North Smithfield Town Council approves solar farm zoning
NORTH SMITHFIELD – After approving modifications to its scope and impact on surrounding properties, the Town Council Monday night approved a new approach to creating solar farms in the town, the creation of a Solar Photovoltaic Overlay District.
The decision to add the option for land proposals larger than the six acres covered by the town’s existing solar photovoltaic systems ordinance was made by a 4-to-1 vote of the Town Council, with just member Thomas McGee opposed.
McGee made a steadfast argument for keeping the current system of approval for such proposals, a town review including both the Planning Board and the Zoning Board, but lost to Council President John Beauregard’s argument that the council should act in favor of all of the town’s 11,000 residents and not just those who had turned out at the panel’s hearings to oppose the proposal.
Council members Paul Zwolenski, Claire O’Hara and Terri Bartomioli all joined
Beauregard in approving the new overlay district for about 400 acres of largely undeveloped land atop Whortleberry Hill between Greenville Road and Route 146.
The council held three hearings son the proposed overlay during which much opposition was raised to the potential clear-cutting of Whortleberry Hill to make way for solar panels generating 40
megawatts of electricity or more, das well as its potential for setting precedents allowing even more of the developments or affecting the local environment with soil erosion and water contamination.
The council also heard several presentations by the proposal’s developer, Green Development LLC, which noted the environmentally safe practices that would be used to install and maintain the solar farm, as well as comment from members of the Ferra family, owner of the largest parcel of land in the proposed location, who indicated the solar farm would not impact neighbors.
Noting the involvement of the ”Ferra family in the proposed solar development, McGee said he understood the family’s desire to develop the property. “The only thing I can’t get past is the overlay district and that it is not being put through the proper channels,” McGee said while explaining his position against the proposed district.
McGee said he wouldn’t be opposed to the families owning property on Whortleberry Hill pursuing solar development on their land if that was their choice, but added he believed the town’s existing ordinances could properly cover such a plan.
“I don’t see why we couldn’t involve the Zoning Board, and I think the Zoning Board should be involved,” he said.
“Mr. (Ralph) Ferra can develop this,” McGee said while noting the property owners could pursue such proposals under the town’s current development ordinances. But McGee said the town also has boards such as the Planning Board and Zoning Board which review proposed land uses, and voiced a belief those panels could properly review a solar use plan.
“I think it should go through its due process. Let’s run it through zoning and do it the right way,” he said.
Beauregard, however, countered with his previously stated contention at the council’s last meeting that including the Zoning Board in the process could prevent the town from realizing significant revenue resulting from approval of the overlay district.
The district would allow the Town Council to secure an annual solar farm payment of $7,000 per megawatt from the project’s developer, Green Energy LLC, and that funding could diminish to $5,000 per megawatt, as allowed by the state and without the negotiation provided through the overlay, he argued.
The inclusion of the Zoning Board in the review process would also open the door to it denying the solar farm plan and placing the matter before a judge to decide on appeal without further involvement by the council, he argued.
Noting that some of the solar farm’s opponents speaking out at
the hearings may feel he is a “bad guy’’ for his views on the financial benefits of the plan, Beauregard explained he was willing to shoulder such criticism for the betterment of the town. “When I make a decision, I make a decision not just for the people in the room, it’s for the 11,000 people in the town,” he said.
And in the case of the proposed solar farm, Beauregard said the town needs the revenue it would bring. “We don’t have a power plant like Burrillville does that provides the town with millions of dollars in revenue,” he said.
Beauregard also said he had listened to the comments made by residents on the proposal and had in turn worked with Tom Kravitz, the town planner, to come up with the added amendments approved earlier in the meeting.
The changes include a sunset clause that allows the developer one year to start work on the solar farm and three years to complete its buildout, the elimination of prior language that would have included all the land of any contiguous parcel that touched a parcel in the overlay district, and the addition of a 100-foot buffer zone inside the outer district boundary and a 500-foot setback from Iron Mine Hill Road. The changes created an overlay district covering about 400 acres overall while adding three new property owners to the district beyond the Ferras and Faridoon Khan, who had been involved in the initial plan.
The panel in turn voted to approve the amended overlay ordinance, with a second by Zwolenski, on the 4-1 vote.
Kravitz said later that an actual solar farm plan for the site is not yet before the Planning Department, but noted one could be submitted in the near future as a result of the council’s action. The next step in a review by the Planning Board would likely be a formal visit to the proposed site for an advertised walkthrough of the property.