Plans to build 20-megawatt solar farm in town dropped
NEW MILFORD — After more than three years, litigation against controversial solar plant plans for Candlewood Mountain has concluded with settlement agreements that prevent a 20megawatt solar farm from being constructed on the land.
The agreement not only ensures environmental preservation, but secures acres of open space for the town.
“It’s been a long haul, but the end result is a win — it’s an absolute vindication for the town’s position from the beginning,” said Cramer & Anderson attorney Dan Casagrande, who represented the town of New Milford and local citizens’ group Rescue Candlewood Mountain in lawsuits stemming from a 2017 Siting Council decision.
The parties filed appeals after the council approved plans by Candlewood Solar LLC to build a 20-megawatt solar photovoltaic electric generating facility on Candlewood Mountain.
Representatives for Ameresco Candlewood Solar LLC could not be immediately reached for comment by deadline Tuesday.
Casagrande said the project would have destroyed not only 80 acres of core forest land on the mountain, but a habitat for a threatened species called the Northern slimy salamander — despite the Siting Council’s claims that it would not have a negative environmental effect.
Rescue Candlewood Mountain was the first to appeal the Siting Council’s decision, and the town of New Milford later brought its own appeal against a set of construction plans that the Siting Council had approved.
“We engaged in a lot of litigation in front of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection,” Casagrande said. “Candlewood Solar could not construct the plant without getting either a general permit from DEEP or an individual permit, which is much more cumbersome when DEEP determines that the project is going to have a significant impact on stormwater.”
Based on affidavits and reports submitted into the record on behalf of the town, Casagrande said, DEEP rejected several sets of plans Candlewood Solar submitted.
Once it became clear that DEEP was not going to approve a 20-megawatt solar facility due to the “devastating environ
mental impact,” Casagrande said settlement negotiations commenced with Candlewood Solar and its attorneys, resulting in two agreements.
In exchange for the withdrawal of the appeals, he said Candlewood Solar has not only “obligated itself to never build more than a four-megawatt plant on the property,” but agreed to permanently conserve almost 90 acres of land on the property as permanent open space for conservation purposes.
Casagrande said the prevention of Candlewood Solar from ever seeking approvals for more than a four-megawatt plant will preserve nearly all of the property's core forest land and slimy salamander habitat.
“The persistence of the town and Rescue Candlewood Mountain in fighting against the environmental devastation the original proposed plant would have caused has paid off handsomely,” he said.
As part of the settlement agreement, Casagrande said Candlewood Solar will create a public walking trail on the property that connects to the Blue-Blazed Hiking Trail.
“This will create opportunities for the public to enjoy the mountain on the property — and if Candlewood Solar ever sells the property to a third party, they will improve the public parking area at the corner of Route 37 and Candlewood Mountain Road that leads to the trail,” he said.
Because courts give substantial deference to Siting Council decisions, Casagrande said successfully appealing them is “a very difficult obstacle to overcome.”
In this case, though, he said efforts were concentrated not so much on the Siting Council, but getting DEEP to realize the “devastating environmental impact on stormwater management” that the originally proposed facility would have had.
“This is a project that was misguided from the start,” Casagrande said, “and as a result of our efforts to prevent it, we have a result which is really a win-win for the residents of the town and all other persons who want to protect the environment.”
Casagrande said he thanks Mayor Pete Bass, the New Milford Town Council and Rescue Candlewood Mountain for their perseverance in fighting against what he says would have been “an environmental abomination.”