WEBSTER – A local legislator whose home abuts a proposed solar farm on 10.6 acres has expressed an array of concerns about the 1.3-megawatt project.
State Rep. Joseph McKenna, R-Webster, said in a letter to the Planning Board this week that he and others in the neighborhood are troubled by the size and scope of the proposal for Batten Street and Malden Drive.
Mr. McKenna suggests the solar farm is too close to more than 38 houses in the neighborhood, including his home at 7 Batten St., Unit 2, on the northwest corner of the proposed solar farm.
The neighborhood is zoned single-family residential, but the town allows solar fields in any section of town with a special permit.
Mr. McKenna acknowledged the proposal is a "relatively inoffensive development," but he said he was "startled" to see its proximity to properties along Batten Street and Malden Drive. He said the fencing and limits of the development approach the homes' boundary lines.
The homes were built here to be out of the way of large-scale economic development, which might hinder values, Mr. McKenna said.
Mr. McKenna said the project could also adversely impact wildlife. He said he enjoys listening to peepers during summer evenings, and watching deer, turkeys, groundhogs and coyotes roam through his backyard.
An ongoing public hearing has been continued to Feb. 12 at Town Hall.
The applicant is Nexamp Inc., a solar energy company from Boston, doing business as Batten Street Solar LLC.
The site is owned by Norman Rudzinski, who recently died and whose widow owns the portion which most of the installation is planned, along with Esposito Realty Trust and the town of Webster.
Project consultant Woodard & Curran said in the application that the work would consist of clearing, grading, stormwater management, and installation of solar panels, inverters, transformers, an electrical interconnect system, an access road, fencing and plantings.
In 2015, the town adopted a solar use bylaw to allow large photovoltaic installations in all areas of town through a special permit from the Planning Board. The regulation states that the town encourages "their location and use in a manner which minimizes negative visual and environmental impacts on scenic, natural and historic resources, and to residents of Webster."
Mr. McKenna said he believes the project violates the goal of minimizing negative visual and environmental impacts and that it isn't a good-faith application of local zoning allowing solar in residential areas.
Mr. McKenna said Sharyn Morin, another Batten Street resident, wrote to his office expressing opposition to the project.
Another abutter, Jason Cole of Malden Drive, also wrote to the Planning Board expressing various concerns, including the potential for disruption from large noisy vehicles during a construction cycle that he said is likely to last six months.
Mr. McKenna’s letter to the Planning Board does not mention his capacity as a legislator. He told a reporter he had weighed in as a private citizen.
“I understand that the title comes with who I am and has some significance and weight,” he said. “But I didn’t feel it was appropriate to come in as state representative and try to influence the Planning Board’s decision using my title. However, as a neighbor and an abutter, I had those concerns and chose to write.”
Town Administrator Douglas C. Willardson said the town expects to enter into a $10,000 per megawatt tax agreement on all solar fields.
A spokesman with the state office of Energy and Environmental Affairs said there were 365 ground-mounted solar array systems installed in Massachusetts in 2016 and 2017, of which 129 were in Central Massachusetts. The statewide average of those ground-mounted systems was 1.3 megawatts; the average in Central Massachusetts was 1.4 megawatts.