Florence Township moves to create ordinance restricting future solar fields on landscape
By Charley Falkenburg, Special Writer
FLORENCE — RenewTricity’s attempt to put a 137-acre solar farm on Bustleton Road last year has the township scrambling to create an ordinance to protect its farmland from future solar projects.
As large solar farms continue to gain momentum in New Jersey, so do the concerns of rural townships like Florence, which worry about losing its prized farmland to a sea of solar panels.
Just last year, citizens from Florence and Burlington banded together to fight RenewTricity and its sister corporation, Florence PV, LLC, which sought to place 110,500 solar panels on Bustleton Road, right on the Burlington-Florence border.
The zoning board officially rejected the application Tuesday night, (for the story see Page 3A) but the close call has spurred Florence to implement a regulation that would limit the locations of future solar fields. With virtually no protection against unwanted solar farms coupled with state incentives to create more of them, officials are hurrying to bring a rough draft back to the council for consideration sometime in the spring.
”We want to have a defensible ordinance — we don’t want hundreds and hundreds of acres of solar for no good reason,” said Township Administrator Richard Brook at the Jan. 16 meeting. “There’s nothing wrong with solar, but it is a question of locations and what is reasonable.”
Joe Johnson, who lives on Bustleton Road, was at the meeting to voice his support of such an ordinance. With the Bustleton Road solar battle still fresh in his mind, he urged the council to enact some kind of law quickly before the same company came back for round two.
”They went away pretty much because the economy went bad, and they couldn’t make any money off of it. I think if the economy went up, they’d be back tomorrow,” Mr. Johnson said. “We just lost 108 acres across from the high school to solar — we should put a halt to this somewhere or God knows where it’s going to end up.”
July 26, 2011, the zoning board granted land use approval for the site across from Florence Memorial High School on Cedar Lane to applicant EffiSolar Energy Corporation, of Coquitlam, Canada.
However, the Cedar Lane farmland has not yet been built up with solar panels.
As of Tuesday, EffiSolar Energy had not applied for the necessary construction permits to begin development, said Nancy Erlston, zoning board clerk. The company has two years to obtain the permits unless it seeks an extension.
Mr. Johnson suggested solar fields might be better suited for specific sites, such as landfills — one of the places Mr. Brooks said the township recommends. Like Mr. Books, Mr. Johnson emphasized he was not anti-solar.
”I’m just against having it on really good farmland,” Mr. Johnson added.
David Van Camp, of Burlington, also attended the meeting to echo concerns about solar farms. Although not from Florence, the Bustleton Road debacle was too close to home for his liking, and he had helped fight the proposed solar farm as a member of Citizens Against Florence PhotoVoltaic.
Over the past seven months, he and hundreds of residents from Florence and Burlington helped make sure the Bustleton farmland was not used for solar.
”For a municipality over the border to speak out against a project is commendable,” Mr. Van Camp said after the meeting.
He mentioned to the council that Sustainable Jersey would be releasing a package of sample ordinances townships could use as a model for their own regulations.
”They (Sustainable Jersey) realize the only way to stop this is to have a good ordinance in place,” he added.
Mr. Brook thanked both men for their suggestions and input and agreed properties like the one on Bustleton are just the kind Florence wants to address.
”It’s one of those areas that need to be looked at to try and avoid these types of situations in the future,” he said. “This is important and has to be implemented in 2013.”