Signaling that it is one step closer to approval, the Rochester Planning Board closed the uneventful public hearing on Shawmut Associates LLC’s proposed expanded recycling facility at 50 Cranberry Highway, extending the vote date to June 28.
Planning Board members traded notes with Green Seal engineer Gary James on the project’s existing order of conditions, with storm water system specs and garage construction clarifications highlighting the proceedings.
Elsewhere on the agenda, officials questioned RGS Energy’s Jay Myrto and other principals on the progress of the Little Quittacas Solar Project at 33 North Avenue approved in January, namely the two-tier vegetative berm that will cradle new tree growth around the site to obscure abutter views of the photovoltaic arrays.
“That’s a relatively short statement for a tremendous amount of work,” said Myrto, referring to the town’s concise order – based on public input – to build a berm. “But I would have thought we’d be farther along. We’ve been slowed by the weather.”
Myrto added that crews will begin planting trees in early September, with a revised overall project completion target of late October.
Planning Board Vice Chairman Gary Florindo expressed concern about the materials workers would use for the berm.
“I’m doubtful that that’s going to stay wet enough to provide the tree growth we’re expecting,” Florindo said.
But project representatives assured the Planning Board that the 30-inch berm would utilize more subsoil than tailings, in as much as a 2-1 ratio. Florindo and other Planning Board members appeared placated by the response.
“You’re off your timetable a little bit, I gather,” Chairman Arnold Johnson said. “But everything seems to be going well out there.”
By Shawn Badgley
