West Mahanoy planners give Reading Anthracite solar farm conditional green light
FILE - A map shows where a proposed solar farm would be located in West Mahanoy Township.
SHENANDOAH HEIGHTS – Five months after receiving zoning approval, a proposed solar farm near Morea has received conditional approval from West Mahanoy Township planners.
The planning commission met Tuesday evening to consider a land development plan from JMB Limited, a sister company to Reading Anthracite, for their proposed solar farm on abandoned mine land southeast of Eleanor Road.
JMB sought and received zoning approval in October.
The panels will take up a 4.5 acre portion of a large parcel, about 400 feet north of Interstate 81.
Jim Moore, a consulting engineer representing the company, said the panels will face south, towards the interstate, and will be screened by the topography and vegetation.
Attorney Gretchen Sterns emphasized that the project is small in nature.
“It’s a rather small site as far as solar goes,” Sterns told the planning commission, noting the project’s size is dwarfed by the parcel’s 300 acre size. “In other townships, there’s a concern — a legitimate concern — in many instances that is taking very usable farmland or land that would be better purposed for other things and putting panels on it.
“That’s not what this is. This is a small area of old mining land that sits very close to 81 and we have not been able to come up with another productive use over the last decade or so,” Sterns added.
Michael Begis, of Arro Engineering, represented the township and presented his review of the plans.
He suggested that emergency services personnel should review the plan to ensure suitable access and that they be provided with a gate key. He also suggested a decommissioning plan.
The township planning commission voted unanimously to approve the plan with conditions, including following suggestions from the Schuylkill County Planning Commission when their review is complete, receiving an approved erosion control plan from the Schuylkill Conservation District, among other minor items.
Township supervisors also voted in favor of the conditional approval at Tuesday night’s regular meeting.
The solar farm is one of several Reading Anthracite and its sister companies has in the works on its old mining lands, including in Schuylkill Township and Foster Township.
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