Turbine site up in the air after solar proposal
North Smithfield Town Council weighs options from developers
NORTH SMITHFELD — Plans for a proposed 462-foottall wind turbine off Old Smithfield Road may, well, be up in the air after its developer filed a new proposal for a groundbased solar panel farm for the site with the town.
Green Development
LLC, which has been seeking local approval of the 1.5 megawatt wind turbine on Old Smithfield Road land owned by the Ruth Pacheco Family
Trust, submitted the just under 2-megawatt solar array development plan on
Oct. 7, the same day the
Town Council would later move to impose a two-monthlong moratorium on consideration of new ground-based solar array proposals by town boards.
The moratorium was adopted in order for the town’s planning board to complete work on updates to the town’s renewable energy ordinances that could be put into place by the council before the hold on solar array development is lifted.
The solar project hold does not apply to development plans submitted to the town before it was put in place and on Monday the council did in fact complete its work on a draft tax treaty and development agreement with Green Development for the town’s largest proposed solar power array,
“It does look like these panels are located where the turbine was located, too.”
—Town Planner Thomas Kravitz
a 38-megawatt facility to be located on land off Iron Mine Hill Road. The Council is expected to finalize the drafts in two weeks but its action on Monday will move the project forward to the next step of review by the planning board.
Thomas Kravitz, the town planner, said on Tuesday that he does not yet know if the Green Development solar array submission for the Pacheco property will fall under the town’s solar farm hold or not.
“Regarding that, I’m not sure,” Kravitz said while noting he will be talking with David Igliozzi, the town solicitor, on whether the moratorium applies to the project.
It also remains uncertain whether Green’s submission of a solar farm plan for the Old Smithfield Road site means that it would be substituting that project for the wind turbine that had generated strong opposition from neighboring residents.
“It does look like these panels are located where the turbine was located, too,” Kravitz said.
The plan submitted by Green was prepared by DiPrete Engineering and is only an initial submission on the proposal, he noted.
Ruth Pacheco could not be reached for comment on the new renewable energy plan, but a spokesman for Green Development, Bill Fisher, did confirm it is an alternative option for the property.
The wind turbine plan, which was rejected by the Zoning Board of Review back in July after the panel found it would create negative impacts on neighboring residential properties, is currently under appeal by Green in the courts.
Fisher said Green would likely drop its appeal regarding the wind turbine if the solar farm plan moves forward.
“We would drop our wind turbine appeal if we got approval of the solar proposal,” Fisher said.
It remains to be seen whether the town would include the proposal under its moratorium or not, but Green hopes the solar plan will be reviewed, he added.
“As we understand it, the moratorium is temporary and we hope that the town will see the benefit of this project for the town and development of renewable energy,” Fischer said. Although the construction of a solar power array at the site would result in the removal of some trees on the property, Fischer noted that the acreage involved includes open fields which would reduce the amount land clearing needed for the project.
Regardless of its status un
der the moratorium, the Pacheco farm proposal is not the only solar array development plan pending before the town at the moment.
Next in line as a larger development after Green’s Iron Mine Hill Road proposal is a 10-megawatt solar array proposed by Turning Point Energy for land near an existing smaller solar farm at the L&RR landfill off Old Oxford Road.
Town Administrator Gary Ezovski said that location is suited to such development given its proximity the L&RR landfill Superfund site would rule it out for future industrial or residential development.
The existing AEP 2-megawatt solar development there provides the town with an agreement meeting the costs of its electricity needs, he noted.
The town has also received a proposal for a solar array on the Gold property that the town had considered purchasing as an open space acquisition. The remaining proposals of the five considered still pending before the town are all of a smaller size, according to local officials.