(Daniel Compitello of Cypress Creek Renewables speaks to the Stafford Town Board on Monday)
A solar company decided to pay a visit to the Town of Stafford regular board meeting on Monday to offer their assistance with writing new zoning laws in regards to the use of solar panels in form of solar farms.
Last month, the Town passed a 9 month moratorium on solar farms and solar powered plants in the Town of Stafford.
Daniel Compitello, Zoning & Outreach Manager for Cypress Creek Renewables, reached out to the Town Board.
“I represent landowners here in Stafford that have current leases with our company,” says Compitello.
“We would like to commend the Town on entering a moratorium, we think it’s a very good path to take to take time to look at local laws and to write a code that works locally.”
Compitello also represents solar projects that are before the Town of Batavia Planning Board.
“I would be happy to come in and provide a workshop locally to provide some site plans that we have approval from across the state and how we work with agricultural zones.”
In response to Compitello’s offer of assistance, town resident Sandra Swanson spoke up.
(Sandra Swanson/Town of Stafford resident)
“If we are going to have education, why wouldn’t we have a group of people in the town that are dealing with the issue whether to have solar in our town, which I don’t think is completely decided.”
Swanson recently attended the Genesee Finger Lakes Regional Council meeting held in Pittsford in May to gather information on the topic.
“The first thing to do would be not to have a businessman tell us how to do it,” says Swanson.
“We can also get our information from NYSERDA and from other towns that have worked on this.”
Councilman Ron Panek then asked Swanson if she would be willing to head up a group that can look into solar and guide the town through this.
“You’ve certainly taken the time to go and attend the workshop and there are people all over the country to talk to, some people live right next door to it and some people are looking into to it just like us, behooves us to to get as much information as possible,” says Panek.
Panek then asked Compitello for his business card since his visit was a surprise.
Swanson told the board she would be happy to head up a group to look into the solar issue.
After the meeting, Swanson says she hopes to create a group of citizens and brief the town board at the end of July.
“It will be done as a study and I think we should be ending it in January,” says Swanson.
The moratorium will end in February.
Town Supervisor Robert Clement feels that solar farms should not be located on prime productive farm land.
“There are enough places in the town that are lesser as far as farming is concerned, we just have to get a map drawn up to determine where that is,” says Clement.