This time, residents near the corner of Rounseville and Mendell Roads are learning all about the Tao of the solar farm.
On March 28, the Rochester Planning Board heard plans for the town’s potential sixth large-scale solar panel installation – this one located on an open field and partially wooded property at 453 Rounseville Road.
Just as other Rochester residents have done over the past couple of years, the residents who live near this site gathered at the Rochester Town Hall to hear about the scale of the project, whether or not they will see the panels from their houses (No! the board promises), will their property values plummet (the board says no), and if there are any health risks to solar panels (of which there are none) – questions that concern all newbies facing a new neighbor of this nature.
Borrego Solar Systems, Inc., the solar developer leasing the land to develop the solar installation, said a 3.3-megawatt solar farm is planned for the site that is currently two parcels of 67 and 14 acres. One parcel contains a house, which will be carved out into a separate two-acre lot, while the rest of the acreage is merged.
Seven acres of woodlands will be clear-cut. Thirteen acres of solar panels (8,800 panels) will be installed on the property.
Since a prior meeting with a technical review team, a 7-foot high white vinyl fence is planned for the visible perimeter of the site, with berms of 3 to 5 feet in height planned for sections where elevated terrain could be visible.
The project being planned for Rounseville Road, a designated scenic highway, cannot be seen from any public perspective along the road.
Along the wooded sections of the perimeter, a 7-foot black-coated chain-link fence is planned for security.
This project will be the first to file under the Town’s updated, more stringent solar bylaw, and Chairman Arnold Johnson reassured abutters that the board has learned from past solar projects and has refined its preferences and process for protecting the town and the neighborhood.
“We always learn as we go forward, and we try to change our bylaws to reflect what’s actually going on,” Johnson said.
One aspect of the planning process that the board is adamant about completing is comprehensive sightline analyses from neighboring properties. The one sightline transection taken from the front lawn of the houses along the perimeter is not enough.
“We’re not going down that road again,” said Johnson, demanding that the developer return to take sightlines from the front steps of each home to verify that the project would not be visible above the fence screening.
“Our goal really is to not see this,” said Borrego Solar Systems representative Steve Long.
But phrases such as “our goal is” and “we intend to” do not fly with this board, said member John DeMaggio.
“We will, they will…” said DeMaggio, is more like it. “That’s the only thing we want to hear here.”
Other focuses of the board apart from screening, said Johnson, include decommissioning and maintenance.
Abutters made requests such as changing the color of the fence from white to more of a “nature color,” which Long said could be an option; however, white was chosen by the technical review team because of an existing white fence near the site that some thought would blend in better with the new fence. Long also said an existing stone wall around the property could also remain untouched outside the fence.
Neighbors wondered if there was any way to stop every field in Town from becoming a solar farm, but, said Johnson, unfortunately there is not. Solar installations are covered by state legislation that encourages solar development in the state, and as board member Ben Bailey pointed out to them, “Our hands are tied by the state. If you want to do something about this, make yourself heard at the state level.”
“Unfortunately,” said Johnson, as far as the Planning Board is concerned, “it’s not a popularity contest whether we personally agree with anything … we’re governed by state statute.”
Resident Lance Davenport was left wondering about what benefits there are to the town with a project (“eyesore”) like this one.
“It’s a beautiful field,” said Davenport to Long. “There’s deer there … you’re tearing it up, you truly are, and it’s a shame and I get it, it’s business … but this is our town and this is a beautiful town and if in every open field we have something like this, then what do we get out of this?”
The answer is, said Johnson, “Unfortunately, not much.” The town cannot even collect an excise tax on the value of the equipment, Johnson added.
The Conservation Commission will hold a public hearing on the solar project on April 4 to discuss wetlands on the site, as well as a perennial stream. Long said the project will stay outside the 100-foot wetlands buffer and 200 feet away from the stream.
The next meeting of the Rochester Planning Board is scheduled for April 11 at 7:00 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.
By Jean Perry