The town of Clymer officially approved a negative declaration and special use permit for the town’s second solar project during the October meeting. P-J photo by Sara Holthouse

CLYMER — Clymer has officially approved a negative declaration and special use permit for the town’s second solar project, to be placed on Clymer Hill Road.

The project is being done by Clean Choice Energy and will be put on 710 Clymer Hill Road. During the town’s October meeting, Town Supervisor Brian Willink said the project is something the town has been looking at for around two years now. The last time the town board looked at it was in July.

“We’ve since taken some time to review the applicant information and make sure that we have everything that we need and the town is comfortable in our actions, whatever they may be,” Willink said. “So, we feel that in the October meeting tonight, we are ready to move this forward to a formal vote.”

The board first reviewed and voted to approve the negative declaration for environmental purposes. Willink read the declaration for the board, which stated the project will not adversely affect the environment or members of the public. The special use permit is the second part that the board approved, and the first of many different steps the project could potentially take, Willink said. The permit will allow for Clean Choice Energy to construct their five megawatt solar project on the location.

The special use permit is a separate permit from a building permit, which will be the next step for Clean Choice Energy to take. Willink briefly read over the special use permit, which included plans for the project including landscaping, inspection, maintenance and the final decommissioning plan.

“This is all fairly standard fare,” Willink said. “It also matches almost identically with what we did with the other project in town so we’re not showing any favoritism to one over the other.”

Willink said engineering firms from both Clean Choice and the town have looked at the project and agreed that it fits within the parameters of the town’s solar law. Special consideration has also been taken by the developer for landscaping and vegetation to make an effort to shield the project as much as possible from neighbors and the general public. Willink added that, hopefully, the developer understands the concerns from the town about the visual aspect of the project, and knows that this is something that may not have been received completely by all of the town residents.

“But, we do our law, it complies with the law and they did not ask for any variances, so this fits within the parameters of all of our zoning and special use laws,” Willink said.

The approval of the special use permit now allows for Clean Choice Energy to move forward with the project.