Two more solar farms are nearing approval in Westport

WESTPORT — Two more large scale solar energy farms are nearing the end of the special permit and site plan approval process by the Westport Planning Board, which has seen a flood of applications for extensive solar energy arrays in the last few years.

With these pending approvals, the town will hit double digit numbers for operational and permitted solar farms in all parts of town.

At its July 16 meeting, the Planning Board reviewed revised plans for two new energy facilities — a 4.5 megawatt solar farm proposed Soltage Westport Route 88 Solar 1, LLC on leased hayfields and vineyard at the end of Sullivan Drive — and a 4.2 megawatt solar farm off Sanford Road.

The Soltage project would be accessed by a private lane off Briggs Road, created to give landowners access to land beside Route 88 when the highway was built decades ago. The board has been reviewing site plans and revisions since February, and have been working with the applicant’s engineers on revisions to the project at four subsequent meetings.

At a July 16 meeting, the board reviewed some minor changes to the plans resulting from reviews by the town’s consulting engineers and various town department heads. The biggest change is the applicant’s decision to extend the setback from the panels to neighboring properties to 100 feet, the company’s attorney, Todd Brodeur, told the board.

Public safety officials asked that the narrow gravel access road be widened to 18 feet to accommodate emergency vehicles, and the applicant has agreed to all the needed road improvements, he also reported.

Still more minor revisions to the site plan are expected before final approval. Town Planner James Hartnett suggested that the some of the solar panels on the west side of the site be moved closer to Route 88, away from the homes closest to the proposed solar farm.

The shift of some panels to the east would also reduce the amount of trees needed to be cut on the western edge of the site, and increase the vegetated buffer zone surrounding the work site, he noted.

The suggestion was endorsed by board members who have consistently tried to limit tree cutting for solar farms to as small an area as possible, and to increase the depth of buffer zones with abutting residential properties. The board sponsored amendments to the large scale solar farm bylaw approved at the annual town meeting put more limits on the amount of clear-cutting of woodlands allowed, and require greater buffer zones than the old bylaw.

The shift to the east might slightly reduce the number of panels erected and the annual output of the facility, the applicant’s engineer advised the board; greater setbacks would make the project economically unfeasible, the company’s attorney indicated.

Reducing the amount of tree clearing and using more existing open space near the highway was supported by board member Robert Daylor, who said the proposed solar farm would be a more productive use of the open space currently not being used for agriculture.

After an hour’s discussion, the public hearing on the plans was continued again, scheduled for the board’s Aug. 13 meeting.

The proposed solar farm on about 15 acres of forested land off Sanford Road owned by the Fall River Rod & Gun Club was also up for discussion at a second public hearing held on July 16, and was also continued until the Aug. 13 meeting.

Frank Epps, Watuppa Solar LLC is seeking approval of a 4.2 megawatt solar energy on a 14.36 piece of the considerable acreage between Sanford Road and South Watuppa Pond owned by the gun club, which has a 20-year lease agreement with the company.

The applicant’s engineers said the plan was revised since the opening of the public hearing in June, and the project now meets all the setback requirements of the amended solar farm bylaw that is technically still not in effect.

“We have modified the (original) plan to accommodate that 100-foot setback” required under the revised bylaw, Atty. Brodeur said. All other aspects of the plans comply with all the other requirements of the old bylaw, he added.

Most of the plan changes discussed at the July 15 hearing dealt with improvements to stormwater control measures aiming to reduce the volume and rate of flow of surface water flowing towards Plymouth Street on the west, and Benoit Street on the northeast corner of the site.

Nearly 20 residents of the neighborhood voiced their concerns to the board about whether the proposed clear-cutting acres of trees might increase water flows towards their downhill properties. Some expressed doubts about a noise impact study predicting the extensive tree cutting would not increase sound levels from the existing gun ranges on club grounds because the solar panels would actually deflect the noise away from nearby residences better than the existing tree cover.

Wattupa Solar engineer Denise Cameron said the new plans also call for the higher ground in the middle of the site to be re-graded so that most of the surface water would flow away from the homes on Plymouth Street — either south towards existing wetlands, or north towards a one-acre retention basin draining towards South Watuppa Pond.

As in the earlier hearing, Hartnett and several board members suggested that some solar panels be shifted further away from the nearest homes on abutting properties to increase setbacks and minimize the impacts on neighbors.

Member John Bullard supported moving some panels to the north end of the work site, even though the shift might require the gun club to move some of its shooting ranges to allow that to happen. “The gun club may have to adjust some of their shooting ranges a bit... but everybody’s making adjustments” to make the project work, he suggested.

Board members decided that they would schedule a site visit before the next meeting to better understand the topography of the site, and the extent of the tree clearing needed.