Proposed solar farm in Kings Park raises fears over health concerns

Plans to build a solar farm in Kings Park have prompted health concerns by residents and drawn ire from a partner in a multimillion-dollar multisport complex and training center approved for construction on an adjacent property.

Kings Park Solar LLC, a subsidiary of BQ Energy -- a Poughkeepsie-based renewable energy company -- submitted a special-exception request to the Smithtown Town Board to permit a public utility facility on about 27 acres on Old Northport Road. The site includes an existing golf driving range.

The application calls for installing about 18,000 solar panels on the property -- a former town-operated landfill -- that will produce electric power purchased by PSEG. BQ Energy, which has built more than three dozen solar and wind farms on landfills and underused land in the Northeast, was awarded a 20-year contract last year to sell electricity to PSEG at the Kings Park location, said Paul Curran, the company's founder and managing director.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation is requiring BQ Energy to consolidate two piles of contaminated construction and demolition waste left on the site by previous owners, cap it with a gas-vent layer and three additional layers, and monitor it, Curran said.

The solar farm "is a very compatible use and we think we can fit in very well in the Town of Smithtown," he said.

But several people at a Nov. 19 public hearing on the project voiced concerns.

Neil Rosenberg, 81, president of a homeowners association for a condominium complex north of the site, said he read online literature about radiation and noise coming from solar sites. "There are too many unknowns in our opinion," he said. "We do not at this time accept this project."

Stanley Salmirs, 81, of Kings Park, said he suspected the project would produce radiation and methane gas and "play havoc with the health of my neighbors."

Kenny Henderson, a member of Prospect Sports Partners LLC, which received site plan approval in July to build the sports complex, said he was attracted to the area because of existing recreational uses, including a skating and hockey rink and tennis facility, which with his business would create more than 70 acres of contiguous recreation on Old Northport Road.

Henderson said since Kings Park Solar's application, about 15 prospective tenants have said they are no longer interested in renting. "Now, we are absolutely 100 percent uncertain if we can build this -- plain and simple -- because nobody wants to come behind the solar panels," he said, later adding, "Kids and public utilities don't mix."

The sports complex was slated to produce more than 400 full- and part-time jobs and generate $38.5 million in annual spending in the area, he said.

Frederick Eisenbud, Prospect Sports' attorney, recommended that the town deny the application because "it is inconsistent with its nearby recreational use" and should be relocated closer to Lawrence Road.

Curran said there are no levels of radiation associated with the project or reported health concerns with the more than 2,500 solar installations on homes and businesses throughout Suffolk County.

The county Planning Commission voted unanimously, 11-0, in October to approve the solar project in Kings Park, Commissioner Michael Kaufman said.

The special exception is under review by the town’s environment and waterways department to assess whether there are any adverse environmental impacts, town officials said.