Schuylkill County’s recently adopted solar ordinance appears as though it will serve as the template for West Penn Township to follow.

Board Chairman Tony Prudenti said at Tuesday morning’s board of supervisors meeting that the matter has been discussed forsome time.

“Schuylkill County just adopted their ordinance,” Prudenti said. “Instead of reinventing the wheel, we all kind of feel we should adopt Schuylkill County’s ordinance as ours.”

Township solicitor Paul J. Datte said he was involved in the process and believes it’s a good ordinance.

Datte told the board he would need the uses in zoning districts to complete the ordinance for West Penn.

He said it would then be a matter of conversion from the county’s version of the ordinance to the township’s version.

“It’s a little more comprehensive than what we have on the table,” Datte said. “A lot of it is geared to (agriculture).”

The West Penn planning commission recently tabled the Ridge Road solar land development plan.

In June, supervisors by a resolution approved the final plan for the project near the intersection of Ash Circle and Ridge Road.

However, it was noted then that approval for the Gregory and Jodi Duschak Solar Energy Collection Land Development was contingent upon developers satisfying comments required by ARRO Engineering.

The plan, which calls for 63 rows of solar panels on 34 acres of private land zoned for agricultural use, also needs approval from the Schuylkill County Planning Commission.

Supervisors granted conditional approval to preliminary plans in May on a recommendation from the West Penn Township Planning Commission.

The township planners have reviewed recent changes and recommended that supervisors approve the final submission.