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Planning board approves revised 5 MW Lehigh/Henrietta solar project with reduced buffer
Summary
Greenspark/Henrietta Solar 1 presented a reconfigured Lehigh Solar project reduced to 5 MW AC and a smaller fenced and cleared footprint; the board approved a resolution with an amendment reducing the eastern transitional buffer to 60 feet and asked the applicant to satisfy fire‑marshal and engineering comments before final sign‑off.
Greenspark Solar and project owner Henrietta Solar 1 LLC returned to the planning board to present a reconfigured Lehigh Solar project and to seek final site‑plan reapproval. Brooke Mayer, commercial development manager for Greenspark, summarized changes that reduced capacity and site impacts while keeping previous permit approvals in effect.
Mayer said the sponsor consolidated the earlier two‑project layout into a single, optimized array and reduced the project from the originally proposed 6.875 MW AC to 5 MW AC. The fenced area and array acreage were reduced (fence from over 33 acres to about 26.5 acres; array from 25 acres to just over 22 acres) and the access road footprint was decreased. Mayer said the project remains enrolled in New York’s Solar for All program that will deliver at least a 10% guaranteed electric credit to qualifying customers.
The board and staff discussed routing the access road, the decision to use the northern crossing over Red Creek based on site‑specific legislative approvals and the expected low traffic profile once construction ends. Mayer said peak construction traffic could include as many as nine deliveries on heavy days, but that operational traffic would be only a few maintenance visits per year.
Board members raised fire-safety concerns, including a fire-marshal request for an on‑site water supply to support operations. Mayer said the applicant was working with the fire marshal and engineers and that the project team felt it could respond to the comments. The planning board also reviewed tree‑clearance figures and an updated tree inventory provided in the resubmittal.
Counsel and staff debated how to treat the solar array under the town’s transitional‑buffer rules. Because a portion of the eastern property line borders wetlands and a residentially zoned area unlikely to be developed, the board approved an attorney‑drafted amendment reducing the transitional buffer adjacent to that boundary to 60 feet, accompanied by written findings citing existing vegetation, the array’s low height and the presence of undevelopable wetlands.
A motion to approve the planning‑board resolution with the attorney’s amendment carried by voice vote. The board conditioned final plan sign‑off on satisfying the fire‑marshal and engineering comments and placing the amended buffer findings in the resolution.
Next steps: the applicant will work with the fire marshal and the engineering department to resolve details; final plan signatures and permits will follow once staff conditions are satisfied.
