a plan that explicitly addresses solar energy the town could be at a legal disadvantage defending zoning regulations in court. He suggested the town could adopt a targeted plan amendment rather than a wholesale rewrite to cover solar and energy storage issues and offered the NAERTA brochure to the town clerk for reference.

Board members did not record any formal direction or vote on the requests during the meeting. Residents seeking to follow up on listening session dates or proposed plan updates should contact the school board and the town planning office for details.