Battle over proposed Unity solar panel farm continues

A Unity man told a township zoning panel this week he should have the right to use part of his property near the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport for an estimated $10.5 million solar power farm, despite strong opposition from some of his neighbors.

“In the final analysis, this is a private property issue,” said Joseph Stas, who owns the Charles Houck Road property selected for a solar power farm.

More than 120 people, many wearing stickers opposing the project, attending the township zoning board’s meeting this week.

Stas applied for a special exception to the zoning ordinance to have GreenKey Solar LLC of Portland, Ore., construct and operate the solar power farm on his 62.8-acre property zoned for agricultural use.

For the zoning change to proceed, the board needed to conduct a hearing before voting on the application. The property is owned under the corporate name of Trois Filles LLC of Pine .

GreenKey Solar LLC designed the commercial-grade solar power farm to fit the criteria for a special exception and the site exceeds requirements for approval, Stas said at the hearing this week.

What is being called Nine Mile Run Solar Master Tenant LLC will be within a fenced-in area of about 20 acres of the 62-acre property and is set back from the property line six to 12 times beyond what is required, Stas said.

The zoning board opted to continue the hearing until 6 p.m. Oct. 22 at the township building because some people did not have the opportunity to speak during the 3½-hour hearing at Greater Latrobe High School.

While the township considers strengthening its ordinance on solar power farms, the application for the GreenKey project would be reviewed under current regulations.

The solar power company responded to residents’ concerns voiced at the June 25 hearing by reducing the scope of its fenced-in enclosure from about 33 acres to 20 acres, said Tracy Tackett, permitting coordinator for GreenKey Solar. The solar power panels would be installed on racks tilted at a 25-degree angle on the upper part of a hillside, thus reducing their visibility from the road, Tackett said. The inverters that convert the direct current produced by the panels to alternating current for the electrical grid, would be moved to the northern section of the property so they would be away from neighbors, Tackett said.

To those objecting to the solar power farm, Tackett said there are many other uses permitted in an A-1 zone significantly larger than the solar power farm.

Several residents raised concerns that their property values would be reduced by the proximity of the solar panels. Tackett, however, cited studies that she said found there was no documented negative impact on property values from solar panel farms. The proposed solar power farm would have 12,844 panels, each roughly three-feet-by-six feet in size.

The solar power panels would be connected to a West Penn Power Co. substation about 1½ miles from the site, which makes the property feasible for a commercial solar power farm, said Hunter Strader, GreenKey Solar president and co-founder. The solar power farm could generate 7 megawatts of electricity, which would be transmitted to the electrical grid from the substation, Strader said.

If GreenKey Solar gets the necessary various government approvals for the project, it may take six-to-nine months to construct the solar panel farm, Strader said. The company has a tentative 40-year lease for the site, Strader said.

To residents concerned about noise from fans used to cool the inverters when heated by the sun, Strader said the sound is so low that it would not be heard outside the project site.

While the solar power company produced a document stating that the height of the panels would not pose any problems for planes using the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport, Gabe Monzo, a zoning board member and executive director of the Westmoreland County Airport Authority, said there is no study showing that the glare reflected from the panels would not impact pilots using the airport. The solar power farm would be near the approach to one of the runways, Monzo said.

“It could be a problem, absolutely,” Monzo said.

Gary Falatovich, township solicitor, said GreenKey Solar has not produced any site, land development or stormwater management plans for its project. Site plans would go before the township supervisors for approval, Falatovich said.

Those plans would be submitted if the zoning board grants approval for the special exception, Tackett said.

Under questioning from Kimberly Pavlik, an adjacent property owner at Musickal Heights Lane, Strader said they would use local employees when feasible on the project.

Mark Ferry, an auctioneer who opposes the project, presented the board with a petition that he said was signed by 250 residents.

Phil Saula of Hughes Road said the solar power farm is not good for all people in the community. It will be be a massive structure that will litter the township and impact the view from his property.

Saula contended there would be uncontrolled stormwater runoff from the development and homeowners will see their property devalued.

“This isn’t right for Unity Township. What’s the rush? Studies don’t matter if your life is destroyed,” Saula said.