MINUTES FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP LAND USE BOARD REGULAR MEETING WEDNESDAY, June 27, 2012 The Franklin Township Land Use Board held a meeting at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, June 27, 2012 at the Municipal Building. This meeting has been properly noticed in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act. Chairman James Stryker called the meeting to order. Roll Call Present: Jennifer Fisher, Phil Koury, Jim Stryker, Roger Soltys, John Thonet, Dave Dallas, Lisa Wood, and Ken Weiss. Absent: Scott Bauman, Dan Connor and Paul Dahan. Also present were: Roger Thomas, Esq., William Burr, IV, P.E., Carl Hintz, P.P. and Betty Ann Bechtold, Clerk. Minutes May 9, 2012 Roger Soltys made a motion, seconded by David Dallas, to approve the May 9, 2012 minutes. All present in favor. Motion carried. June 13, 2012 John Thonet made a motion, seconded by David Dallas, to approve the June 13, 2012 minutes. All present in favor. Motion carried. Roger Soltys made a motion, seconded by Lisa Wood, to Re-Open the Public Hearing of May 23, 2012. All present in favor. Motion carried. Public Hearing Quakertown Farms Block 49, Lot 15 Site Plan and Variance Review Solar Farm Mr. Merenich, Esq. introduced himself and testified that they would be physically removing the dwelling and out buildings from the property (except for the barn that would be used for storage). A residence on the property would no longer be part of the variance application. He noted that they would be submitting revised plans showing the removal of the residence and the reconfiguration of the solar panels on July 15, 2012.
Mr. Robert Merenich, Esq., attorney for the applicant, introduced Scott McCamman, P.E., as the Electrical Engineer who is testifying at tonight s meeting. Mr. McCamman, P.E. was sworn in. He explained that he was an electrical engineer from a firm in Gilbert, AZ, and he was licensed in AZ and PA. He testified that he had been designing solar electrical systems since 1995. His credentials were accepted as an expert. Mr. McCamman, P.E. explained some of the benefits of solar power: It s a passive system; it supplements the power grid with no emissions; 1 mega watt provides power for 900 1,000 homes. He testified that the property is highly suitable for a solar farm because the property is basically flat, no soil would be removed or added, it has a suitable access road, the trees were located on the property lines and it is fairly straight forward to connect to the main power source. Mr. McCamman, P.E. explained how the solar facility works. Each panel is comprised of cells; the cells are connected and are attached to a junction box on the back of the panel. The junction box is not combustible and will not produce a shock if touched. The panels only produce power if there is sunlight. The maximum voltage would be 37 volts. James Gatlin certified solar installer was sworn in. His credentials were accepted as an expert. He was certified by the NABCEP. Each panel is a 235 watt unit. Mr. Stryker asked them to describe the safety of each component of the system. The components are all UL certified and approved for their application. All components are insulated and will not give a shock. A special tool is needed to disconnect the wire from the back of the panel. 14 panels are attached to a string; each string has a fuse with a circuit protection device. 20 strings (streams) connect to a combiner box. All conduits are 24 underground. The combiner box is 24 x 30. The combiner box combines the strings. The combiner boxes are locked and have a disconnect switch on the outside. The door of the combiner box cannot be opened without disconnecting the switch. Mr. McCamman testified that all conduits (which carry the combined wires to different components of the system) will be installed 24 underground and the conduits will be designed for the different conditions (including the conduit in the detention basin) on the property. The combiner boxes transfer power by way of underground conduit into inverter boxes. The inverter boxes are mounted on a 4 concrete pad with two boxes per pad. The power coming into the inverter boxes is grounded. All the DC power going into the inverter from the combiner boxes changes to AC power in the inverter. The inverter boxes are designed to keep all outside elements from leaching into the box - all metal surfaces are grounded (UL Certified). The inverter boxes also contain a disconnect switch that has to be activated in order to open the door or shut down the system. The entire system is hooked into a data base monitoring system. There will be no inverter boxes in the basin. The racking system is also grounded. The inverter boxes feed into a medium voltage transformer box. The transformer boxes go into a box or enclosure called a switch gear. 2 switch gears will be located on the property. The switch gears are 7 high x 4 deep x 6 wide mounted on a concrete pad. The switch gears
are attached to the main service meter which will have a main disconnect switch that will shut off all power going into to the utility company s grid. The applicant s attorney testified that there will be training for all emergency personnel on all aspects of the system. The existing poles along Rte. 579 will be replaced to handle the additional wires. The new utility poles will not impact the property owners along Rte. 579. A picture of the new poles will be provided. A noise impact analysis will be provided when the final design of the system is submitted. Mr. Charles Patkachis, Quakertown Fire Chief, was introduced and sworn in. His credentials were accepted. He explained that the most important item they requested was the main disconnect switch. The main disconnect switch is locked in a knock box that can only be turned off by a key that is locked in the fire truck and only opens from a signal sent out from dispatch. Only the fire company would have access to the key in the knox box. The other thing that the fire company required was 5 gates placed around the property; the gates could only be unlocked by the key from the knock box. The gates would be used by emergency vehicles to exit the property. The fire company also required the purchase of a gator that would only be used for access through the property. The applicant would be required to pay any and all cost related to the gator. Photo of gator was marked as A-21. Specification of the gator will be provided. 9 wide access roads will be located around the site. Mr. Patkachis noted that every solar facility was different and they would need to be trained for 3 4, 8 hour, days. Also, they requested yearly training by way of video. Mr. Stryker asked that the system be designed so that all the inverters in the detention basin area will be attached to one main shut off switch. The fire company also asked for some sort of warning lights showing if there is a malfunction of the system. Dispatch would be notified if there was a problem. Mr. Patkachis noted that this solar facility was safer than those located on top of roof tops or in a back yard because it was visible to the public. The meeting was opened to the public. Mrs. Bailey stepped up and identified herself. She asked if this proposed solar facility would be safe for animals. Mr. Merenich could not comment on whether they should or not have animals on the solar farm, only that they would be safe. It was noted that if there was a grass fire the wires would/could burn and they would short out. Yearly maintenance for the life of the facility would be performed by the installation company. A maintenance plan had previously been submitted.
Mr. Bailey stepped up and identified himself. He asked about the new design (layout) of the system. He asked if the property was more suitable for conventional farming. Testimony at the next meeting will be concerning landscaping. Mr. Hintz felt it would be helpful to go on a site visit with the applicant s landscape architect. Mr. Stryker asked to have finalized plans 10 days prior to the next meeting. Public Hearing was continued to July 25, 2012. Mr. Mr. Soltys made a motion, seconded by Ms. Wood, to enter into executive session to discuss possible litigation. Meeting ended at 10:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Betty Ann Bechtold, LUB Clerk