BEMUS POINT – While the current zoning laws for the town of Ellery do include regulations on wind and solar farms, concerns have grown about the larger facilities that have been becoming more common.

With both of these energy sources gaining prevalence due to pushes at the state level, town officials have proposed a moratorium for each that would temporarily prohibit any plans for either in the town.

At the town board meeting on Dec. 9, Town Board members began a discussion on the wind energy moratorium. Community residents were welcomed to come and hear about the newly proposed local law. The moratorium would be temporary, and allow the town about six months to devise regulations for these energy farms. After ensuring that no significant adverse impacts would result from the moratorium, the board members closed the public hearing and accepted the moratorium for wind energy.

Neil Robinson, Ellery town attorney, said the idea for this moratorium came when the town officials wanted to implement new local laws and regulations on solar and wind energy before either can attempt to move into the town. Robinson noted that the town officials do not wish to cause any significant hassle to development companies, yet noted that it is the town’s duty to mitigate any potential risks toward the people of the town.

“What the town is concerned with are these larger wind farms, or larger solar farms. The town wants to adopt new local laws for each of them, sort of establishing more regulations and procedures,” said Robinson. “The whole idea of it is to protect the public health, safety, and welfare.”

Robinson said spacing and location are essential to selecting a location for solar or wind farms. This is because of the need to ensure that the farms will not interfere with people’s homes or lives. Not only this, but Robinson also noted the need to set regulations to guarantee that the project will be cleaned up if it is ever closed or abandoned. While no solar or wind farms will be allowed to move into the area during the moratorium, this will not affect these energy types for single, or two-family, homes.

At this time, the town officials have hired Wendel Engineering as a consultant. The engineering group will be tasked with coming up with reasonable and protective regulations that the town can put in place.

Town officials were not able to hold a public hearing on the solar farm moratorium at the December meeting. Instead, town officials will be holding a public hearing for the solar moratorium at the January meeting. Robinson noted that action is going to be taken on the solar energy moratorium following the hearing.