The Cortland Common Council on Tuesday greenlit a lease agreement with the Davis Hill Development, LLC for a solar energy production site in the city.
The project had been discussed by the council in August 2022, but there was a six-month period dedicated to studying the feasibility of the project.
Now, Davis Hill will lease 13.67 acres of the 136 South Pendleton St. site from the city. According to Davis Hill vice president of business development Tory Hanna, he noted in a document that the company will also connect with National Grid to conduct an interconnection study, as well as conduct studies of available sunlight, water, and other data.
A copy of the lease agreement can be seen here on pages 9-17 of supporting documents from Tuesday’s meeting.
The layout of the solar energy production site project on Pendleton Street in the city of Cortland. (Photo provided by Davis Hill Development, LLC)
The project faced some opposition from councilmember Seth Thompson (D-5th Ward). Thompson noted he was concerned about the impacts the solar development would have on the area. He was the only no vote on the measure.
“If I had that site correct, that’s more of a railroad crossing and it’s near the high school, and currently an elementary school,” he said. “I'm not certain of what other studies have been done, (regarding) what type of impact that may have environmentally, and potential hazards with solar being there. I am not sure what that might be or what it might not be, but I didn’t see all those details, so I did have concerns.”
Mayor Scott Steve said in response to Thompson’s comments that the project is currently being considered by the city and county planning boards.
“There will be public hearings in both those planning boards to hear all those concerns,” Steve said. “This has to be approved by the state because that’s a brownfield site. Solar is a great use of that facility and that hill. The schools are very aware of it and also excited about it.”
Steve said that the city negotiated for Davis Hill to build a charging station that the Cortland Enlarged City School District would be able to use to fuel its transportation fleet.
The mayor said the city is leading the site at $1,200 per acre, with a 2% escalator every year for 25 years.
