Officials in the Town of Ulster last week approved a site plan and special use permit for a solar array proposed by Lightstar Renewables, which several months ago generated significant opposition, and continues to raise hackles with some in the community who feel the green energy project would actually be bad for the environment.
“It is deeply disappointing to witness the advancement of this project in a location identified by our town’s comprehensive plan as important and sensitive an area that the plan indicates should be protected,” said Laura Hartmann of TownofUlsterCitizens.org during during a board meeting held on Thursday, September 4. “The town will have to live with the consequences of this decision for many years.”
Vicki Lucarini said that she usually focuses her criticism of the Lightstar proposal on the potential adverse impact on the environment, but “I’m aware that there is a possibility that further damage to our ecosystems that this project will cause does not matter to you.”
Instead, she highlighted municipal issues.
“It is fact that the last time the Town of Ulster updated its comprehensive plan was 18 years ago,” she said. “This did not include the town’s zoning codes. So how do these very outdated zoning codes affect how the town operates today? The town board seems deliberately negligent on keeping its planning and zoning codes up to date to deal with the issues we are facing in the world today. Your inertia is your excuse to allow bad ideas to prevail in our town.”
The Lightstar project is set to occupy around 42.8 acres of a 70.2-acre property off Tuytenbridge Road once owned by DSC Sisters of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Town Supervisor James E. Quigley, III discussed the steps that led to Thursday’s resolution.
“A public hearing for the special use permit was held in January of 2025,” he said. “The project has completed SEQR (State Environmental Quality Review). The EAF (Environmental Assessment Form) was fully vetted. Part one was fully vetted, which produced a part two.
And part three was recently distributed to the Town Board, addressing the environmental impacts of the project.”
While council-members voted in approval, they weren’t all enthusiastic about it.
“I have been against the installation of solar panels on undeveloped land,” said Clayton Van Kleeck. “I am learning as we go through this process that as a councilman, I don’t have, we don’t have the right to choose and what is done if we’ve already got laws in place and rules in place that stipulate what can and can’t be done.”
Van Kleeck added that after discussing his concerns with town attorney Jason Kovacs, it was made clear to him that denying the project might result in “significant litigation risks for the town.”
“What I’ve learned since then, which I appreciate Jason for giving me that information, is that our role as council…is to make sure that the rules are followed. The rules are what was sent by our zoning…The zoning never got updated to deal with what the master plans intention was. Therefore our zoning does not prohibit this development…You can’t punish somebody because we thought there should be a stop sign. You only do it if there is a stop sign.”
Van Kleeck said he would like to work with the town and community to update municipal zoning, but Quigley said there might only be so much that’s within the town’s discretion. He referenced a solar farm proposal brought before the Town of Athens several years ago that was turned down.
“The appellate court looked at the record, particularly the Climate Act of 2019, and the statement of public policy that was created by that act, which said New York state shall have X-percent of renewable energy by such and such a date, and shall have X-number of megawatts of battery storage by such and such a date. The appellate court ruled that the achievements of those goals were in the public interest, and ordered the modification of the decision in the trial court, granting the zoning variance for the subject property.”
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