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Solar Liberty Energy Systems is suing the town of Busti over the town's decision to withdraw the company's application for a solar installation on South Main Street, Busti.
The company is asking the state Supreme Court in Mayville to annul the town's March letter forcing Solar Liberty to restart the development process for solar panels on 60 to 90 acres of undeveloped land at 1255 S. Main St., Busti, on land owned by PPP Future Development Inc. The project consists of a ground mounted solar panel installation with three solar fields totaling 28,080 solar panels capable of producing 9 megawatts of power. Solar arrays would be 14 feet high, at maximum tilt. Activities will also include the installation of new electrical equipment and accessories including concrete pads for equipment and a new gravel access drive.
Town Planning Board members said the project meets the bulk zoning requirements for a large solar energy project, though board members said the project wasn't a good fit for the site, was too large for the town, was too close to the road and residents across the street, could impact Kiantone residents and possble impact gas wells in the area. According to Planning Board minutes from the Sept. 27, 2021, meeting referred to in the lawsuit, state Department of Environmental Conservation officials said there may be potentially significant environmental mpacts from the proposed projects, which led Planning Board members to issue a positive declaration to a State Environmental Quality Review, which means the Planning Board would be involved with the scoping and review of a draft environmental impact statement.
Solar Liberty objected to the positive declaration in a December 2021 letter and asked the Busti Town Board to disregard the Planning Board's recommendation. Town Board members sided with the Planning Board on March 7, 2022. Since that meeting, nothing has happened -- and that is the crux of the lawsuit.
Solar Liberty says the town was supposed to provide the company with a copy of the SEQR positive declaration but hasn't done so, nor has it published the declaration in the state DEC Environmental Notice Bulletin. Despite working with the town on another solar project on Orr Street, nothing about the South Main Street project has been discussed since March 2022 until the March 2023 letter from the town saying town officials considered the initial proposal withdrawn. Solar Liberty officials said they planned to come back to the South Main Street project once the Orr Street project had been approved.
"The Town Board issued a positive declaration for this project in March 2022 and since then your company has not submitted a draft scoping document nor, as far as we know, taken any other steps to proceed with the application," the town's letter states. "Given the length of time that has passed, the town considers the application withdrawn. If you intend to pursue the project you will need to submit a new application."
Solar Liberty officials say there is nothing in the town's code giving time frames for documents to be submitted before an application is considered withdrawn. Company officials have paid interconnection applications to National Grid totaling $2,250 for the project as well as submitting three interconnection review studies at a cost of $29,300. Not only are prior costs lost if the process restarts, but the Town Board passed a moratorium on new solar projects during its March 2023 board meeting.
"Requiring petitioners to submit a new application for the project and start the process from scratch will cause Solar Liberty to incur substantial time and expense," the lawsuit states. "The town cannot require petitioners to incur these additional expenses to start the application process over without following lawful procedures, properly setting a time frame and giving proper notice that it intends to deem the project withdrawn at the end of that time frame. The town has also adopted a moratorium on new applications for special use permits for solar energy systems, and Solar Liberty believes the town will seek to prevent Solar Liberty from resubmitting its applications. Even if this would be erroneous, it would be another obstruction to the project that would not be an issue if the application is not deemed withdrawn."