- Call to Order
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- Meeting to be called to order at 7:30 pm. The following Planning Commission Board Members are to be determined to attend:
- Ron Young (RJ) – Chairman
- Rich Webb – Vice Chairman
- Ed Pentrack
- John Nibert
- Percy Helsel
- Randy Cortese
- Rick Lehman
RJ started off the meeting by explaining the solar ordinance and showing the attendees the map and where the solar panels will be located.
Frank Roush Jr – Mr. Roush submitted a two-page document providing his review of the ordinance
Barbara Bucci – Ms. Bucci spoke and she in favor of the solar ordinance and said what the board is proposing is a good plan
Dave Gregg – Mr. Gregg has property and wanted to know if there was going to be bond set up also asked the Planning Commission of who would be responsible for getting rid of panels. The planning commission guaranteed that Bond will need to be updated. Mr. Gregg asked what makes Adams Township so attractive? The Planning Commission explained that solar farm companies are sending letters to everyone. Mr. Gregg mentioned that Portage has one and that they had run off water issues. He wanted to know if we consulted anyone on the board at Portage to see what issues they had. The Planning Commission explained that they have had many conversations with engineers and have done a lot of research – attending seminars, etc. for approximately a year and a half. and a half. Mr. Gregg asked about rezoning. The Planning Commission explained property won’t be rezoned and it is up to the county whether they change the tax structure. Mr. Gregg asked if the property could be rezoned commercial and the Planning Commission answered him no.
Tom Kakabar – Mr. Kakabar asked for clarification what is called zone quad 1. The Planning Commission answered that this is the area they are changing for the allowance for principal solar energy systems. Mr. Kakabar asked where is zone quad 1? He also questioned Section 3 of the ordinance. Mr. Kakabar also asked if this this is the only area we are talking about? The Planning Commission answered yes
Lanny Grieff – Mr. Grieff is concerned about the value of his property decreasing if a solar farm is placed next to his property. What kind of setbacks are in place? The Planning Commission explained that the setbacks are listed in the ordinance. Mr. Grieff stated that no one wants to build next to a solar farm. Mr. Grieff also suggested to put out a ballot and let the people of Adams Township vote to determine if they want to have solar. The Planning Commission stated that as a township, we have to address it under PA code, or the state of Pennsylvania can put the solar farms anywhere they want.
Quad 1 zoning is within the watershed district? Green area is it quad 1? No
Andy Riggle – Mr. Riggle asked is from Pedia Road and asked how many solar farms do we currently have in Adams Township? The Planning Commission stated none at this time. The areas where solar panels are permitted are limited to what Randy showed him on the map. This area only.
Lou Civic – Mr. Civic stated he is good with the solar ordinance.
Shawn Channing – Mr. Channing’s question was answered.
JR Leventry – Mr. Leventry left the meeting.
Tracy Helsel – Mrs. Helsel asked how do we move forward from here? She asked when the ordinance will be voted on and by whom? The Planning Commission stated the supervisors will decide. The Planning Commission makes recommendations to supervisors. There will be more meetings, more hearings. Will the supervisors have similar meetings to what we are doing here this evening. What we have is a draft of the solar ordinance. The Planning Commission will submit our suggestions and the supervisors can accept it or not. Timeframe on the meetings is up to supervisors. The ordinance will be on the township website so everyone will have a chance to review it.
Sam – Oakridge Drive – he asked what brought about the need for a solar ordinance and the Planning Commission stated if we don’t have one they can put one where they want. He expressed the need for clarification – Section 3. The Planning Commission stated the finish on the panels won’t be allowed to be highly reflective. Burden of proof on glare – after solar farm is there the glare is produced – is there an obligation to mitigate that? Is it the neighboring township, etc. He asked who inspects it that says there’s no glare? 2018 IBC – under the building code inspectors need to have stamped engineered plans regarding glare, tinting and uvalue. There is an entire inspection process that happens first from engineers. Needs to be clarified in ordinance. It is in our overall ordinance. Needs to be more clarification. RJ – it needs to be run through our permit agency, etc. for approval.
