Lansingville Road Community Solar Project in focus at planning board meeting

Genie Solar Energy representatives addressed concerns from the Town of Lansing Planning Board regarding the proposed Lansingville Road community solar project at Monday’s (June 26) meeting.

The board had previously cited concerns about noise pollution and natural landscaping that could blend in with the project, given that it is situated in the middle of open land. 

The New Jersey-based energy company is looking to build Lansing Community Solar, a new solar energy project planned for a parcel on Lansingville Road. Once it clears planning board approval, the project could take anywhere from six to eight months to install and complete, Genie officials have stated at past meetings.

The plan for the 5-megawatt alternating current ground-mounted community solar farm was unveiled at April’s planning board meeting. The solar farm is pitched by Genie officials as a generation facility that produces clean, renewable electricity that would add to the local electric grid and result in savings for residents.

Officials also claim that the project will contribute to certain goals of the Tompkins County Energy Strategy and help advance state environmental goals.

The project will encompass 18 acres of the total 107 acres at the Lansingville Road parcel, which is owned by Turek Farms, and will be located on the west side of the road between Jerry Smith Road and Dublin Road, according to documents submitted to the planning board. It will be secured by an eight-foot-tall agricultural-style perimeter fence with a locking gate. The solar farm will be accessed via a proposed gravel access road on Lansingville Road that would be constructed at the location of an existing farm road in the northeast corner of the parcel. 

Genie officials and contracted engineers claim that the solar energy facility follows all design standards and permitting requirements outlined in the town’s solar law passed in 2020, including a decommissioning plan. The solar panels will be ground-mounted on a single-axis tracking system, which will be driven or screwed into the ground, limiting site disturbance. 

Planning board member Dean Shea said that the board’s biggest concern was potential issues with excessive noise.

“Our biggest concern was the noise from the tracking device,” he said.

Chris Koenig, an engineer with C.T. Male overseeing the project unveiled new information regarding that concern.

“The tracker itself – so the motor and the mechanical parts in that system, including the inverters and transformers – will not be a concern,” Koenig said. “Genie reached out to the manufacturer of that equipment and returned back some decibel ranges for this type of equipment. Nothing over 7 decibels at all, really.”

For context, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that a comparable sound at 10 decibels would be that of normal breathing.

“It is just regular noise, really,” Koenig continued. “There is also an electric motor associated with the project. That is at a very low decibel level, which is between 20 and 40 decibels, which is of no concern out in the field.”

The CDC lists 20 decibels as comparable to the sound of a ticking watch. The sound of 30 decibels, the organization concludes, is similar to that of a soft whisper. And the CDC estimates that 40 decibels is comparable to a refrigerator hum.

The proposed plan also calls for a dense patch of trees to blend the solar farm’s components with the existing landscape. To further minimize visual impact, the plan notes, the electrical equipment will be set back into the interior of the site and situated behind panels, limiting its visibility. 

No tree clearing is proposed in conjunction with the Lansing Community Solar project, and no impacts to aquatic resources at the site will occur, Koenig has said at previous meetings.

On Monday, Koenig said the screen of vegetation proposed for the project will be mostly populated by white spruce. Those trees will be between five and eight feet tall, he noted, and will be mostly visible along the parcel boundary with Lansingville Road.

“We are hoping to provide a diversity of species to add landscape diversity and context to the site,” Koenig said. “This also provides habitats for birds and other species.”

Town of Lansing Director of Planning and Code Enforcement John Zepko said that the planning board is conducting an independent review off the site. The town is still awaiting results.

“[Our engineers] issued some preliminary comments,” Zepko said.

Next up, the planning board will conduct a state environmental quality review to determine the project’s impact on the landscape based on state Department of Environmental Conservation guidelines. The project will be presented again at a future planning board meeting.

Lansing at Large appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com. Contact Eddie Velazquez at edvel37@gmail.com or on Twitter @ezvelazquez.

In brief: 

Bobcats scrap metal fundraiser
The Lansing Central School District Trap Club scrap fundraiser is underway through August. The club is accepting items such as washers, dryers, ovens, mower decks, grills, pots, pans, cans, old car parts, water heaters, wire and lawn furniture. Interested parties can call Kevin Wyszkowki at 607-592-1243.