Lightstar solar farm project moves to next stage

After a long and winding road that began with its initial July 2023 presentation, Lightstar Renewables has received a negative declaration of SEQRA from the town of Goshen Planning Board for its 2.4-megawatt solar farm on 61 acres along Randall Street/Route 94.

The negative declaration was announced at the October 17 planning board meeting after Lightstar allayed concerns about the decibel level to be produced by the work at their site. The company estimated the maximum decibel level to be produced by their site at 53 decibels, including 8 decibels caused by insects.

They offered to plant more shrubberies if the planning board wanted to further subdue the sounds of the site. In all the company is planning to plant 332 trees and remove 331 trees. The next step for the project is to have a draft resolution written before final approval of the project.

Also at the meeting a negative declaration was granted for Leuner Realty LLC’s application for an amended site plan to a truck repair and sales facility. The subdivision, which straddles the village of Florida border, had originally been approved back in 1998 but it had expanded since then without receiving official approval.

Leuner has plans to build 22 parking spots and a 200-gallon-per-day well on the site. The planning board found no adverse impacts to the plans and granted the negative SEQRA declaration. The project still needs to receive a variance from the ZBA and come back to the planning board for a draft resolution.