Taylor will consider legislation this week to regulate solar farms in the town as a developer looks to install 17,000-plus solar panels near Ransom Road.
Borough council will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Municipal Building, 122 Union St., to hold a public hearing and consider an ordinance that would amend the borough’s zoning ordinance to add regulations for solar energy systems, according to public notices published in The Times-Tribune on Dec. 17 and Dec. 26.
Taylor’s existing zoning ordinance does not currently address solar farms, nor any kind of solar technology, council President Ken Mickaviz said. The borough adopted its current zoning ordinance in March 2005 and last amended it in August 2018, according to a copy of the zoning ordinance.
The proposed solar ordinance “seeks to promote the general health, safety and welfare of the community by regulating solar energy system land development and the dismantling and disposal of improvements made in connection therewith,” according to a draft of the legislation.
It will allow solar farms — characterized as principal solar energy systems — as special exceptions in Taylor’s conservation district, which would require developers to go before the Taylor Borough Zoning Hearing Board for zoning approval. The ordinance establishes regulations for solar farms, including a requirement to install the solar panels so that concentrated solar radiation and glare do not project onto nearby structures or roads, a 50-decibel noise limit measured at the property line, a 15-foot maximum height restriction, and a requirement to conduct/provide on-site equipment safety training for first responders.
The solar panels must be at least 100 feet away from any nearby residential homes or residential zoning district boundaries, and battery storage systems must be at least 200 feet from any property lines. The solar farms must also have a 6-foot-tall solid privacy fence and two rows of evergreen trees that must be at least 3 feet tall when planted.
When a solar farm is decommissioned, the owner will have one year to dismantle and remove it.
The ordinance also addresses smaller accessory solar energy systems, which would generate electricity for primarily on-site use, compared to off-site use in principal solar energy systems.
Borough officials first began discussing a solar ordinance when it received a request for a zoning hearing from a solar farm developer, Mickavicz said.
“We actually realized at that time, we never really addressed particular regulations on solar,” he said.
In March 2023, Massachusetts-based ECA Solar, operating as Taylor Energy Initiative LLC and Taylor Energy Initiative Phase II LLC, went before the zoning hearing board seeking a special exception to build a 25-acre solar farm on a 118-plus-acre parcel in a conservation district along Ransom Road, or Snake Road, and the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. ECA’s plans call for the installation of about 17,160 solar panels, along with two 10-foot by 20-foot concrete pads for electrical equipment, 12 new utility poles and an 8-foot-tall fence surrounding the solar array and equipment.
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An aerial view of land in Taylor where a proposed solar farm will be the focus of legislation.
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A neighborhood in Taylor near a proposed solar farm site. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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An aerial view of land in Taylor where a proposed solar farm will be the focus of legislation.
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An aerial view of land in Taylor where a proposed solar farm will be the focus of legislation.
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Each solar panel would stand 3 feet off the ground on the low side and 10 to 12 feet on the high side. To shield the panels from public view, the solar farm would use vegetation and a green woven privacy mesh as necessary, according to ECA’s zoning application.
Attempts to reach ECA representatives were unsuccessful Friday.
The zoning hearing board initially rejected the special exception request with a 4-0 vote; a written decision accompanying the denial referenced testimony from 10 speakers during the hearing, five of whom objected to the solar farm and five of whom raised questions or concerns.
ECA appealed the denial, and in February 2024, Lackawanna County Judge James Gibbons overturned the rejection and sent it back to the zoning hearing board, citing a lack of evidence from the board to support its denial.
Three months later, Gibbons ordered the board to approve the proposed solar farm.
Mickavicz believes the borough’s lack of regulations for solar farms contributed to the judge’s decision.
Although he expects council to adopt the solar regulations on Wednesday, Mickavicz said they won’t apply to ECA’s project because the solar firm’s zoning approval predates the legislation. ECA will still have to comply with the borough’s other planning and zoning regulations, he said.
ECA’s next step will be to go before the borough planning commission, and the Lackawanna County Regional Planning Commission will also review the plans, Mickavicz said.
Neither Mickavicz nor borough Manager Cindy Bellucci were aware of ECA submitting plans to begin the planning process.
Mickavicz also expects state or federal oversight because the proposed solar farm is on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency superfund site.
Once known as the Taylor Borough Dump, Scranton used the former underground and strip mine as a municipal dump from 1964 to 1968, according to the EPA. There were 1,200 drums of hazardous chemicals and heavy metals illegally dumped there, contaminating air, soil, surface water, sediment and groundwater, according to the agency. Remediation work between 1983 and 1988 included removing the drums, collecting and treating contaminated water in ponds, digging up contaminated soil and adding a soil cover, according to the EPA.
Development options are limited on the land because projects cannot disturb a soil liner added during the remediation.
That means ECA has to add dirt to level the ground, rather than taking it away, Mickavicz said.
He noted that municipalities have to allow for every type of land use somewhere within their boundaries.
“The problem with that particular land is, unfortunately, there was never a use for it in general, other than keep it open space,” he said. “Everybody loves to see open space and leave it undisturbed, but at the end of the day, the laws are laws, regulations are regulations.”