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The Dunkirk Common Council approved a local law imposing a six-month moratorium on Battery Energy Storage System applications.
The move was basically a legal formality in response to Mayor Kate Wdowiasz's veto of a previous moratorium resolution. One of Wdowiasz"s reasons for the veto was she thinks a moratorium must be done as a local law, not just a simple council resolution.
Moratorium law sponsor Natalie Luczkowiak said there is going to be a Nov. 18 meeting, at a place and time to be determined, on possible city BESS zoning codes.
"This moratorium, it's a pause to follow the state's own advice and enact the New York State BESS model law and safety guidance," Luczkowiak said. "We'd be negligent not to read the (model law) before we approve something -- especially next to a school, for example.
"So let's take six months or more, get the state's input, (and) come back with zoning laws -- like most New York state municipalities are doing -- that protect Dunkirk," the First Ward councilwoman added.
A bit confusingly, three provisions were added to the law at the last minute. Luczkowiak said they covered social responsibility, public safety findings and a purpose clause. "We had them approved by an attorney," she said.
The clauses add language that "Battery Energy Storage Systems pose unique fire, thermal runaway, and hazardous material risks. The Council has a duty to protect the health, safety, and welfare of residents, especially children."
In addition, it's stated that "Locating BESS facilities in close proximity to schools, daycares, parks, hospitals, and major roadways creates unacceptable evacuation, first-responder, and community risk."
Luczkowiak concluded that the BESS moratorium is happening so city officials can "do our homework, and to write some real zoning laws of our own. We don't want to experiment while we write safety standards."
Councilman Frank Torain sought to clarify that officials were already in the process of updating zoning laws before the most recent BESS application in the city, sought for a parcel behind the former UPS warehouse on Brigham Road.
Torain said the company that had a separate BESS approved further away from Brigham Road "brought in experts from everywhere and thoroughly answered concerns."
The Common Council held a public hearing, which is legally required for a proposed local law, on the moratorium before opening its meeting Tuesday. Four people all spoke in favor of the moratorium law.
One of them was a member of the city Planning Board, Robert Whittemore. The Planning Board favors the moratorium, as well.