Chautauqua town officials are dealing with two proposed solar projects while at the same time are continuing to upgrade their own regulations for future projects beyond these two.

During the August town board meeting, officials voted unanimously to extend the moratorium on new solar projects in the town. The moratorium was first enacted in March for six months. Officials said they wanted to update the town’s solar laws.

At this month’s meeting, officials said while progress has been made on its solar laws, they still need more time to complete to work, so they extended the moratorium for another six months. Had they not extended it, the moratorium would have been lifted in September.

Even though there is a moratorium on solar projects, the town is still dealing with two solar applications that were filed before the first moratorium was enacted.

The first is for a proposed 3.75 megawatt solar project to be constructed at 6455 Cadenza Passage, which is close to Chautauqua-Stedman Road. The applicant, Sol Source Power, is seeking a special use permit. The town board opened a public hearing on the project in July but did not make a decision.

At the August meeting, Supervisor Don Emhardt said they’re still not ready to vote on the project. “The town board is still waiting on information to come back from their attorney and their engineer on that, so we have nothing new to report on our level,” he said.

Neighbors Bert and Mary Rappole continue to express their concerns about the project. They asked about the potential of fires from batteries, but developers with Sol Source Power said there will be no battery storage at this site.

At a separate meeting, the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals discussed a solar project to be located at 6049 Wright Road, Dewittville. This project has been proposed by Arcadis/Forefront Power.

This project would result in the clearing of 21 acres of trees. It would also impact 3.5 acres of wetlands.

Heike Jacob with Wendel Engineering said they recommended the zoning board issue a “positive declaration” on the project, meaning the solar project would have adverse environmental impacts.

The zoning board agreed with the recommendation of the engineering firm and voted to adopt the positive declaration.

The project will now move forward to the town board, which has the final say on the project. The town board may take up this proposed solar project at its September meeting.

Town attorney Joel Seachrist told representatives with Arcadis/Forefront Power that if the town board accepts the zoning board’s ruling, that would mean the solar project would need a scoping document. The scoping document would mean a larger environmental impact study would be required before the project can get a special use permit. The study would need to be funded by the developer.