It will take a while to complete all the required processes but assuming all goes well with government approvals, Maybrook could have its first solar panel project, one that Pine Bush realtor Richard “RJ” Smith says would be the first in the country to generate enough electric to power an entire village.

Smith appeared before the recent Maybrook Village Board, representing the remaining land from the original Goldman Farm, along with CarsonPower managing director Emilie Flanagan, to outline their plans for a78-acre parcel on the west side of the village, near the Cardinal Health and Taylor Recycling properties. Those plans call for the construction of 22 single-family homes on one side of the parcel 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. This plan would also require the annexation of 24.5 acres in the Town of Montgomery into the Village of Maybrook.

The 78 acres is bisected by a section of wetlands. The proposal would see the residences built on the east side of the wetlands, with the solar panels to the west of the wetlands. The wetlands and adjacent buffers, Flanagan said, are more than 300 feet wide, providing a natural buffer between existing and proposed homes and the solar fields.

The total site has a long history with the village. Originally, 70 single-family homes were proposed for the entire site, Smith said, later reduced to 50. But because the site is bisected by wetlands, the N.Y.S. Dept. required a 100-foot buffer on each side, raising development costs prohibitively and effectively “killed the plan”, Smith said. Smith said developers want to split the 78 acres into two (or maybe three) parcels, keeping the pre-existing approvals for the 22 residences to the east of the wetlands (one parcel) and obtaining required approvals for two solar panel fields (thus one or two parcels) to the west.

Should all go well with negotiations with Central Hudson, state regulators, land annexation hearing by the town and village and land re-zoning and village planning board approvals, Flanagan said village residents would have first rights to tie into the new solar panel grid. State law, she said, regulates solar electricity distribution and costs. Homeowners who “subscribe” to the solar electric service through Central Hudson would get a ten percent discount off their bills. Maybrook Mayor Dennis Leahy said he had solar panels on the roof of his home. “How would that work?” he asked.

Flanagan said he would compare what he is paying now with what he would pay if tied into the “new” service and determine if he wanted to subscribe.

Concluding their presentation, Smith and Flanagan noted what they see as advantages to the solar plan: tax ratables; no need for water or sewer service and no traffic except for twice-a-month mowing the land beneath the panels and servicing of the panels. The group said they are currently working with the state and with Central Hudson to iron out details.

The Village Board expressed interest in the proposal and said Village Engineer Sean Hoffman and Attorney Kelly Naughton would confer with the principals on required moves ahead.