Philipstown also approves zoning for solar
Philipstown is planning to bill the Garrison Landing Water District’s nine users for the first time in over a decade and require them to reimburse the town for some of the $2 million it has spent buying water and digging a new well.
The Town Board has scheduled a public hearing for June 24 on a proposal to borrow $500,000 for the Garrison Landing Water District, whose residents and businesses are receiving water from the new well drilled and connected at town expense when the existing wells failed.
Philipstown also purchased water for the district and repaired leaks in its system to the extent that it has “basically repaired every single water line in Garrison Landing at this point,” Supervisor John Van Tassel said when the board met on June 5.
Now it is looking to recoup some of those expenses through the bonding, which will be repaid by water district users. “We will stretch the bond payments out for as long as we can to make it easier for them, but they will ultimately be responsible for paying back a good portion of this,” Van Tassel added on Wednesday (June 11).
Part of the proposed borrowing will fund meters. The existing meters have not worked in 15 years, said Van Tassel. The town did not have money for the meters, he said, and had been mistakenly told that state law prohibited billing users more than the $20,000 annually they’ve been paying collectively since the town acquired the system in 1998.
“We will come up with a flat rate for residential use, we’re going to come up with a flat rate for commercial use, and then there will be a rate per gallon for the water usage,” said Van Tassel at the June 5 meeting. “Everybody will pay their fair share for water.”
A state audit released in May calculated that Philipstown spent $2.4 million between 2018 and 2023 to fill Garrison Landing’s water needs, shrinking its general-fund balance from $1 million to $53,137. Annual expenses for the district rose during the same period from about $85,000 to $975,000, “the most significant factor of the town’s financial decline,” the audit said.
Solar guidelines
The Town Board on June 5 approved zoning for private and commercial solar systems. Under the guidelines, property owners who want to install roof- or ground-mounted systems for personal use can do so if they follow the regulatory process required for accessory structures, such as garages.
The zoning limits the height of panels on pitched roofs to 8 inches, flat roofs to 2 feet or the height of parapets, and ground-mounted solar systems to 12 feet. Panels must have anti-reflective coating and ground-mounted systems cannot be larger than 5,000 square feet and must be shielded from neighbors.
Commercial solar farms are allowed everywhere except the Ridgeline Protection District and only in the Scenic Overlay District with a special permit. The guidelines specify that solar farms, “to the greatest extent possible,” be installed on industrial properties; Superfund sites that have undergone environmental cleanup; mining sites; abandoned parcels; landfills; parking lots; and the roofs of commercial buildings.
In addition, companies building community solar projects, which allow residents to buy shares of the electricity they generate, must target Philipstown residents for subscriptions, particularly low- and moderate-income households. Requests for variances can be made to the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Solar farms capable of generating up to 5 megawatts of electricity need 7-foot-high fencing with a self-locking gate to secure the mechanical equipment. Systems over 1 megawatt need a plan for decommissioning, removal and site restoration.
