ELDRED, NY — Following a lightly attended December 13 public hearing, the Highland Town Board unanimously OKed a local law providing a six-month moratorium on the development of commercial solar-energy-producing fields.

The moratorium provides a buffer while a planned update of the town zoning is to be completed. Town zoning currently does not address solar power, either residentially or commercially.

The law provides for the initial 180-day moratorium period and up to two additional three-month extensions at the discretion of the town board.

The law also provides for a hardship variance to the moratorium if a property owner can demonstrate an “unusual hardship or circumstances.” In that circumstance, the board, “in its sole and absolute discretion,” may supersede the moratorium by directing the planning board to consider a special-use permit or by directing the code enforcement officer to issue a building permit that would otherwise be prohibited.

Attorney for the town Michael Davidoff said that oversight board review and public hearings would be required in any case.

Supervisor Jeff Haas said the town had received no solar applications.

The only question at the public hearing came from Upper Delaware Council (UDC) Resource Specialist Peter Golod, who asked if the board was “going to factor the River Management Plan (RMP) in its zoning.”

Golod’s question was an apparent reference to a recent and controversial UDC position paper which defined commercial solar installations (arrays) as power plants, and notes that land-use guidelines of the RMP define power plants as non-conforming uses within river’s landward boundary.

The UDC sent the paper to elected leaders in member towns in September, identifying it as the UDC staff and National Park Service position on commercial solar.

A local land-use decision found to be non-conforming with the RMP could spark additional oversight review of that and any subsequent related decisions.

Those supporting the paper say it does not differ from a similar paper drawn to reject fracking in the corridor, which was approved with only one dissenting vote and no further discussion.

UDC members opposed to the paper say the RMP does not address solar power, and the position paper has no authority unless it is incorporated into the RMP, which would require new hearings and could be expensive as well as contentious.

Apparently responding on those terms, Haas said, “We’ve opted to go with local control. We’re going to go with our zoning.”

In other business, Haas said the town has been awarded a $489,700 Climate Smart grant from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, for the relocation of the town highway department away from its current Halfway Brook location. Haas said the $1.2 million project, located behind the town’s Senior Citizen Center on Route 55, is now underway. He said he believed the grant to be the largest ever received by the town.