MINUTES

Village of St. Helena Town Board Meeting and Public Hearings

June 15. 2017

Present were Mayor Robert Barnhill, Mayor Pro Tem Judy Katalinic, Neil Benton, William Hunter, Nancy Jones, Kaye Knowles, Louis Hesse, and Nathaniel Coleman.

Attending the meeting were Alice Southerland, Irene and Bill Baker, Margie Jordan, Jason Bradshaw, April Montgomery, Jonathan Burke, and Fred Flagstad.

The first public hearing was a UDO text amendment for solar farms.

Louis Hesse read the text change proposal to the public.

April Montgomery gave a presentation on solar farms.

Alice Southerland was in favor of solar farms.  She considered it a good thing for the Village of St. Helena.

No one spoke against solar farms.

On motion by William Hunter, and seconded by Neil Benton, it was unanimous to adjourn the public hearing on solar farms.

The second hearing was on the 2017-18 budget proposal for the Village of St. Helena.  No comments were made.

On motion by Nancy Jones, and seconded by Judy Katalinic, it was unanimous to adjourn the budget public hearing.

Mayor Barnhill called the regular meeting to order and prayed.

On motion by Neil Benton, and seconded by Judy Katalinic, minutes of May 18, 2017 were

Approved unanimously

On motion by William Hunter, and seconded by Kaye Knowles, the financial report was approved unanimously.

There was much discussion on the text amendment on solar farms.

Alice Southerland said that the St. Helena Community Center Assn. was in favor of solar farms.

Judy expressed concerns about needing more precise regulations.  She brought up issues including lighting, documentation, requiring a decommission plan, and requiring buffers.

Nancy was concerned because the company had no operating farms.  She felt the surrounding area around the solar farms looks awful.  Grass should be mowed regularly.  Nancy wanted trees planted to block the solar farm from view on the front and sides.

Mayor Barnhill suggested using green slats to help hide the panels and a fence should be 8’ high with spreading trees to block sight of the farm.

William Hunter brought up a buffer zone between trees and fence.

Attorney Coleman was instructed to change the text to increase the height of the fence, add vegetation to hide solar farm, and require grass mowing even while in the construction stage.

On motion by William Hunter to allow solar farms in I-1 zoning (Nancy wanted to table the proposed text for further study; this could not be tabled because of motion on the table) and Neil Benton seconded the motion made by William Hunter.  A vote was taken and the text change amendment including conditions was approved unanimously.

On motion by William Hunter, and seconded by Nancy Jones, the 2017-18 Village of St. Helena budget was approved unanimously.

On motion by William Hunter, and seconded by Judy Katalinic, the North Street drain repairs were approved unanimously.

On motion by William Hunter, and seconded by Nancy Jones, it was unanimous to mow the field next to the hall once a quarter.

On motion by William Hunter, and seconded by Nancy Jones, the meeting was adjourned unanimously.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary D. Bakan, Village Clerk