County planners back solar array in Albion, screening berm at Barre Stone Products

ALBION – The Orleans County Planning Board has backed a 2.25 megawatt solar project in Albion and 525-foot-long screening berm for Barre Stone Products.

Planners met last Thursday and recommended the Town of Albion approve a special use permit and the site plan for a solar project with 5,048 panels at 12811 Route 31, on land owned by Rachael Murray near the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds. The project is an extension of the solar array on Long Bridge Road, but they are separate facilities with their own interconnections to the grid, planners said.

USLE/West Albion Community Solar of Latham, NY is the applicant for the new solar project. The panels will be connected to a single-axis tracker racking system. The system will encompass 16 acres of a 63-acre site. The solar array will be surrounded by a fence with a vegetative buffer. There won’t be a battery-storage system. Construction of the project will take 6-8 months.

Planners also recommended the Town of Barre approve a special use modification for a 525-foot-long screening buffer berm by a mine at 4412 Oak Orchard Rd.

Keeler Construction and Barre Stone Products will provide a visual shield and sound barrier for the mine. The berm will be 12 feet high with a base width of 112 feet, allowing for a 1:3 slope that will be easy to maintain with a mowable grass cover.

Barre Stone officials estimated the berm will take about two weeks to construct.