Six Flags solar farm: Court OKs Jackson project

Mike Davis | Asbury Park Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Six Flags Great Adventure plans solar farm in Jackson An Ocean County judge gave the OK to plans for a solar farm on property owned by Six Flags Great Adventure, even though it would require cutting down thousands of trees.

JACKSON - The township's decision to allow a solar farm at Six Flags Great Adventure was perfectly valid, despite requiring developers to cut down thousands of healthy trees, an Ocean County judge ruled.

In her June 19 decision, Ocean County Assignment Judge Marlene Lynch Ford ruled that plans for a 21-megawatt solar facility proposed by Six Flags and KDC Solar LLC could proceed.

"Six Flags has been, and will remain, a good custodian of the environment. We are also good corporate citizens, and along with KDC Solar, are committed to mitigating any impact to the environment," park spokeswoman Kristin Siebeneicher said in an email. "Clean energy is right for the environment and our future, and this project is a giant step toward becoming a net-zero carbon theme park."

FLASHBACK: Jackson OKs Six Flags solar farm

In 2015, six environmental groups — Clean Water Action, the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, the Sierra Club of New Jersey, Environment New Jersey, the Crosswicks-Doctors Creek Watershed Association and Save Barnegat Bay — filed suit against the park, solar company and township after an ordinance change allowed the project to get off the ground.

“It’s more than just disappointing for us as plaintiffs. This is a loss for clean energy,” said Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey, who you can hear from in the above video. “We shouldn’t be clear-cutting Pinelands forests to install solar. This is a massive error by the courts. It’s hard to make sense of a decision that reaffirms it.”

The plaintiffs have argued the solar farm project represents one step forward but two steps back: In order to build the solar farm, developers would cut down nearly 15,000 trees, many of which are linked to the Pinelands National Reserve but not under the same protections.

Clean energy New Jersey will soon be brimming with solar arrays across our rooftops and roadside electric charging portals as plentiful as today’s gas stations. Offshore wind farms will be churning away and the state will increasingly depend upon rewewable energ

Instead, they called for the installation of solar canopies over the 100-acre parking lot, as it would provide comparable solar energy without removing trees. Six Flags has dismissed that concept, as it would require the removal of needed parking spaces.

"We are disappointed the court sided with chainsaws instead," said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. "We believe the court was wrong in siding with Six Flags and KDC in the destruction of an environmentally sensitive forest for solar panels."

SOLAR FLARE: 3 things to know about Six Flags solar farm

O’Malley said the plaintiffs are “certainly considering further appellate action.

“This is not the final word. We think we have a strong case,” he said.

The project was the subject of a nine-month-long planning board hearing, focusing mostly on neighboring residents' fears of flooding and loss of property value.

But the lawsuit itself centers around a 2015 zoning change that allowed solar farms to be constructed in conservation areas.

Great Adventure president comments on solar plan Six Flags Great Adventure president John Fitzgerald comments on theme park's plan to build a solar farm on their property. STAFF VIDEO BY THOMAS P. COSTELLO

"I’m very much in favor of solar panels, but not at the expense of the nature we’re trying to save. We have a beautiful habitat here," one resident said during the hearings. "What's the reason we would let it go — because somebody wants to build solar panels?"

The plaintiffs argued that zoning change was cherry-picked as a favor to Six Flags and KDC Solar, with the solar farm project in mind.

THEY SAID IT: 9 residents' complaints on Six Flags solar farm

But in her decision, Ford held steadfast on the concept that municipal legislation is "presumably valid."

It was the township council's responsibility to weigh the environmental advantage of a solar farm against the disadvantage of clear-cutting thousands of trees, Ford said.

Great Adventure solar plan challenged Environmental activists gather along the border of a 90-acre forest to denounce Six Flags Great Adventure's plans to clear cut 18,000 trees and build a solar farm.

"Even if this court disagreed with that judgment, it is clearly consistent with a reasonable exercise of legislative judgment to tip the scales in favor of the advancement of solar energy uses," Ford said.

Ford also ruled that solar energy is an "inherently beneficial use," a classification that usually gives a project preferential treatment in the approvals process.

Mike Davis: 732-643-4223; mdavis@gannettnj.com