(This story by Ed Damon was published in the Bennington Banner on May 16, 2017.)
[B]ENNINGTON — The developer behind a proposed solar facility that had a state permit and a series of motions denied by state utility regulators is appealing those decisions to the Vermont Supreme Court. The 2.0 megawatt Chelsea Solar project is one of two controversial projects being proposed by subsidiaries of Allco Financial Limited/Ecos Energy.
The Public Service Board denied Chelsea a permit last winter. The PSB, which oversees electric generation facilities, has not yet ruled on the neighboring project, dubbed Apple Hill Solar. Both projects call for ground-mounted solar panels to be built near the Route 7/279 interchange and Apple Hill Neighborhood.
A notice of appeal filed with the PSB on Friday references two orders by the quasi-judicial state entity: One issued in February 2016 that denied Chelsea a “certificate of public good,” and another issued on April 14 that denied various motions from the developer.
The notice was filed by Thomas Melone, president of Allco.
State statute requires a notice of appeal be sent to the lower trial court or board within 30 days of the final judgement.
Chelsea Solar LLC filed a petition for a certificate of public good in 2014 and Apple Hill Solar LLC in 2015. Both projects would each be 2.0 megawatts and would share a 27-acre parcel.
Residents of the Apple Hill neighborhood have criticized both projects. The homeowners association has said members recently voted against what was described as informal offers for a revised, smaller project.
When PSB denied Chelsea a certificate of public good, the board stated “that the project would unduly interfere with the orderly development of the region and would have an undue, adverse impact on aesthetics.” Allco later sought to vacate the order that denied the permit, and to amend the original site plan it filed in 2014.
Those two motions were among eight from the developer that were denied by the PSB in an 35-page decision on April 14. The board also denied Allco’s requests that the board reopen discovery, hold supplemental hearings, take judicial notice of certain documents, and strike responses from two state agencies that opposed the developers’ other motions. The order also denied Allco’s request for mediation between intervenors granted party status — the town of Bennington and resident Libby Harris.
The developer submitted an amended site plan in March that reduced Chelsea Solar’s footprint, but the board ruled the request was untimely because it came after the order that denied a permit.
/
