Possible October Hearing on Carlisle-Seward Solar Project

CARLISLE/SEWARD — A public hearing might come in October on the proposed 20 MW Rock Creek solar project for about 124.5 acres at 190 Brown Road by Cyprus Creek Renewables LLC. The land is located both in the towns of Carlisle and Seward.

"Cypress Creek asked us today about a public hearing in (Carlisle) Town Hall In October," Carlisle Town Supervisor John Leavitt said via telephone on Tuesday. "We said that should work."

The matter now rests in the hands of New York State's Office of Renewable Energy Siting after Cypress Creek switched its approach and filed with ORES for approval after initially going through the two towns. In December of 2022, Carlisle Town Planning Board Chair Jennifer Regelski signed a statement stating "this project will result in no significant adverse impacts on the environment and, therefore, an environmental impact statement need not be prepared. Accordingly, this negative declaration is issued."

This was before Cypress Creek changed tracks and filed with ORES for approval. Signing off on the negative declaration has since become a point of contention between the planning board, other town officials and members of an activist group called Schoharie County Citizens Against Solar Assault. Planning board and CASA members went back and forth on the issue at the July 9 Carlisle Planning Board meeting.

Marjorie Lawston, a CASA member, pressed PB members to state that they now believe the project might have negative impacts based on information received since the matter was switched to ORES for consideration of approval and since the issuance of the negative declaration.

While saying they agreed with much of what Lawston was saying, PB members said the matter has been withdrawn from their consideration and is out of their hands. 

"We want the Carlisle town planning board, who was the lead agency at the time, to write a letter to ORES stating their error in signing the negative declaration," wrote Lawston and fellow CASA members Bill Toohey and Tracey Metz in an email to this newspaper on Wednesday.

"We want the board to address the negative declaration concerning the environmental impact stating there is no environmental impact, which is untrue....We want this recognized through a letter from the planning board to ORES stating there IS an impact. The planning board signed impulsively believing the Cyprus Creek documents only without regard to public comment."

Planning Board members said at the July 9 meeting the negative declaration was issued based on their best effort evaluation of information they had at the time. Both Carlisle and Seward are now fighting the project through legal channels, and CASA and others in both towns feel the project will have negative impacts in regard to tearing up roads, stormwater management and others.

"This is a whole new process now that it's going through ORES and all that other stuff is out the window," said Leavitt in the Tuesday telephone conversation. "At this point, there is nothing the planning board can do because it's been taken out of their hands. Impact on real estate values and all these other issues will be discussed at the public hearing."

Phone messages left with the ORES office from this newspaper were not returned. Cypress Creek media representative Angeli Chandler did not responded to multiple emails from this newspaper seeking comment on various issues with the project, including the possible October public hearing.