Solar Energy Ordinance Resurfaces at Lower Nazareth Supervisors Meeting

Tabled last month, the Solar Energy Ordinance resurfaced for review by the supervisors. At question was if it was ready to be advertised and if a public hearing should be scheduled.

Both the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission and the Lower Nazareth Township Planning Commission have reviewed the document and made comments. The ordinance discourages the construction of solar parks, and, instead, encourages roof mounted solar panels.

Solicitor Gary Asteak explained that the board’s viewpoint is similar to the situation when satellite dishes first came out. They were huge pieces of equipment that were unsightly and occasionally placed in people’s front yards. Today, satellite dishes are small and roof mounted. The board doesn’t want to have unsightly, deteriorating solar parks years down the road, when they can encourage people to utilize roof-top systems.

Among the items listed in the proposed ordinance are restrictions on the size of units. For residences, ground units would be restricted to no more than five percent of the property size. Also, the amount of electricity that commercial or residential solar users would be allowed to produce would be restricted to their average yearly use – no more than that.

Supervisor James Pennington clarified for the board that businesses would not be allowed to install solar systems for the purpose of generating electricity for the power company. The electricity generated by the solar panels would only be used to offset the electricity that the business uses. Lower Nazareth Township manager Timm Tenges reiterated that solar system users are not allowed to be electricity producers.

The ordinance was not voted on or passed. The supervisors did vote "yes" to have the ordinance drafted for advertisement. The board also determined that the public hearing on the Solar Energy Ordinance would tentatively be held during the first supervisor’s meeting in March.  

In other business, healthcare coverage was also discussed at last night's meeting. Robin Richardson, manager of governmental insurance services at the Benecon Group, explained how health insurance cooperatives work.

“I wouldn’t have brought it to the board if I didn’t think it was finally in our best interests," Tenges told board members.

He said that the cooperative insurance could save the township about $3,000 a year by reducing healthcare rates.

Richardson explained that cooperatives bring several small entities together to purchase healthcare coverage as a large group. Instead of a small group of 12 lives, they would be a part of 180 municipalities and more than 10,000 lives, she said. The medical coverage would be the same, so employees would still use their Capital Blue Cross cards. The change occurs “behind the scene.”

If at the end of the year the municipality has paid in more than it needed to cover claims, Benecon would then write a check to return the surplus to Lower Nazareth Township, Richardson said.

If one of the members of the cooperative needs more money to cover claims than it put into the system, then a small percentage is subtracted from the other members to help cover that additional cost, she said. Typically, municipalities or businesses will have five years of surplus and two years of expense, according to Richardson.

The supervisors did not make any decisions at the meeting about acceptance or rejection of the cooperative. They listened to the presentation, asked a few questions and opted to take some time to review the printed materials that Richardson presented to them.

The next Board of Supervisor's meeting is scheduled for Feb. 23 at 6:30 p.m.