N. Smithfield
guide solar power production away from forested land and more toward existing developed areas or unused properties such as landfills or buildings. The changes also took note of tree loss from such developments and in certain instances established options for a 1 to 1 tree replacement of native growth of a specified size.
The town saw ground broken on another type of solar project in November as Nautilus Solar Energy of New Jersey and Turning Point Energy of Colorado kicked off construction of a 12.4 megawatt solar farm on just over 100 acres of land near the former L&RR Landfill off Pound Hill Road that is expected to be come the largest community solar project in state.
Community solar development allows people to take advantage of lower cost solar power through a Rhode Island net metering option regardless of where they live.
The Pound Hill Road development is expect to provide affordable power to 3,000 Rhode Island homes when completed.
In other news this year, Police Chief Steven E. Reynolds announced in October that he would be retiring after 24 years as head of the local department and a 46-year law enforcement career overall that included his time as a member of the R.I. State Police.
In September, another longtime North Smithfield official, Town Clerk Debra A. Todd, retired from her post after 33 years in the town clerk’s office. Todd served in the clerk’s office under 9 of the town’s 10 town administrators after starting out as a new employee of the office under the late Arthur Denomme in 1986. She was named Town Clerk in 2001.
In another major local change, local school children and teachers said goodbye to the Dr. Harry Lippitt Halliwell Memorial Elementary School at the end of school in June.
The closing of the cottage building campus-style school came as the town finished work on an addition to the North Smithfield Elementary School that would house Halliwell students along with the middle school in September.
Halliwell was named for a local pediatrician and school department physician who treated children during a 1950s outbreak of polio that claimed his life.
The town is studying what to do with the vacated Halliwell property and how to continue honoring the memory of its namesake.
While solar power facilities continue to rise in the town, local officials put the brakes on a plan for construction of a 462-foot tall wind turbine off Old Smithfield Road after the Zoning Board of Review ended its months long review of the proposal with a 5-0 decision against it in July.
The site is now being considered for a possible solar power array as an alternative to the rejected turbine.
In November, there was good news for longtime customers of the Coffee & Cream breakfast restaurant after the business, closed by Dec. 22, 2017, fire at Smithfield and Greenville roads, was reopened at a new home by members of the Branchaud family in the Slatersville Plaza.
That development was followed by another announcement that the Beef Barn operated next-door by the Branchaud family but not damaged in the fire, would also be moving.
The Beef Barn is expected to relocate to the former Homestead Gardens Property on Pound Hill Road, about two miles from its current site, next year.