Rochester’s Planning Board Tuesday informally reviewed a plan to place a 2.39-megawatt, ground-mounted photovoltaic solar array on 12.55 acres of a 30.2-acre parcel on Cushman Road.
Andrew Hamill, representing petitioner Blue Wave Solar dba/BWC Snows Pond LLC, said a site-plan-review application and Special Permit-review application will follow what he introduced as an informal discussion prior to submission of a formal proposal.
Hamill said his engineering firm, Weston & Sampson, has already met with the local tech-review committee and made suggested changes to the plan, specifically breaks in a nearby stonewall for access to the back of the property. He noted that the array will be built 380 feet away from the nearest abutter on Jason’s Way and will be surrounded by a 7-foot-tall, vinyl, chain-link fence. He said the petitioner will soon file a Notice of Intent with the Conservation Commission and a Landscaping Plan.
Planning Board members asked to see more details on the final plans, including tree clearing currently proposed. Board Chairman Arnold Johnson said he wanted to see fencing more clearly defined on the plan. Board member Ben Bailey said he wanted to know more about the project’s tree-clearing plan.
Hamill agreed to comply in future, updated plans. “I’ll be happy to put some shaded trees where you want them,” he said.
Elsewhere on Tuesday’s agenda, the board’s three public hearings ended quickly. The hearing on the special permit and site-plan-review application to develop a commercial building at 621 County Road to include Megan’s Organic Market, a recreational-marijuana retail facility, was continued until August 15 because the petitioners had failed to notify abutters by certified mail.
“They will be notified they will have to go back and present all their information from the beginning,” said Town Planner Nancy Durfee. “It’s in the rules and regulations what they have to do.”
“One hundred percent, they should have known better,” board member Chris Silveira said.
The petitioners for a plan to locate a native tree and perennial nursery on 2.5 acres at 157 Vaughn Hill Road asked for and were granted an extension of their public hearing to September, as they have decided to hire an engineer to formally draft their plan.
In other meetings with town boards, Tree Talk owners Jennifer and Charles Anderson have expressed wanting to simplify their business plan as much as possible and not spend too much money. As a result, the board had urged them to submit a more professionally detailed proposal.
The board then approved a request from Mark and Ashley Briggs that their site-plan-review application to construct a building to be used to restore, detail and store collectible cars at 0 New Bedford Road be withdrawn “without prejudice.”
The board also approved skipping its next (July 25) scheduled meeting. The board will meet on Tuesday, August 15, at 7:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Planning Board
By Michael J. DeCicco