The Genesee County Planning Board has 12 referrals on the agenda – including a site plan review of a proposed 5-megawatt solar system in the Town of Le Roy – for tonight’s 7 o’clock meeting at County Building 2 on West Main Street Road in Batavia.
The board is meeting a day earlier than usual due to Veterans Day on Thursday.
AES Clean Energy, based in Louisville, Colo., is seeking to build the ground-mounted commercial solar array on 38.7 acres of two parcels of land approximately covering 66 acres at 7054 West Main Rd., Le Roy.
The land, owned by Route 5 Storage LLC, care of M.J. Prinzi, is located in an Industrial (I-1) District on the south side of the highway, across from the Keeney Road intersection.
According to submitted documents, the system – consisting of 20,142 modules – will take about four to six months to build after final approvals. It will feature an access road from West Main Road. It also will be classified as a “community” solar farm in that it will provide energy to the existing electric grid and allow local customers to contract for electricity at or below current market rates.
Genesee County Planning Director Felipe Oltramari and staff are recommending approval of the project with modifications centering on the applicant following all New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets construction mitigation guidelines and by relocating the driveway and equipment pads from the middle of the field to the end of the field to minimize the impact upon future farming.
Other referrals of note are as follows:
- A site plan review for a 1,944-square foot (81 by 24) addition to the existing building owned by Gadd Properties (Alexander Equipment) at 3266 Buffalo St., Alexander;
- A site plan review for the Burning Barrell BBQ restaurant to be operated by Nicholas Rada at 10 East Main St., Corfu;
- A site plan review and area variance request for Harrington’s Farm Market to replace an existing greenhouse with a new 2,304-square foot (48 by 48) greenhouse on its property at 5282 Clinton St. Rd. in the Town of Stafford;
- A sign permit request from Pierrepoint Visual Graphics, Inc., of Rochester, to place new signs for a proposed UR Medicine office building at the Gateway II Industrial Park at 7999 Call Parkway in the Town of Batavia.
Photo: Overhead view showing the parcel of land (with blue line around it) earmarked for a 5-megawatt solar system on West Main Road in the Town of Le Roy. West Main Road is along the top and East Bethany Le Roy Road is to the right. Courtesy of Genesee County Planning Department.
This is wonderful news. The
This is wonderful news. The community will benefit from the energy produced and the farm is out of site. Investments like untapped, inexhaustible energy sources such as this will eventually lead us away from limited, polluting fossil fuels. History has proven that the abandonment of old technology, upsets people but soon after, the next generation benefits from the new tech. Bravo!