An informal discussion of another proposed solar project in town started Rochester’s Planning Board meeting Tuesday.
Project representative Sarah Sterns of Beals and Thomas Engineering reported the plan is for two ground-mounted solar arrays at 0 High Street with frontage off of both High Street and Mayflower Lane. The discovery of a box turtle habitat in the area has changed the developer’s original plan, she said, placing a permanent conservation restriction on some of the land. The developer shrunk the size of the arrays for that reason. “We are here to go over the project before we submit our formal application,” she said.
Project attorney Greg Sampson added that the multiple lots being combined for this project are under different ownerships complicating what appropriate frontages the project will have. Chair Arnold Johnson responded that this factor is his main concern. He said the lots required for this project should be combined first. “Your project spans multiple lots with multiple owners. Meets and bounds will have be determined, and that will be costly. It would be better if you had it one lot. Some lots would be land-locked. You’ve got a lot of work to do.” Sampson and Sterns agreed to incorporate this suggestion they work to file a formal application.
Next, after months of continued hearings on the project, the board came closer than ever to approving the Site Plan Review and Special Permit for plans for a floating and ground-mounted solar array at 53 Dexter Lane. The panel endorsed the list of permit waivers being requested. It agreed to draft a decision. It continued the hearing to the board’s next meeting and extended the project’s decision deadline to the end of December.
Before the continuation vote, Member Ben Bailey recommended the unique permit condition that it be immediately reported if any waterfowl is found to be injured by the panels. He said birds will dive toward the dark panels mistaking them for water, what he called the project’s “lake effect,” maiming or killing them. He would vote against the project for that reason. Technical Consultant Matt Swanberg argued the “lake effect’ only happens at desert solar arrays, where the panels contrast with the sand of the terrain. The Dexter Lane arrays will cover only 25-percent of the water surface, and the panels will have an anti-glare paint coating. Nonetheless, Johnson agreed to add Bailey’s condition to the draft decision.
In other action, the board continued to its next meeting its hearing on the Site Plan Review application filed by Afonso Built Home for a Townhouse development within Rochester Crossroads after a brief discussion with project representative Philip Cordeiro, on what final comments the board may have before the approval vote. The plan here is for a total of 15 buildings and a total of 44 units in a series of three-unit and two-unit buildings, with a drive-under garage and driveway parking spots.
The board continued to its next meeting the Site Plan Review hearing for a 68-unit age 55 and over senior living apartment building proposed for 22 Cranberry Highway within Rochester Crossroads.
The board also again continued until its next meeting the Special Permit and Site Plan Review hearing for the proposal from Logging Swamp Solar dba ReWild Renewables to install a solar panel array on 49 acres in the area of 600 Snipatuit Road, and it extended the project’s decision deadline to November 30.
The Rochester Planning Board’s next meeting will be Tuesday, November 10 at 7:00 pm in Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Planning Board
By Michael J. DeCicco