The Rochester Planning Board has nearly lost its patience with Meadowatt, LLC, the developer of a solar farm on Marion Road.
On June 13, Chairman Arnold Johnson said the developer had promised to spread mulch in March and then again promised to in May, but now in mid-June the mulch has still not been put down. And although the developer did mow and weed-whack the site the day prior as requested, which according to the plan must be done bi-weekly, Johnson said the site is still not up to snuff.
The board decided it was time for a letter from town counsel giving Meadowatt five final working days to finish the work or else it would authorize town counsel to move forward with revoking some funds from the maintenance bond to solicit the services of a landscaper.
Planning Board member Ben Bailey voted against allowing another five days for compliance, saying, “Somebody’s got to say ‘No,’” but the motion carried.
“By our next meeting we’ll be done, one way or another,” said Johnson. And if the site is not up to the plan and funds run out of the maintenance bond, the Town will place a tax lien on the property.
In other matters, the board visited 241 New Bedford Road, the site of a ground-mounted solar array and found the work complies with the conditions of the board’s decision, including observations made by the Town’s engineer Ken Motta. Johnson said crushed stone has been spread along the access roads and a pipe that ran between the wetlands and the bog has been removed as requested.
“I think that based on what we observed today, the project is constructed in compliance with the plan,” said Johnson. “I think I’d entertain a motion to say that we’re done with this and that we can send a letter … to the building inspector that the conditions of our decision have been complied with.”
The public hearing for Wellspring Farms located at 42 Hiller Road was continued until the next meeting at the request of the applicants’ attorney, although the board engaged abutters in a lengthy conversation about goings-on at the property, as well as abutters’ continuing complaints.
Abutters said they find three continuance requests excessive, and Bailey commented that he finds the applicant uncooperative, prompting him to come down hard on the Vogels for “not being good neighbors.”
Johnson clarified that the board could “not make the process as difficult as possible” for the Vogels as Bailey put it; rather, the board could issue a “tight decision.”
Abutter Cathy Mendoza said she thinks the neighbors have been acting “spiteful” and abutters are “disappointed that [the Vogels have] been allowed to manipulate the process to this extent.”
Other abutters continued to air their complaints and the board heard their descriptions of fence locations, setbacks, and encroachments on abutting properties, as well as history of abutters’ interactions with the Vogels in the absence of the applicants.
Abutters welcomed the board to visit their properties, in particular on Tuesdays when the business is alleged to be at peak operation, to witness what they experience.
Johnson said he hopes that by the next meeting the Vogels will have made some progress towards satisfying the board’s orders so the matter can move forward and a resolution reached.
The next meeting of the Rochester Planning Board is scheduled for June 27 at 7:00 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.
Rochester Planning Board
By Jean Perry