As it faced a roomful of abutters concerned about the installation’s effect on their neighborhood, Rochester’s Planning Board Tuesday continued until February its public hearing on the Special Permit and Site Plan Review application for BWC Snows Pond LLC’s plan to build a solar-energy array on 12.55 acres of a 31-acre parcel at 0 Cushman Road.
Abutter Melinda Sherman-Morris asked engineering consultant Andrew Hamel why the developer needs to take out approximately 2 acres of trees in the area and much of a stone wall to fit his project. Hamel said these steps were needed to squeeze the installation into the area of the parcel that the developer is being restricted to use.
Abutter Claudette Tobin noted her grandfather sold the Cushman Road property to the parcel’s previous owners. She said she now has concerns about how the installation would “scar” the area and have a serious environmental impact on the neighborhood. She wanted to know what will happen to groundwater quality should the industrial batteries that will be installed leak.
The installation is expected to include a 2.39 MW DC single-access tracking PV array and associated battery energy storage. Hamel said no study he has ever seen has indicated a solar installation will impact groundwater in any way.
Tobin was then asked if these batteries have ever caught fire. Hamel said that hasn’t happened with any project he has been involved with.
He added that the developer will not know what type of batteries he will use until later in the planning process, considering the permitting process for such an installation will take over a year, out of a concern over changing technologies.
This response led Planning Board members to raise their own concerns. John DeMaggio said he did not like approving a solar installation plan that includes not knowing that factor.
“I don’t like not knowing that,” he said. “Should we ask them to come back when they know?”
“We’ll need more specifics before they start construction,” board member Lee Carr said.
Board Chairman Arnold Johnson prodded Hamel to agree to state the type of batteries the developer will use on the plans the panel approves but would be allowed to change, with approval, at a later date.
Johnson noted the board is now awaiting the developer’s full response to the town’s engineer review of the plans. He said the Planning Board will likely make the decision on February 27.
Hamel said that, because of delays from Eversource’s part of the permitting process, installation may not begin until 2027.
In other action, the board endorsed an Approval Not Required application for a 14-acre parcel on Mendell Road filed by 15A Mendell Road Realty Trust. It then reviewed a Special Permit Application for a residential back lot at that Mendell Road address for a plan to subdivide the lot for residential use.
Johnson concluded this review by telling project consultant Walter Hartley that Town Planner Nancy Durfee would immediately draw up a board decision.
The board continued its review of the Site Plan Review application for JPF Development’s plan to build a 15-acre self-storage facility at Kings Highway and Route 28 until January 23, in response to the applicant’s request.
The board voted to recommend Zoning bylaw amendments regarding revising the Cranberry Highway Smart Growth Overlay District at 621 County Road to include an additional 1.3-acre parcel at the County Road end of the district at the January 22 Special Town Meeting.
The board approved releasing $771,500 of the performance bond for The Village Phase III project, leaving $208,500 remaining.
The board extended the Route 495 40R housing development project by 18 months due to planning delays caused by an appeal filed in 2021 by the Buzzards Bay Coalition.
The Rochester Planning Board will meet next on Tuesday, January 23, at 7:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Planning Board
By Michael J. DeCicco