While snow clouds blanketed the sky Monday, January 6, the Straban Township supervisors heard competing testimony about proposed solar projects in the township.
The two projects under discussion are known as the Adams Miller Solar Development, located at 30 Miller Road, and Adams Buohl Solar Development, located at 2145 Old Harrisburg Road, both proposed by the same company, SolAmerica Energy.
The board of supervisors voted unanimously to table for further discussion the Adams Miller project. The deadline for the supervisors to act is February 7, 2025 and thus the supervisors will be able vote during their February 3, 2025 meeting and remain within deadline.
In contrast, they voted 2-1 to approve the preliminary land development plan for the Adams Buohl project, with Tony Sanders opposed and Fred Kammerer and Alan Zepp in favor.
The developers will need to return before Straban Township for approval of the final land development plan, as well as working with various state agencies whose approval is required for the project to move forward.
At the meeting, two landowners opposed to the Adams Miller project asked the township to review information from engineer and land surveyor Lawrence Paul Lopresti regarding their concerns about the project.
In a December 17, 2024 letter to the editor of the Gettysburg Times, the landowners Holly Fox and Lawrence Plank stated opinions that the developers proposed their plan hastily in order to be grandfathered in before changes to the Straban Township zoning code were made last year regarding solar development. They wrote, “The initial plan possessed glaring deficiencies giving no regard to the Township’s requirements and no regard to detail.”
Lopresti also alleged there were deficiencies in the Adams Miller preliminary land development plan, such as the stormwater management study and the land survey. The Board of Supervisors and township staff were given copies of Lopresti’s report to review. Attorney Nathan Wolf represented Plank and Fox.
Tony Yonnone, senior vice president at SolAmerica Energy, as well as an engineer who worked on the preliminary land development plans, represented the company at the meeting.
They disagreed with Lopresti’s assessment of the plans and the allegations that they were not correctly prepared. For example, the engineer stated that the stormwater management study followed the most recent guidance from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in calculating the permeable versus non-permeable surface area of a solar array.
Supervisor Kammerer expressed frustration about Lopresti’s report, saying it was presented last-minute and badly in a way that was difficult to understand.
Wolf said it was difficult for them to build an informed opposition to the plans because the developer submitted revisions often and they needed to come to the town offices in person to view the plans. They had arrived ready to present before the township’s Planning Commission previously, but found that their information was already outdated due to a revision submitted by the developer, he said.
As part of the discussion Yonnone said that in the Adams Miller project, the inverters will be centrally located on the site, away from adjoining properties. Inverters are the machinery that converts electricity into the alternating current form useable by the grid, but they can create noise.
Earlier in the meeting, a Good Intent Road resident spoke in public comment about how inverters for another solar project already constructed in Straban Township are located next to their shared property line and create a constant whining mechanical noise that destroys the peace and enjoyment of their property.
Plank said later during public comment that they were not against the concept of solar projects in the area, but worried that problems with this project would arise later in the future, when there was little recourse for landowners or the township except expensive legal action.
The Straban Board of Supervisors will meet next on February 3, 2025 at 7:00 p.m at 1745 Granite Station Road, Gettysburg, PA.
Catalina Righter, freelance reporter, lives in New Oxford. She previously wrote for the Carroll County Times and the Kent County News, covering crime, education, local government and arts. She works as a legal assistant.
Go solar! It’s the power of the future. I always enjoy when I drive past solar farms knowing what they’re producing and how it is helping our planet. My next house (soon to be built) is going to be solar powered and geothermally heated/cooled. I honestly don’t understand all those who diss solar, preferring housing developments or something else permanently destroying the land and views. With solar, various bits of farming can continue AND we get power without pollution. Win/win. The US used to be at the forefront of better technology and ways. Now we’re way, way behind. It’s akin… Read more »