Buffalo Township supervisors hold off on solar farms vote amid residents' concerns

The Buffalo Township supervisors are holding off voting on controversial solar farms again as residents continue to voice opposition.

Board President Ron Zampogna said the move was at the request of the project’s developer, Atlanta-­based SolAmerica, whose representatives could not attend this week’s supervisors’ meeting.

It’s the second voting delay after the supervisors postponed a vote last month amid community backlash to the solar farms.

SolAmerica is requesting permission to install the solar arrays on a 19-acre parcel along Grimm Road and an 81-acre spot off Bear Creek Road.

The solar panels would use only a fraction of the land at each site, according to Michael Kissinger, an engineer with Pennoni engineering representing SolAmerica. At previous township meetings, Kissinger said panels at the Grimm Road site would be on about 2.5 acres, with a total of 8 acres surrounded by an 8-foot-high wooden slat fence.

At the Bear Creek Road site, the panels would take up about 3.5 acres with a total of 14 acres screened off with fencing and vegetation.

This week, some residents again raised concerns about the large-scale developments.

Russ Popowicz expressed long-term concerns about the projects, questioning what could happen decades down the line if the farms were to become dilapidated or unused.

Popowicz seemed mollified, however, when Buffalo Solicitor Brian Farrington explained that the potential contract with SolAmerica includes a bond for that situation.

During their lifetime, the solar farms would have to be operable and in good condition, Farrington said. If the company would seek to discontinue the projects, the solicitor said, it would be required to remove the panels and restore the land to its previous state at its own expense.

Dave Hochbein, who lives adjacent to one proposed solar site on Grimm Road, is concerned that the solar farms would decrease the property value of his home.

“We opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. The Pledge of Allegiance ends with ‘and liberty and justice for all,’ ” Hochbein said. “Is justice being followed here if one person is benefiting from the solar farms and 41 people not?”

Supervisors could take up the issue again at their next scheduled meeting on Aug. 13.