On May 28, the Sweden Town Board turned down an incentive zoning application from Helios Energy New York LLC for the purposes of constructing a Solar Farm on the west of Lake Road across from the intersection of Swamp Road. The Solar Farm would have featured two 7.488 MWAC solar panel arrays. A public hearing regarding incentive zoning was held May 7 and the public comments were mixed.
The Sweden Town Code offers two pathways for the construction of a solar farm in a residential district: through a variance from the zoning board of appeals or through incentive zoning from the town board. Helios began its application in the summer of 2018 with the Sweden planning board and then filed the incentive zoning application with the town board in March 2019.
