ATHENS — New York’s 2019 Climate Act, which has set strict mandates for the state’s transition to renewable energy sources, became a key issue in a drawn out court battle between a private energy developer and the town of Athens, which had sought to protect its residents from a major solar panel project proposed in a rural residential area.
In a unanimous decision last month, a mid-level appellate court in Albany ruled that the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals had erred when it found there was no “public necessity” for the 43-acre project — in a decision in which the local officials had sought to address the concerns of nearby property owners in the rural Greene County community.
The ruling, which is subject to appeal, stands as a victory for renewable energy advocates whose support of building wind and solar farms often clash with the interests of local communities, including those whose residents are resistant to using rural forests and farmland to build the projects…