GUILDERLAND — The town board here paused on Dec. 5 in adopting a local law that would rezone land for a large solar facility because the applicant balked at having a town trail run through the property.

In November, the board had been enthusiastic about the project as had neighbors of the farmland owned by the Pruskowski family.

The law is to rezone about 65 acres out of a roughly 130-acre parcel off of Foundry Road, at 6283 Farm Lane, from a Residential Overlay district to a Rural Agricultural district with a 3-acre minimum.

The law calls for the applicant to “construct a 10-foot-wide public multi-use trail” to connect the town-owned Western Turnpike Golf Course with Foundry Road or Nott Road.

Loren Pruskowski, the son of Diane and Gary Pruskowski and the owner of Ecolegacy Values, had told the board in July that the limited liability company is “holding the development assets on behalf of my family.”

On Dec. 5, Pruskowski described himself as the fourth generation of his family to farm the land, now “in a modern means, using solar.”

“We’ve always had the ability to farm our land when it was zoned residential and to farm it in any capacity that we’ve wanted …,” he told the board. “We’re not in a position to say ‘yes’ to a trail going through our property … I just don’t think it’s fair to put a condition or contingency on this approval being linked to a trail going through our property.”

When Councilwoman Christine Napierski asked why, Pruskowski said, “We have poachers and trespassers coming through our property,” which he says has increased as the town develops.

“Some of the people on our property will argue with us that it’s public land,” he said. Having a town trail on the property he said “would amplify these challenges.”

Pruskowski also said that his family allows “a select few individuals who we really value” to bow hunt on the land and that using 35 acres for the solar facility “reduces the footprint that they can hunt on.”

He went on, “I am just worried for the safety of trail goers.” Councilman Jacob Crawford noted that the Albany Pine Bush Preserve allows bow hunting.

Pruskowski then said that recently one of his friends had “his daughter murdered by an unknown gunman and it happened because there was a public trail going into a neighborhood, coming from a property that was owned by a municipality.”

“The concept of a trail,” responded Supervisor Peter Barber, “I think was offered from Day One …. I guess I’m a little surprised that we seem to be backtracking.”

Pruskowski conceded the idea of a trail had been broached a year-and-a-half ago. “The next day, when I went to talk to my dad, he had an aneurysm.” With his father in the hospital, Pruskowski said, he didn’t bring it up.

“For us to make a decision, we need a full consensus, and we’re not there,” he said. “And I really don’t think it’s fair to make this contingent on getting the rezone.”

At this point, Pruskowski’s father approached him at the lectern and spoke quietly with him.

Barber said that conditions for a rezone are “not unusual” and that, while the Pruskowskis could choose the location of the trail to connect the golf course to either Knott Road or Foundry Road there needed to be a connection for “public benefit.”

Pruskowski asked if providing clean power to 2,000 homes was a public benefit.

“You’re creating a power-producing facility,” responded Crawford. “You’re not creating a public benefit in terms of free power to residents, right? …. I think we want to talk evenly about everything we’re discussing tonight.”

“I would prefer to not have this being contingent … It doesn’t seem fair and just,” said Pruskowski.

“It is a condition that has to be set forth in the first place before you even put the farm into use,” said Councilwoman Amanda Beedle of the town trail.

“I want to make this project go forward,” said Pruskowski. “I don’t think it’s fair to make it contingent with the trail going through a property.”

Barber then suggested to Pruskowski and his father, “If you guys would like to take a few minutes, we can go to a couple of matters and come back to this.”

Pruskowski returned to the lectern after about 20 minutes and asked if, as discussed in November, using the solar facility to educate students would be considered a public benefit.

“It might be a public benefit,” Barber conceded but went on to say it was not the needed link between the western and eastern parts of town outlined in a study done by the master’s program in geography and planning at the University at Albany.

“Yes, it is a benefit to provide that education,” said Barber, “but I don’t think it’s what was envisioned.”

Pruskowski tried again, saying that the town’s farmland preservation study cited the importance of preserving open space by incentivizing landowners to do so.

Finally, he conceded, saying, “I understand that the town wants the pathway and we will say yes to the pathway to the north.”

He went on, “But I want you to understand that the way that the laws are currently written, it does disincentivize someone like us to say yes to a project like this … We would make a lot more money by just subdividing or having a housing developer come in.

“But we don’t want to do that. That’s not in our value system,” said Pruskowski, concluding, “We’ll move forward with it.”

“I don’t want you to feel like we’re trying to, you know, force something on you or that’s out of the norm …,” said Councilwoman Napierski. “This is how we do this. We build these trail systems and develop these parks in conjunction with people who are building these projects.

“They come to us; they ask for a change in zoning,” she said, noting that the zoning law is developed for the community so, to make changes, it is the board’s duty to make sure “we get a good value for that.”

The public needs and desires trails and parks, Napierski said. “So I hope you don’t think we’re being too heavy handed.”

With that, the town board unanimously passed both the local law and also a “negative declaration” for the State Environmental Quality Review.

“Negative means it would be no impact upon the environment,” said Barber.