To the Editor:

I am not one who normally gets into letter writing, so please bear with me. All of this blame toward the Westerlo Planning Board and its chair, Dotty Verch, regarding the responsibility for solar farms is totally ridiculous.

And I would like to add I wasn’t particularly in favor of the project. I am just presenting some facts that I witnessed.

First of all, Albany County and New York State as well as the entire United States are pushing with nice incentives to encourage all to implement clean energy.

Solar was introduced to our town in November 2016. The planning board took each application, following directions by the code enforcement officer and the town attorney alone.

After much guidance from the town attorney and code enforcement officer, the planning board was allowed to proceed.The planning board did its job dictated by Albany County Planning and the state’s Department of Conservation.

Full State Environmental Quality Review Act was completed on all properties. There were two years of public hearings plus the review by three engineering firms. And of course every month a total report to the town board. Nothing was done without their full knowledge.

In today’s day and age, there is no excuse for any town resident not to know what is going on or who is doing what. To imply that anything was done behind closed doors is plain stupidity. Stop embarrassing yourself!

Now what do these farms mean to the residents of Westerlo? Fifteen-thousand dollars is provided for improvement of our parks by each “farm” — for a total of $75,000; $1.8 million will go to the Greenville School District so, if you live in the town of Westerlo, you will see your Greenville school taxes go down.

Electricity generated by these farms will supply over 2,700 surrounding homes. Some people have already signed up to tap in to get power through the first operational solar farm and are receiving major reductions on their electric bills.

Besides, they are here to stay now and I’m hoping when all is said and done they will look better than they do now. So can we stop the nonsense and get on with more important business?

Palma M. Schloer

Westerlo

Editor’s note: William F. Bichteman Jr., the Democratic acting supervisor, who is running for supervisor, responded with his perspective on solar: “I personally do not have a problem with renewable resource energy.

“Our planning board, when presented with an application should not only ensure adherence to our laws but its approval should reflect the needs of our residents and the character of Westerlo. Our planning decisions should be made independent of the revenue value of the project to the town and the prejudice that attaches.

“I remain concerned as to why screening and reflection issues were given little attention during the approval process and the why and how all five solar projects all got negative SEQRA [State Environmental Quality Review Act] declarations remains the lingering question that has never been fully explained. The assertion that the planning board was directed by the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation and Albany County Planning is false. DEC and county planning played administrative roles only. The notion that those agencies oversaw the projects or monitored the construction is blatantly false. The argument that the “Governor made me do it” and he degreed the planning board to take action is laughable. Similarly blaming the residents because they weren’t paying attention is insulting … The chairwoman was the driving force and she did so on her own ….

“As far as the money totals for the farms, I have the facts. With all the farms on line and making the assumption we eventually have PILOTs with the two farms remaining, the total revenue over 15 years is $1,984,206.81. The School District share is $1,448,470.97 and the town share would be $535,735.84. I would agree that in total over 15 years they represent a huge amount of money but it’s misleading. The town spends our taxpayers’ money one year at a time. For 2021, the town receives $23,093 plus an estimated additional of $7,560 from the uncommitted farms. This would give the town $30,653 in budget revenue. It helps, but is a long way from substantially reducing taxes and it barely meets the anticipated inflation. The school district isn’t the big winner here either. At potentially $88,347 annually, this represents 0.529 percent of the $16.8 million Greenville school budget. The money derived from our solar farms is divided among all the Greenville School District taxpayers. Westerlo residents will hardly, if at all, realize a tax savings.There is no doubt the solar revenue helps but it is not the windfall others would have you believe.

“Addressing the wild claims of the community solar benefits, the stories of electric bills being cut in half are an exaggeration. The solar companies are offering a 10-percent savings if you agree to sign up. The savings is only on the cost of the electricity and does not include delivery charges and other fees. Our residents can find the exact same savings by signing up with one of the many consortiums dealing in power sales. The claim that our solar will serve 2,700 of the surrounding homes is not exactly true. The potential may exist but only if 2,700 people purchase their energy from Central Hudson. As a practical matter, our farms will in all probability produce more energy for Central Hudson to sell.”