SHUTESBURY — Time is running out for the Planning Board to decide the conditions of a special permit requested for a 30-acre solar installation that some residents say would disrupt a Native American burial ground.
The Planning Board will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Town Hall and faces a June 13 deadline to determine the conditions for a permit requested by Chicago-based developer Lake Street Development to build a 6-megawatt solar installment on Pratt Corner Road
After a heated May 23 meeting, the Planning Board and the developer agreed to extend the town’s deadline beyond the 90-day deliberation period which began in March following a series of public hearings.
The most recent meeting was attended by some 30 people, including several members of the Mohawk tribe dressed in Native American regalia, and it included a call to police after one resident’s outburst
Residents presented thick packets of legislation and research at the meeting from organizations including the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior, much of which town attorney Donna McNicol said is beyond the board’s jurisdiction.
The Planning Board agreed to submit a final draft of the permit to the town clerk by June 13. If the board does not decide the conditions Tuesday and submit the permit by June 13, agreement would be needed on another extension or the permit would automatically be granted.
Planning Board member Jeffrey Lacy, who is drafting the permit, said the challenge is to craft conditions that satisfy the concerned residents without hindering the developer or overstepping the town’s legal authority.
“We’ve gotten some input from the applicant, some input from citizens and we’ve consulted with the town attorney. We’re trying to make adjustments as necessary,” Lacy said. “We can’t do anything we want with the conditions. We have limits.”
Lacy declined to say what changes have been made to the permit because it had not been distributed to the involved parties as of Friday afternoon.
Miriam DeFant, of Shutesbury, believes the project site is a Native American burial ground and she is calling on the board to create more specific conditions regarding surveying the land before development begins.
“Once you start construction, it’s too late,” DeFant said. “It is in everybody’s best interest to do a good job up front.”
DeFant said she would like to see the town partner with a Tribal Historic Preservation officer when reviewing the results of an archaeological survey of the site currently required in the permit. The language in the permit presented in May was too vague and did not specify the type of expert the town would call on, she said.
“Our town needs their expertise,” DeFant said. “We have the moral authority to question this more thoroughly.”
Michael Pill, of Shutesbury, is the attorney representing Lake Street Development. Pill expressed frustration with those calling for stricter permit conditions. Before the burial ground issue was unearthed by New Salem resident Sarah Kohler at the final public hearing, many residents expressed concern about the environmental impact of the project, causing the developer to redesign much of it.
“Nothing will satisfy the opponents except permit conditions that will kill the project,” Pill said.
If human remains are found on the site, the developer will immediately contact the medical examiner, Pill said. From there, the medical examiner would advise the developer how to proceed, most likely by marking out an area around the possible grave, but the project would not be stopped on the rest of the land, Pill said.
According to Pill, if the Planning Board oversteps its limits for permit conditions, the developer could take legal action.
“We’ll be in a legal conflict with the Planning Board and the Shutesbury taxpayers will have to pay,” Pill said.
Pill said the residents should direct their concerns to the U.S. Department of the Interior and other bureaus about laws they believe the developer is violating, rather than the Planning Board.
Pill said Zachary Schulman, managing director of Lake Street Development, will accompany him to the meeting Tuesday.