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From left, Union Township solicitor Paul Bametzreider, supervisors Stephen Lum, Kerry McCrary, and Gary Longenecker, and township manager Brent McFeaters at the Oct. 14 meeting. (Todd Lassa)
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Union Township supervisors voted 3-0 Wednesday to grant conditional approval to SolAmerica Energy’s planned Newswanger Solar Farm at 107 Awol Road.
Approval was made conditional after township solicitor Paul Bametzreider’s recommendation because SolAmerica was not yet able to provide $1.1 million escrow for required stormwater improvements to the project.
“Until that escrow agreement is funded, and the bank is supposed to give us the escrow agreement in writing when it is funded, you cannot finally approve the plan,” Bametzreider told the board.
Union Township’s planning code allows conditional approval before the developer secures financing, Bametzreider said, “but they’re limited to 90 days before that conditional approval goes away.”
In addition to the $1.1 million in escrow for stormwater improvements, signed agreements and the recording fee remain outstanding.
SolAmerica Energy will need the full 90 days of the conditional approval period to secure escrow for the stormwater improvements, Alviez Chagan, senior project development manager for the Atlanta-based company, told supervisors.
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The developer plans a 2-megawatt solar farm to generate solar power sold to energy utilities, on 10 to 20 acres of farmland leased from the Newswanger family, Chagan told LebTown. He did not have the estimated total cost of the solar farm, but said the company expects to begin construction next year.
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In a separate item, township manager Brent McFeaters said in his zoning officer’s report that Sudarshan Niroula approached him about two weeks earlier to discuss establishing a roadside stand and shed at 2629 State Route 72 to sell chickens. Customers would choose a chicken from the house or stand, where it would be defeathered before being handed to the customer, McFeaters said.
Niroula told McFeaters the business plans to have 100 to 200 chickens in stock and expects to sell about 50 per week, but to sustain such a business the business would need 500 to 600 chickens, including peeps, McFeaters said. The property is on eight acres in a residential neighborhood zoned as an agricultural district, he said.
“They can have up to a thousand chickens,” McFeaters said. “My concern is avian influenza, for one thing.”
Before Union Township can issue a zoning permit, Niroula’s chicken business would need a number of state and federal permits, including a permit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“They kind of backed off when I mentioned the USDA permit,” McFeaters said.
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Todd Lassa is a career journalist with experience at metro dailies, a business weekly, a Capitol Hill newsletter publisher, and three national car enthusiast magazines. Lassa also contributes to LNP/Lancaster Online and Autoweek and is founding editor of thehustings.news. He lives in Columbia with his… More by Todd Lassa
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