The focus of the December Town of Columbia Board meeting revolved around the Columbia Solar Project.
The project, a 350-Megawatt (MW) solar panel and 20 MW battery storage project that is being planned by French owned EDF Renewables in the Town of Columbia and the Town of Litchfield, will require approximately 2,200 acres. All but about 50 of that is in Columbia.
Town of Columbia Planning Board Chairman Ron Bayzon and member Ryan Fagan provided an update on the status of the Townwide solar project survey which the Town Board had requested the Planning Board to develop during November’s Town Board meeting.
A survey sample is nearly complete and will be presented to the Town Board for final approval during January’s Town Board meeting. The total cost of executing the survey is approximately $2,000.
Town Board members thanked Fagan for leading a committee over the past several weeks as they developed the survey and compiled a mailing list. The pre-paid postage survey will count and record the responses of all Columbia residents and landowners age 18 and older who participate.
This will measure the Town’s sentiment towards the project. Under the state rules for large-scale solar projects, which this is, the decision is made at the state level and not by local officials and residents.
Town Board members discussed enacting a 12-month moratorium…