City seeks bids to put solar panels in park
WOONSOCKET – Amid deep political divisions about doing so, the administration went out to bid Wednesday for a large solar installation at River’s Edge Recreational Complex.
Not only has Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt expressed reservations about using the former dump to build ground-mounted solar panels, the council itself is split on the issue.
The public solicitation comes just days after the council voted 5-2 to adopt a resolution instructing the administration to issue the request for proposals, or RFP. Opponents argued that a solar installation at River’s Edge would be akin to creating a self-inflicted blight on one of the city’s most picturesque green spaces.
“It is a spectacular piece of land that used to be a dump, which is now this beautiful green space,” said Councilman David Soucy. “I’m opposed to using any existing recreational space in our city. While we think we have an abundance of it, you never have too much open space, or in this case, recreational space, that can be used by the public.”
Soucy and Councilman Ale ander .ithes were the only members of the panel to vote against the resolution. Council President Dan Gendron, ice President Jon Brien, with Councilors James C. Cournoyer, John . ard and Denise Sierra, all voted in favor of it on Oct. 21.
The R P is the latest development in an issue that’s been taking shape for nearly two years, after the council, at the urging of ice President Brien, formed a green energy subcommittee” to develop a strategy for partnering with the alternative energy industry as a way of developing a new revenue stream for the city. Brien originally pitched the idea as an environmentally-friendly alternative to Baldelli-Hunt’s entertainment of a $20 million deal to sell the city’s water to the Clear River Energy Center in Burrillville, the gas-powered co-generation plan that ultimately failed to a win a permit from the state Energy acility Siting Board.
The subcommittee’s work has already led one company, orth .ingstown-based Green Development, to propose a series of solar farms in the city that could, officials claim, yield close to $20 million to the city over a period of 25 years. The payoff represents a combination of lease payments on city-owned lands where the solar panels would be built, direct energy savings and state ta credits.
The plan thus far includes sites off Bourdon Boulevard, Aylesworth Avenue, Jillson Avenue and Manville Road – but officials say more panels are needed to achieve the subcommittee’s revenue targets with 8.5 megawatts of power-generating capacity, and that’s where River’s Edge Recreational Comple comes in.
As details emerged, the mayor had repeatedly raised questions about the council’s plan. But in late August she disclosed the administration’s most forceful effort to intervene in the process yet, announcing – preemptively it turned out – that she’d hired an attorney with e pertise in environmental law to evaluate the feasibility of developing solar at the proposed sites, including River’s Edge.
The council later reminded the mayor that the City Charter prohibits the city from hiring outside legal council without an affirmative vote of the legislative branch. evertheless, shortly after the mayor’s announcement, the council voted to hire lawyer Christian . Capizzo of the Providence firm Partridge Snow & Hahn. Capizzo is the former head of the Attorney General’s Environmental Crimes Task orce.
Before approving the resolution instructing the administration to issue the R P for River’s Edge, Brien responded to Soucy’s concerns about using a park for a solar installation. In an apparent reference to Capizzo’s feasibility review, Brien emphasized that the resolution is preliminary.
It is merely to go out to R P to find out whether solar is viable at River’s Edge,” Brien said. So we’re not really doing anything other than ensuring that we get all the information so we can make an educated decision on how to move forward.”
As debate about using the park for an industrial-strength solar installation heated up, some members of the council emphasized that the city appears to have a surfeit of open space – some of which don’t seem to get much use, including River’s Edge. A capped landfill, the site off Davison Avenue was converted to a park after the state Department of Environmental Management ordered the dump closed many years ago, after the city was cited for dumping to ic materials in the facility.
In recent weeks, however, the park has been used for a series of events, including the seasonal pumpkin festival. It was also the site of Athena’s Cup, where Jennifer Jolicoeur of Athena’s Home ovelties, over a span of nearly two weeks with a small army of volunteers, gained national attention by amassing a Guinness record-setting chain of bras over 108 miles long.
A stretch of the Blackstone River Bikeway also runs though River’s Edge, alongside the Blackstone River.
Before voting on the R P, Councilman James Cournoyer said using a portion of the site might be best alternative to clear-cutting raw woodland to develop solar power as a means to safeguarding the city’s long-range financial liquidity.
I look forward to you folks finding another 10 acres in the city that can provide 10 acres worth of solar to the benefit of the city to help pay the many costs that we are facing, such as the pension shortfall,” he said. e’ve got to make some hard choices, there’s no doubt about it.”
Bidders interested in building a River’s Edge solar installation have until Dec. 5 to file a proposal. Among other things, qualified bidders must pony up $20,000 to offset the costs of Capizzo’s environmental review.