BENNINGTON — The company seeking to build two controversial solar projects in town is warning that a draft municipal energy plan is open to legal challenge because it doesn’t comply with state requirements.
Brad Wilson, a senior project manager with Ecos Energy, declined to get into specifics at a meeting Monday that was intended to be a hearing on the Planning Commission’s draft document. The hearing was postponed for lack of a quorum, but audience members were invited to offer comments.
“I do believe there are some compliance issues, and I will address them at the next meeting,” said Wilson, whose company wants to build side-by-side solar facilities in the Apple Hill section of town.
Wilson added that “the concerns are major ones.”
Commissioners seemed prepared to vote Monday on whether to submit their proposal to the Selectboard for adoption. However, the lack of a quorum, which was attributed to health issues, meant the required hearing will wait until the next commission session Nov. 6.
If approved then, and again after more hearings before the Selectboard, the 27-page proposal would become the new energy section of the town plan — once it also clears reviews at the county and state levels.
Large-scale solar facility siting has been the “hot button issue” during development of the energy section, said Planning Director Dan Monks. However, he said the plan covers all forms of energy production and provides voluminous data on overall energy use in Bennington.
“A lot of work went into this, and I hope the Planning Commission approves it in its entirety as written and passes it to the Selectboard with the recommendation that they adopt it,” said attorney Peter Lawrence, one of the Apple Hill neighborhood residents who’ve staunchly opposed the Ecos Energy projects.
He praised the commission’s efforts to prepare the draft with the assistance of staff members at the Bennington County Regional Commission.
State Rep. Mary Morrissey, R-Bennington, Rick Carroll, of the Apple Hill area, and others said they’d like to see the plan adoption process move along without further delays.
A town energy plan that has BCRC and state Department of Public Service approval will allow the community “substantial deference” during state Public Utility Commission proceedings on the siting of large solar or other energy-generating facilities.
State-approved town-specific energy sections allow communities to refine the siting suitability maps and guidelines beyond those in the regional commission’s countywide energy plan, which won DPS approval in June.
While the Apple Hill area residents in attendance Monday have generally voiced support for the local plan, Wilson said he has several questions and concerns. But he said he’d wait to discuss those in detail when the commission holds a formal hearing.
Monks and commissioners said the energy plan was developed with help from Jim Sullivan, executive director of the BCRC, and regional planner Catherine Bryars.
Sullivan, who was unable to attend the meeting, was involved in preparing the regional commission’s energy plan and “is the expert on that,” Monks said.
Lora Block, another Apple Hill resident, said Wilson’s “agenda is obvious,” adding that the company is known to file numerous legal challenges when seeking state approval for a solar facility.
The two 2-megawatt Apple Hill solar projects are currently facing challenges before the PUC and/or the Vermont Supreme Court.
The proposed energy plan includes a number of incentives, along with specifications and restrictions on the siting of solar facilities in Bennington. It includes a map showing the preferred sites where larger solar arrays — with a capacity of 150 kilowatts or greater — must be located.
Large solar facilities can’t be located where they would harm the town’s traditional or planned patterns of growth, including downtown or village centers surrounded by rural countryside or working farms, and facilities can’t harm scenic views.
The plan refers to Mount Anthony, for instance, as “specifically identified as a critical scenic resource” for the town.
Preferred sites for large facilities include those close to large-scale commercial or industrial buildings, brownfields, gravel pits, closed landfills and former quarries.
The town has “limited potential for utility scale wind energy development,” the plan states, “as areas with sufficient access to consistent wind are restricted primarily to higher elevations of Mt. Anthony and adjacent ridgelines.”
Bryars said Monday that Bennington is furthest along in the county in producing a detailed town energy plan, while Manchester, Dorset, Pownal and other towns have been discussing one.
In June, Bennington County’s regional energy plan became the first of its type to be certified by the Department of Public Service under provisions of Act 174. The plan constitutes a lengthy amendment to the area’s regional plan.
In addition to meeting requirements under Act 174, the certification qualified the BCRC to review and approve energy plans from towns in the region.
A key aspect of Act 174 is that it allows regions and municipalities more influence than in the past over siting wind, solar, hydro or other energy facilities during the Public Utility Commission’s permit process.
Developers also receive financial incentives for building in areas designated as preferred for a given type of facility.
The Legislature sought to address in Act 174 concerns that communities had too little say over the location of energy projects, while also continuing to allow the PUC to overrule blanket local opposition to projects that would be of benefit regionwide or statewide.
