There are a few homes in Maybrook with solar panels on the roof. There are no so-called solar panel farms, but one is in the works. So, said Mayor Dennis Leahy, Village Attorney Kelly Naughton has drawn up a draft local law addressing all kinds of solar installations.

A public hearing on the draft law has yet to be set, pending county review of the law and completion of the required New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR) process. But at the village board’s Oct. 26 meeting, members voted unanimously to authorize Naughton to proceed with all required reviews. They also authorized her to proceed with the county-review process for the Carson Power solar farm, proposed for a 78-acre parcel on the west side of Maybrook, near Cardinal Health and Taylor Recycling.

Leahy could not attend the October 26 meeting, but later noted the inter-relationship of the draft law and the Carson Power project.

“The (draft) local law allows, under the village zoning code, the installation of larger community solar facilities,” he said. “The (draft) local law does address the Carson Power solar project.”

The draft law is lengthy and sets specific requirements for all parts of any individual solar installation or solar farm, ground or pole-mounted, including tree removal, setbacks, panel design, fencing, glare and lighting.

Rooftop and building-mounted solar panels will be permitted as accessory uses in all village zoning districts, with various restrictions noted, such as height above roofline and angle of the panels. Anyone with an existing solar installation will be “grandfathered” in.

“Any existing panels which were legally installed,” Leahy said, “will not be affected by the adoption of the local law.”

Copies of the draft law are available at the village Government Center.

At a village board meeting in April, members expressed unanimous and unofficial support for the Carson Power project as it weaves its way through the various required regulatory processes. Plans call for the construction of 22 single-family homes on one side of the parcel, a part of the original Goldman Farm, and two solar fields on the other side that would generate a total of ten megawatts of electricity that would link into the Central Hudson Gas & Electric substation on Maybrook Road. In addition to village and planning board approvals, the plan would also required annexation of 24.5 acres in the Town of Montgomery into the Village of Maybrook.