Business & Tech
Novato Solar Flap Heats Up
Proposed Olive Ave. solar farm to go before planning commission on May 28.
A proposed 20-acre solar farm will go up for review before county officials later this month amid controversy, , The Marin Independent Journal reports.
Green Point Nursery owner Jim Balestreri's plan for 664-kilowatt solar farm at the intersection of Olive and Atherton Avenues will go before the planning commission on May 28.
Critics have assailed the proposal as a potential threat to land zoned for agriculture, according to the report.
Concerns over glare and threats to wildlife have been cited too.
Former county planning commissioner and community leader Hank Barner told the publication that the proposal could establish a dangerous land-use precedent that would "put in put in jeopardy our agricultural land."
Balestreri told the Marin Independent Journal that opponents of his proposal were "overzealous" advocates with environmental impact concerns that aren't supported by scientific evidence.
"It's a turf war," he told the publication, that's "what we have going on here."
