Daniel Zuckerman is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the Coxsackie Town Board November 13, approved a local law to regulate commercial and residential use of solar energy. The law was approved on a vote of 4 to 1. The new regulations are intended to accommodate solar energy collection systems, at the same time balance potential visual and environmental impacts, by governing the placement, design, construction and operation of those systems. Some residents will be unhappy, but the board had to look at the interests of many when coming up with the law, Coxsackie Town Supervisor Richard Hanse said. “The board really studied it,” he said. “We’re all for if you use it [solar] on your property.” The law will most likely have no effect on proposed large-scale solar projects, such as Hecate Energy's 50-megawatt solar farm near Farm to Market Road, because the state review process supersedes local rule, Hanse said. Town board member Patrick Kennedy cast the lone no vote, saying the law is too restrictive, and will prevent residents in residential-agricultural zones from erecting solar panels. And, Kennedy said, the law would make it more difficult for the Hecate project and the proposed Hudson Energy Development facility on Flint Mine Road to succeed. Passage of the law marks the end of the town's solar moratorium enacted in December 2017, and extended in May. Read the full story at Hudson360 [dot] com.