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WESTBOROUGH, Mass. — Jim Harvey has been attempting to add a 2.24 megawatt solar field to his farm land for close to a year, and he now sits one vote away from realizing that dream.
"It's going to be a beautiful project," said project manager Charles Jenkins. "It's going to be a jewel by the time we're done."
The solar farm is not only the largest in scale to be approved in Westborough, according to Board Chair Leigh Emery, but it is also on land that is zoned residential.
The field will be composed of 10,000 solar "modules" and take up about eight acres.
A bylaw passed at last October's Town Meeting precluded such a large-scale installation but the Zoning Board of Appeals granted Harvey a use variance.
"The plan is very consistent with the now implemented zoning regulations even though it was done prior to that," said project attorney Adam Braillard.
No issues were brought forth by the building inspector during site-plan review, but the Board of Selectmen was unable to grant final approval at its most recent meeting because all of the documents were not received in time. The selectmen all said they were in favor of the project after Harvey spoke to the question of view mitigation from the neighboring cemetery and homes.
"When the ZBA came out to the site they complimented the great protection of the property," Harvey said, noting that more trees will be planted before the project's completion.
The plan also calls for the panels to be tilted southward, so there should be no glare issue for anyone in the cemetery.
The formal vote to approve the site plan will take place at the Feb. 26 Selectmen meeting, following which the project can finally begin.
In December, the town came to an agreement with the panel owners to buy back the excess electricity at a discounted rate. The deal could save Westborough $1.9 million over 20 years.
"It's one of the first models like this that has been successfully moved on," Jenkins said. "We're going to do the best we can for you to hold your heads high and say 'we did this in Westborough, we did it first and we did it right.'"
Comments (2)
If you came to this page because you want a clean town with renewable energy, then you may also like to know how pure is the water that you're drinking. Please read this link and let the town know if you agree that this is simply not acceptable. Our institutions do not deserve to be trusted as they have breached our trust time and again. They take people from private industry who have commercial interests in framing the law to their favor and place them on their boards. I have written to Mr. Jim Malloy and he is not very open to the possibility that adding fluoride to the water is looking like a serious public health hazard. I was never asked if I wanted fluoride in my water, were you? This is not natural fluoride we're talking about. The fluoride that gets added to the water is a waste product of the fertilizer industry purchased from China. Nonetheless, even if it was Vitamin C, does that mean we should add it to our water? Everyone needs to read this: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/02/16/fluoridegate-water-fluoridation.aspx?e_cid=20130216_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20130216
"The plan also calls for the panels to be tilted southward, so there should be no glare issue for anyone in the cemetery. " But the planning board allows trucks to go through Westborough streets without the slightest thought to the fossil fuel pollution we're practically choking on. You can't even walk down the street in Westborough anymore and be able to hear a conversation with the person beside you. Westborough has no public transit, leaving residents with only one option - taking the car and that equals pollution. This is great news about the solar panels but can the planning board be a little more accommodating with all their petty standards? Really one would think the people of Westborough and the rest of the planet had the luxury of their being so darn picky.