Over 100 residents attended a public hearing about a proposed solar farm in the Town of Chenango on Monday night.
Most say they are opposed to the project’s location – on a hill above a residential neighborhood. The Morningside Heights neighborhood in Broome County sits at the bottom of a large forested hill.
If built, the solar farm would be on the hill, spanning 74 acres, and would require about 20 acres of trees to be cut down. It’s the tree removal that has so many homeowners worried.
Many who spoke at the meeting listed the number of times their homes have flooded because of water running off the hill and overflowing creeks.
“I mean climate change is a real thing,” Morningside Heights resident Susan Thomas said, “We’ve had an ice storm. We’ve had 42 inches of snow. I’m still dealing with the insurance company with the hail storm.”
Thomas said her street does not have storm drains.
Many said they are not opposed to solar energy and would support the solar farm if it was moved to a flatter site.
They also raised concerns about large trucks coming through the neighborhood for the construction and to remove the trees. Children play in front of houses, and elderly people regularly walk the narrow streets, residents said.
The facility is a project of Cipriani Energy based near Albany. No one from the company attended Monday’s meeting. But in an email, Michael Quinn, a Cipriani representative said the company “heard residents’ concerns loud and clear: flooding is a persistent and serious challenge.”
He added, “Our design strengthens the land’s ability to manage stormwater, slows runoff, and increases natural water absorption. These measures…are designed to make the property more resilient during heavy rain events and reduce the risk of downstream flooding.”
In the same meeting, the town planning board voted unanimously to hire an outside engineering company to evaluate the project.
