Editor’s note: This article is by Keith Whitcomb Jr., of the Bennington Banner, in which it was first published Aug. 14, 2015.
BENNINGTON — The Select Board voted Thursday to ask state regulators to halt the applications of two adjacent solar projects proposed in the Apple Hill area after residents brought their concerns about them to the town.
The board is requesting the Public Service Board halt both solar projects because of “the inevitable damage to environmental, historical, safety, visual, and aesthetics of the surroundings.”
The motion passed unanimously. Board Chairman Thomas Jacobs had recused himself because of professional conflicts, while vice chairman John McFadden was absent, however he did appear briefly via telephone.
The two solar arrays are the Chelsea Hill project and the Apple Hill project. They are proposed to be built on one 27-acre parcel of land east of Route 7, be separated by a fence, and have different access roads in addition to other infrastructure.
Both are owned by the same company, leading opponents of the project, and some members of the board, to refer to them as the same project and their separation as a “legal fiction.”
Permit applications for both projects were filed last year. In Vermont, the Public Service Board, a state-level entity, has sole authority over power plants. Town level regulators can offer input to the PSB, but their power is limited by Act 248.
Recent legislation expanded municipal influence somewhat, granting them automatic intervenor status and allowing them to create ordinances on solar setbacks and screening, something Jacobs, who opened the meeting, said town staff intends to do.
Town Manager Stuart Hurd, and board member Donald Campbell, who called Thursday’s emergency meeting, both said they highly doubt the projects will be stopped, as they appear to meet all state requirements both new and old.
That being said, Hurd said he would direct town counsel to bring concerns about aesthetics and other issues raised before the board.
The Apple Hill Neighborhood Association has formed a memorandum of understanding with Ecos Energy, the projects’ developer, which the association’s attorney, a resident of Apple Hill, Peter Lawrence says he feels is binding. It places limits on the construction of access roads for construction, maintenance, and eventual decommissioning.
Lawrence said the association didn’t feel it could realistically stop the projects, and so it pushed for concessions instead. One resident, Libby Harris, did not enter into the memorandum and is an intervenor.
Lawrence said the developer has said different things about the project during different venues. Residents were told there would be screening to the north on the Chelsea project, but during a site visit by the PSB they indicated existing buffers would be cut.
Roughly 20 people attended the meeting, including House Reps. Mary Morrissey, R-Bennington, and Timothy Corcoran II, D-Bennington.
Morrissey and a few residents were at a board meeting Monday to talk about the impact of the project.
The Chelsea project has already had its technical hearing and site visit by the PSB. A hearing officer is drafting a proposed decision, which can be commented upon further. The technical hearing for the Apple Hill project is Tuesday, which is where town counsel will go to file a request to intervene.
It’s likely the town will be granted intervenor status, said Hurd and Lawrence.
The Planning Commission had been made aware of the project in February 2014, said Campbell, who was a member at the time. The Commission did submit comments regarding screening, he said, yet questions about it remain.
The board was notified of these projects last year, but it wasn’t until Monday when residents and Morrissey managed to impress upon the board the scope of the projects when looked at together. It prompted Campbell to call for the special meeting.
“I think the board heard about it at different points in the past, but it kind of crept up on all of us. I myself wasn’t aware the process was moving as quickly as it was,” said board member Justin Corcoran, who chaired the meeting.
Brad Wilson, project developer at Ecos Energy, said in an interview Thursday after the meeting that he’d be happy to answer anyone’s questions about the project and would have flown to Vermont to attend the special meeting had anyone reached out to him.
Wilson said Ecos was under the impression that with the memorandum of understanding with the neighborhood association, all issues were settled.
He said the project meets state standards for visual screening and that the company has gone above and beyond those requirements to appease neighbors.
