OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Town of Dunkirk Supervisor Priscilla Penfold discusses a State Environmental Quality Review Act document with representatives from Solar Liberty at a public hearing in February.

A solar company, and the owner of Williams Street property it seeks for an energy farm, have sued the Town of Dunkirk Board over a rejection of their proposed project.

Solar Liberty Energy Systems and John Dach filed suit in state Supreme Court this week. The filing calls the board’s denial of a solar farm project permit “arbitrary, capricious, irrational, without any rational basis, and affected by error of law because the record … clearly established that petitioners were entitled to approval of a special use permit.”

The project’s plans call for a 3.75-megawatt solar energy system with 14,580 panels on three parcels owned by Dach. The address of the solar array would be 3751 Williams Street East.

The parcels are in a residential district and the town of Dunkirk’s zoning board granted the project a variance to proceed. However, town boards outrank zoning boards in municipal hierarchy, and the Dunkirk Town Board voted, 3-1, to reject the plans.

Monday’s court filing notes the state Supreme Court upheld the zoning board’s use variance. The town of Dunkirk board’s denial was also contrary to the town Planning Board’s recommendation of approval, and goes against the town’s own solar energy policy, the lawsuit continues. Also, the town adopted a negative declaration on the State Environmental Quality Review of the project, finding there would be no negative environmental impacts associated with the project.

The filing goes into the lengthy history behind the proposed solar project. Solar Liberty first leased the property from Dach in 2019. It was once used for grape farming, but Dach discontinued that because it was no longer financially feasible. The property has not been farmed, or used at all, since 2012 — when a tenant farmer allegedly breached his lease and abandoned the land.

Dach cannot reasonably sell, lease or use the property for housing development because the cost of putting water or sewer service in the area is “prohibitively expensive,” according to the lawsuit.

The proposed Solar Liberty energy farm is the “only feasible development option for the property,” the lawsuit claims. Denying Dach the ability to lease the property for that use places an “undue hardship” on him.

The lawsuit alleges the “town board’s denial is based on generalized community opposition from a vocal minority (including a neighboring property owner of vacant land) which cannot be a basis for denying the application.

Solar Liberty and Dach want the court to direct the Dunkirk Town Board to allow the permit. They also seek court costs and “such and other further relief as the court may deem just and proper.”

It should be noted that this lawsuit does not signal another problem for Dunkirk City Hall.

This is as good a place as any to clear up a source of confusion lately: The town of Dunkirk is an entirely separate municipality from the city of Dunkirk. The town of Dunkirk encompasses land directly to the east and the west of the city of Dunkirk. The city splits the town in two, geographically speaking.