East Union supervisors send solar farm plan to zoning board over property line that may not exist

SHEPPTON – As a solar farm project moved closer to fruition in the valley, it’s been dealt a setback as township supervisors say it’s too close to the front property line. The property owners contend it’s well over a quarter of a mile away.

New Leaf Energy is proposing the solar farm planned for the Austra property at 129 Phineyville Road.

The issue at hand for the 33-acre solar farm is a setback requirement. East Union Township requires a 100-yard setback for solar farms from the property line.

Attorney Nathan C. Favreau, acting as solicitor for the township, said that the plan instead uses a 35-yard setback.

However, that measurement is from the roadway, not the property line as prescribed by the ordinance.

The property line, property owner Amy Austra-Gerneth told the board, is not the road. The 100 acre property spans both sides of Phineyville Road, she said.

According to the Schuylkill County Parcel Locator, it runs from the Sheppton Mountain south to the Catawissa Creek.

Though the property is assigned two parcel numbers, it is one deed, she said.

Pushing the farm back to comply with the setback, if the road were to be considered its own property, would require a complete redesign of the project, New Leaf representatives at the meeting said.

“When you read the description of the property in the deed, its one property,” Austra-Gerneth said.

“The zoning ordinance says, yes, 100-foot setback from a property line,” Stefan Gerneth said. “Not from a township right-of-way, not from a road.”

“This started two years ago,” Austra-Gerneth said. “You’re asking, last call, for the entire plans to be ditched and to start over. That is not fair.”

According to the plans submitted to the Schuylkill County Planning Commission, the scope of the project is well clear of the setback requirements for each property line as-deeded. It is 300 yards from the southern property line and about 150 yards from the northern property line.

After an hour and a half of discussion, supervisors voted to approve three waiver requests for the plan relating to how the plan is filed and to allow a driveway angle of 60 degrees rather than 90 degrees.

Regarding a vote to approve the land development plan, Supervisors Kyle Mummey and Wendy Danchision said they believed the plan needed to go before the zoning hearing board before it could be approved.

Supervisors voted 2-0, with Jill Careyva abstaining, to table the matter until it can be considered by the zoning hearing board.

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