Nothing new here.
Biomass plant in Ellicottville runs into even further delays
By Kathy Kellogg CATTARAUGUS CORRESPONDENT
LITTLE VALLEY — The much-delayed biomass plant in the Town of Ellicottville is facing another holdup.
The Cattaraugus County Planning Board needs more information before it can complete a review of Laidlaw Energy’s site plan and special-use permit applications for the energy generating facility near the intersection of Routes 242 and 219.
The project’s final environmental impact statement was completed last week by the Ellicottville Town Planning Board, which must make a decision to approve or deny the controversial project by Oct. 15.
The deadline is part of a settlement of Laidlaw’s lawsuit against the town, filed because the company grew impatient with the town Planning Board’s lengthy review of the company’s documents. According to town officials, the documents were revised several times or submitted months late.
Laidlaw first requested town permission about three years ago to convert a former natural gas co-generation plant to burn waste wood chips but has now indicated the fuel source could be willow chips or biomass. Town residents have expressed strong opposition due to air quality issues and other concerns.
The town’s Zoning Board of Appeals ruled the plant is not allowed under current zoning laws and will require an area variance as well as use variances for the co-generation facility, a conveyor belt, a cooling tower, an exhaust stack and for noise and smoke that will exceed the town’s standards. Laidlaw has filed a suit against the board, and a court date is scheduled later this month.
The town Planning Board can’t make its decision without the Zoning Board and the county Planning Board’s decisions, said County Planner Chris Crawford after the county Planning Board voted to table the project until the town Planning Board provides more information.
Crawford said the town Planning Board requested the county review the energy plant’s site plan and special-use permit application and asked for a review of Laidlaw’s special- use permit application for a lumber-drying kiln using energy generated on the 17-acre site. The review was triggered because the project is within 500 feet of state Route 242.
The county Planning Board had enough information to conclude there will be no intercommunity or countywide impacts due to a special use permit for operation of the lumberdrying kiln. But the board could not make the same determination about the site plan for both the kiln and the biomass-fueled energy generating facility due to a lack of documents.
The board decided to table the review and requested from the town a copy of the final completed site plan, elevation drawings, a lighting plan and evidence that the Zoning Board of Appeals has granted the necessary variances to make the project a legal use.
“A site plan review is limited in its scope as to how [a project] affects adjacent properties, and it’s hard to do one unless you have an idea that you have a legal use,” Crawford said.
The board’s next scheduled meeting is Oct. 25.
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