Pre-Revolutionary farmhouse in Tiverton has no legal protections from demolition

A pre-Revolutionary War farmhouse and historic barn that sit in a farm field not far from where a 15-acre solar array will be installed, has no legal protections, the town’s attorney said, and can be razed if it is not moved to another location.

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TIVERTON — A pre-Revolutionary War farmhouse and historic barn that sit in a farm field not far from where a 15-acre solar array will be installed, has no legal protections, the town’s attorney said, and can be razed if it is not moved to another location.

The developer of the Wingover Farm ground solar array, Ameresco of Framingham, Mass., has offered the structures to the town at no cost, but the price to move a house is hefty.

Resident Renee Jones said at the latest Planning Board meeting, where Ameresco’s preliminary plan was approved, that it would cost $100,000, or up to $200,000, to move the house to another location. She pleaded with the developers to come up with a plan to save the house.

“Can we please work this out so we don’t lose the house?” Jones asked. “There’s got to be a way we can work this out,” she said, suggesting a variance be requested from the town’s Zoning Board to allow two uses on one lot – residential and commercial – which is not currently allowed.

Joel Lindsey, director of development for Ameresco, said they want the buildings – the house, historic barn and contemporary barn – removed because they’d pose maintenance issues if they remained on the property.

One resident called it “a tragedy.”

“What a tragedy it is that we in Tiverton are going to allow the destruction of a 300-year-old unique historic treasure in exchange for a bunch of mass-produced solar panels with an anticipated life span of 20 years,” said resident Carol Herrmann. “Three hundred years of history – irreplaceable – in exchange for mass-produced solar panels which will be in the landfill in 20 years.”

The property at 1519 Crandall Road has a deed dating back to 1750, said Susan Anderson, chairwoman of the town’s Historic Preservation Advisory Board, but the house was not included on a list of historic structures compiled by the state 30 years ago because it cannot be seen from the road. She said the surveyor compiled the list by doing a drive by. “This is not visible. That’s why the house is not in there,” Anderson said of the list compiled by the Rhode Island Preservation and Heritage Commission.

Town Solicitor Michael Marcello said the town does not have historic zoning and no other statute or ordinance protects the house from demolition.

“We’ve tried to put historic districts in this town and we kept getting shot down,” Anderson said.

The proposal for the solar array on the 73.8-acre Wingover Farm was submitted in the fall of 2018, under the old solar ordinance that was repealed by the town council in late 2018 because the proposals that were submitted under it were industrial-size and would compromise farmland.

A proposed array for Brayton Road is for 55.2 acres of solar panels on an old farm that would require felling some 10,000 trees. That proposal was granted master plan approval, but still needs preliminary plan and final approval from the Planning Board.

The plan for Wingover Farm was originally for 35 acres of solar panels, which would have required the felling of many old trees, but the proposal was downsized to 14.7 acres, or 4.8 megawatts, on the agricultural fields. The plan calls for the installation of 12,474 solar panels.

A condition of the preliminary plan approval for the Wingover Farm solar array, proposed by Planning Board Vice Chairman Stuart Hardy and approved by the board, requires Ameresco to consult with the town’s Historic Preservation Advisory Board to allow them to document the structures by photographing them, in the event they are demolished.

Final plan approval for Wingover could be granted soon, or as early as a meeting in March.