Carly Miller is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the Cairo Town Board has called a public hearing next month to discuss a six-month moratorium on commercial solar farms just as two private companies are advancing applications to build facilities within town limits. The Colorado-based company Clean Energy Collective presented a proposal to the town planning board last week to build a community solar farm on a 93-acre site off Old Route 23. Clean Energy's plan calls for a 2-megawatt, 8.7-acre facility with 18 panels in each section, rising 15 feet above the ground on a pile-mounted rack system, three rows high by six rows across. Local Central Hudson customers will be eligible to sign up, said Clean Energy spokesman Tim Braun. Once approval is given, the site should take six to eight weeks to build. The solar farm would be surrounded by a chain-link fence and set back 75 feet from the road. In response to the proposal, the planning board expressed concerns about the farm's visual impact, as well as safety and security at the site. The board has requested formal input from the town fire department on the plan. A second solar company, Grandview Solar, initiated the application process for a lot at 743 Main Street, but representatives skipped the last two planning board meetings. The Cairo Town Board will hold a public hearing 7 p.m., Mon., Apr. 2 on the town's solar farm moratorium, which would impose a six-month delay on all solar projects. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.