To the Editor:

During campaigning this year, many people apparently do not realize how the solar arrays are going to help the residents of Westerlo.

First, I want to make it clear the powers and responsibilities of the planning board are defined by the Municipal Land Use Law. They make sure when someone comes to them with an idea it is done legally. 

The town enforcement officer and town attorney work with the planning board also to make sure everything is done “by the book” and report to the town board every month. Pete Hotaling as the town assessor and I, as a town councilman, personally went to Greenville to negotiate the amount Westerlo would get for the residents living in the Greenville School District and we were able to get much more than originally offered. Everyone gets involved.

Public hearings were done as with all projects involving our town. The planning board cannot decide to decline a project just because its members personally might not like it.

On top of that, the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation is deeply involved in the approval [process] and monitors every step of the construction.

Stop pointing fingers as no one person in this Town was “responsible” as I have heard from people blaming the planning board chairwoman, Dotty Verch,  who I have witnessed has been the last vote on what is approved and never did I see her have a deciding vote.

In fact, you can go look at the minutes on the town website at townofwesterlo.com and see who does what. You want to blame someone? Start with the governor of New York State who wants economy-wide, net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, meaning energy has to come from alternative sources which would be solar and windmills. That’s why Dotty Verch was pushing for a new comp plan for Westerlo over the past four years.

I have heard many complaints of how the solar panels look. Have you looked around or down our main street  and seen all those numerous ugly poles and wires? It’s bad. Or have you become blind to them?  

But many are having a problem with solar panels that will help conserve fuel and create clean energy, not to mention save many of you money. The lands they are using were originally working farms no longer being farmed and were growing into fields of useless ugly weeds and shrubs.

There is no excuse for any Westerlo town resident not to know what is going on and who is doing what although a resident recently said at a board meeting he had no idea there were meetings every month and has lived in the town for over five years.

Every town has monthly board meetings so I’m not sure why he thought Westerlo did not. Our board meetings are currently the third Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. with workshop at 7 p.m. on the first Tuesday of the month at Town Hall. Please get involved in our town.

So what do these solar 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 and $1.8 million will go to the Greenville School District and town of Westerlo.

Shepard’s Farm will have $56,000 going to the school; the balance of the $75,000 goes to the town of Westerlo. The Costanza solar farms will generate $17,000 for all farms and 75 percent goes to the school while the balance to the town.

All amounts have a 2-percent escalator embedded so the amount is generally more as negotiated by our town’s planning board. The money specifically for the lease of Shepard’s Farm will be seed money for improvement and renovation of the buildings so they can be brought up to code and leased or rented — bringing in new business and increasing the sales-tax base as well as increasing taxes for the town. 

The other two solar farms are still in negotiations and the amount for the PILOT [payment in lieu of taxes] has not been determined yet. They have offered $7,000 per Megawatt or $14,000 per farm.

Electricity generated by these farms will supply over 2,700 homes in the area of the solar farms. I had one person say they already signed up to tap in and his electric bill dropped by half.

What other businesses have come to Westerlo to bring money to help you, our residents, say in the last 30 years?

Richard Filkins

Town Councilman

Westerlo

Editor’s note: Richard Filkins is a Republican councilman on the Westerlo Town Board. Dorothy Verch is running on the Republican line for supervisor of Westerlo.