Help save Crow Hill in Plattekill and Lloyd New York from industrial scale developers-

Crow Hill is a rocky hill covered in wildlife, forest, unique wetlands, farm, apple orchards, and a stream runs through it that feeds the Black Creek estuary running into the Hudson River.

Crow Hill Road has historic significance in that this road was the primary route before highways that helped horse and buggy, then early automobiles pass from the Wallkill valley / New Paltz New York to the Hudson River at New Paltz Landing to cross over to Poughkeepsie. This was a main road for the time and eventually replaced by new highways and thus the road became a dead end and the hill reverted to nature.

On this hill sits the Durham Patent house - a old stone Dutch Vernacular architecture house that began life in the early to mid 1700's as one of the earliest old stone homes still standing in Clintondale NY

The Solar Farm:

Carson Solar is the large developer who makes profit from Government subsidies and payments from the buyers of the development. They develop sites and build the solar fields then sell them off to private equity, investors, and corporations who mark up the price of the electricity and sell it to the power company. Once complete they collect hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars in the form of rebates and incentives and then they basically sell the debt to unsuspecting ESG investors who think they are buying wholesome businesses but may be buying a problem. They plan to cover over 40 acres or more with solar panel, metal structures, chain link fences, concrete slabs, and lithium ion battery banks (LION Batteries) located a short distance from the road and this historic old home.

The effect this plan has in its current form may be devastating to the wildlife, water runoff, ecosystems, health of children and pets, frogs, fish, salamanders, turtles, the historic home and the preservation of history.

The reason you can make a difference:

We need you to sign on to our petition to ensure the town officials listen to your voice and let you make a difference in guiding this plan. The plan needs to be adjusted to protect these features. We feel there is no reason the town Planning Board and Supervisor can not stand up for what is right and listen to the practical suggestions of the community. A more deliberate approach by the Planning Board is warranted and there is no reason a rush to approve is needed. We suggest some adjustments be made to redesign the plan to improve the issues of flooding, washing these precious animals downstream from their home habitats and the deleterious effects on their entire ecosystem along with the health impacts that could be foreseeable by the politicians on the boards who will be responsible for their decisions. In addition the historic old stone home that has been here before the town existed in fact it likely is one of the reasons because the people who built this old home helped guide their Quaker principles through involvement in the founding of this town.

Its not hard to sign on to this petition and offer your suggestions to protecting the history and humanity of people who care for the lands here. These innocent creatures from Bald Eagles to Muskrats and colorful turtles are in need of your support. The people who live down stream in flood plains according to the EPA flood maps and water runoff maps will suffer from the rain shedding nature of silicon solar panels. We cant speak ourselves to the additional potential for the chemicals used on, in and to manufacture the panels but some of you may be knowledgeable about issues beyond our original sense of the risks here - we appreciate your support and input as well in form of letters, certified mail, and joining our petition.

More to come as we develop this site further.

A new development by suggestion of an experienced Fireman who apparently completed training on lithium battery fires explained that it takes days and thousands of gallons of water to extinguish the fires. These thousands of gallons sprayed onto the burning lithium ion chemicals spewing fire from a bank of batteries is hard to extinguish. https://hct-world.com/how-to-put-out-a-lithium-ion-battery-fire/#:~:text=Water%20mist%20has%20proven%20to,water%20and%20time%20is%20required. In recent news reports Governor Hochul expressed her concerns and called for investigations because in the past year 4 solar farm battery fires occurred out of about 84 solar installations resulting in a defect rate of nearly 5% - a very risky rate. The 11,000 sf concrete pad covered in batteries will be of great risk to a historic 274 year old Dutch vernacular architecture stone house build about 1750. This battery bank if on fire could damage the historic old house, fire truck runoff could damage it as well. Lithium Battery fires produce toxic Hydrofluoric Acid and gas which is poisonous. HERE is a recommendation by NY state code council to updat the regulations of battery BESS solar systems due to recent fires. The new guidance is coming out soon, before Proceeding it may be a good idea to consider all this.

Additionally the road is too narrow to accommodate the men and equipment to fight the fire and the location of the solar battery slab is too close to the road so if it lit up they would not be able to drive the trucks to the ponds up the hill to get enough water to fight the fire. There are people renting trailers across the street from this just 30 feet away. It is simply unsafe for the firemen to operate in this congested area. This needs to be moved closer to water access and out of sight. The local fire chiefs have been asked for their comments however we are awaiting their suggestions on how to modify the plan.

See a web site ( https://sites.google.com/view/ulstercounty-solar-f... )that shows some information from many government agencies about the imposing risks the Planning Board of Plattekill have been unaware of this far. You CAN shed light on shameful acts. So you stand up! Now. Today. Join on to our petition. If you have a moment and 61 cents send a letter. Post online. Let them know how you feel. Let them know you want this recalled, redesigned, and more well engineered to mitigate the impacts of concern. There are many! Read on here https://sites.google.com/view/ulstercounty-solar-f...

Water problem due to neighbors clear cutting land has already caused a noticeable increase in water runoff. See the attached video on the website above, this video shows what happens often during heavy rains since the reduction in trees on Crow Hill. Now this developers poor engineering will make this significantly worse and the town planning board is not equipped to understand this yet - but with your support to look more closely and further into alternative methods of preventing water run off its possible they will - you can do this.

Here is what happens when your elected officials get false advice from the commercial applicants - your town pays:

https://www.wwnytv.com/video/2023/07/28/solar-farm...

https://www.wwnytv.com/video/2023/07/27/wwny-resid...

https://photos.app.goo.gl/GujKdJmxGtHrprxp6