Do You Want a Commercial Facility in Your Neighborhood?
Are large scale, commercial solar farms appropriate in residential neighborhoods? Possibly your neighborhood?
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a strong supporter of solar energy and I believe Yorktown should do what it can to encourage more solar facilities, both rooftop and ground installations, in residential and commercial districts. But they must be on appropriate sites.
A large solar farm is an ideal location for undeveloped land that has already been cleared, like former pasture land. But not when the solar farm will result in changing the character of a neighborhood by clear-cutting large swaths of woodlands and replacing mature trees with acre upon acre upon acre upon acre of solar panels.
That’s why the Yorktown Town Board should consider allowing solar facilities (as well as battery storage facilities) by rezoning parcels for special energy uses on a case-by-case basis instead of the “okay-on-any-parcel” approach that’s in the proposed law.
Like the first version of the solar law that was the subject of a public hearing last July, the latest version, Draft #5 that will be the subject of a public hearing on July 21, would allow large-scale solar farms in any residential district on at least two acres. The facility could cover 80 percent of the site.
But unlike the earlier version, this new version prohibits large-scale solar farms on commercially zoned property. That’s right. A commercial use is being allowed in a residential zone. But a commercial use is being prohibited in a commercial zone.
What do you think? What’s your vision for Yorktown? Do you agree with allowing large-scale commercial solar farms on any residential parcel as small as two acres?
Share your thoughts with the Town Board – the elected officials who are supposed to be looking out for and protecting your interests. Check the town website for their e-mail addresses. Register with the town clerk to participate in the July 21 Zoom public hearing.
Yorktown is YOUR town. Make your voice heard.
Susan Siegel
Yorktown Heights
