West Penn Township will hold a workshop before next month’s meeting to discuss its solar ordinance.

Board Chairman Tony Prudenti said Monday they are trying to get a fee schedule in place.

The board continued to review the draft provisions of solar to be added to the zoning ordinance.

Township solicitor Paul J. Datte added to the draft some more detail about decommissioning.

Supervisor Jim Akins suggested that the board hold a workshop to discuss the matter in more detail.

“I think we need to get together in a room (to discuss the matter further),” Akins said.

Afterward, the board agreed to hold a workshop at 5 p.m. May 6. Its regularly scheduled meeting will follow at 6 p.m.

The township is essentially adding provisions to the zoning ordinance for solar.

The township’s planning commission, along with the Schuylkill County Planning Commission, will also review what the board amends.

Akins noted that the fee schedule hasn’t been reviewed since 2012.

Last month the board weighed a fee schedule several weeks after it heard a request to install a solar farm in the township.

The board of supervisors reported that the current fee schedule cost would be $200 per panel.

Datte said that while the township could look to attach a price per panel, it can’t be $200 per panel for a zoning permit fee, as it is really only supposed to cover the township’s costs.

Datte explained that per the township’s ordinance, typically three different fees are involved: One would be a zoning permit fee, another fee is if land development was required under the township’s Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance, and another was a fee if a building permit was required under the Uniform Construction Code.

Prudenti said that because this is the township’s first major farm coming in, he believes they should stick with its codes and regulations that are in place.

The discussion came several weeks after supervisors denied a request from applicants planning to install a solar farm in the township.

The request, from the Gregory and Jodi Duschak Solar Energy Collection Land Development, asked that supervisors waive a requirement in the preliminary plan submission process.

The denial doesn’t mean the end of the project, said Datte, who noted it was not plan approval, as they just wanted to waive the requirement for a preliminary plan so they can filed a combined preliminary plan.

Prudenti said the applicants plan to install the solar park on 34 acres near the intersection of Ash Circle and Ridge Road. The property is private and zoned for agricultural use, he said.

Preliminary plans show 63 rows of panels, which would not be installed directly into the ground. The application does not call for concrete pads for installation.

Prudenti said he had concerns about what would happen when the panels were no longer needed.

The plan has not yet been considered by Schuylkill County Planning Commission or the Schuylkill Conservation District.

The West Penn Township Planning Commission recently reviewed plan details.