Kirk – his questions have been answered
Carl – good with solar ordinance
Paul – doesn’t own a lot of property but he expressed that solar farms will decimate all mountain sides and you can see them for miles away and that anyone who has any property who wants to enjoy scenery will prevent that. Windmills were supposed to be great now they’re not so great. Who is to benefit from solar ordinance? Where does the grid go? Do we get a stipend $50,000? The Planning Commission stated there is taxes from it and the permit fee is pretty sizeable. If there is any other income from it, it’s between supervisors and company. What if the panels are struck by lightning – that is a problem. Would need to have fire companies prepared to handle a solar farm fire. Maintenance – what does solar do to soil vegetation wildlife. We have just gotten new information in the last two weeks. We are trying to protect residents from absorbing toxicity that is released into the environment – this is why it is limited to the ag. Once they’re decommissioned the land is useless. Will trees grow? The Planning Commission referenced information available about the fires. We have tried to limit that
Curt – in regard to the current zone slated for development, is there any type of buffer period? The Planning Commission answered we review the zoning ordinance every five years and redo it every ten years.
Larry Neff – WPA Road – he is not in favor of solar farms – its more than that what at issue is property rights. If we limit the whole township to that area you’re taking everyone else’s property rights. What are the farmers going to do for retirement. We should open up the ag areas with a special exception. There are areas in Adams Township where solar farms can be put in. Special exception or conditional use for a property could be used. Commercial residential not be permitted AG could be with special exception. What you can’t do is say we can put them here not there. Each case would be judged. Our solar farms would be out on the mountain. We can fix it before it goes anywhere else. If available to the property owner special exception there’s too much interference here – we don’t grant a permit for those. We will take it into account what he’s saying.
Terry Gearhart – Mr. Gearhart needs more clarification on the noise level exact footage and what decibels should be. Converting DC to AC it’s a very strange noise and very annoying. Asked Terry for some additional information.
Mr. Smith – if I’ m the owner of the property is it considered commercial? If I have a 100-acre farm and I’m allowed half of that to be a solar farm, why lose the farm subsidy? Once this solar farm is in in place, it can’t be farmed again. You would lose subsidies. The township is receiving money. The property owner is going to receive some kind of money. It is becoming commercial when we do this. The state considers solar industrial not commercial. 1000-foot setback. Put a restriction on this property. Planning Commission said can’t build solar farm next to existing structure. The Planning Commission did go to the Farm Bureau and discussed this.
Mr. Kovalsky – said a guy who lives in Portage said the solar farm looks like a garbage dump. He said solar farms are good for 30 years and then not of any use. They bond the panels. The guy said they don’t remove the stakes that are there. We have our own ordinance . Everything they do will go back to the way it was. There are several parcels on the map and only those areas are affected. Ordinance would need to be changed for anyone to put solar farm anywhere else.
Lisa Silk – briefly addressed no fire company for fire emergency. If there is a solar farm next to her house what fire protection does her property have? The Planning Commission stated they will be addressing that in the ordinance. There will be a fire suppression plan.
There are a lot of things we need to consider – fire suppression is one of them. Most of these fires you can’t put out with water. Need to put out with foam, etc.
When putting property in compliance, is this the smallest piece of property for solar that we would be allowed by the state? Need to open up an area. Need to find out what the area is. Is it possible to put it on referendum? We will ask about that.
Every single township in the state of PA has to set aside land? No not every township has zoning. If you have zoning you have to allow it for every use. If anything in the township is zoned. We need to do ordinance to keep it from going all over the township.
Map reference – from Krayn to 42 the left side directly north of that half million-dollar home on the adjacent hillside? Yes, he will have to look at that.
Adjourn 8:20
