Nextera

The addition of Calverton Solar Center will bring the total approved solar energy production capacity in Calverton to 88 megawatts, enough to power more than 14,000 homes.

The Riverhead Planning Board last night granted preliminary site plan approval to the proposed Calverton Solar Energy Center, a 22.9 megawatt commercial solar energy production facility to be built on approximately 198 acres off Edwards Avenue in Calverton.

Nearly five months after the Riverhead Town Board authorized the supervisor to sign a $1.5 million community benefit agreement with Long Island Solar Generation, the agreement has not yet been signed by the developer.

The Riverhead Planning Board in a split vote yesterday rejected the site plan for a 22.9 MW commercial solar facility on 198 acres off Edwards Avenue. But the proposal is by no means dead. It is a permitted use on the site under a special permit granted by the town board in December and the applicant is expected to discuss site plan revisions with the planning department.

Th negative declaration issued to the 22.9 MW solar facility proposal should remain as is, three members of the town board said in a letter to the planning board dated March 30. The letter prompted criticism from the two members who refused to sign it.

The town is faced with a gnarly decision, but everything about this application has been gnarly right for the beginning. Here's why.

Planning Board Chairman Stan Carey voted against setting the public hearing because new site plan drawings show two 45-foot-tall poles at the substation on the site. Carey said the town board, which handled environmental review of the project, should take another look at it.

The Riverhead Town Board Tuesday approved the special permit application for a 22.9 megawatt commercial solar energy facility off Edwards Avenue in Calverton.

The approval of a new 22.9 megawatt solar energy facility on 198 acres in Calverton is on the town board’s agenda tomorrow.

Most of the comments, questions and discussion that took place during the hearing, which lasted more than an hour and forty minutes, was among town board members, town staff and representatives of the applicant.