BERNARDSTON — Whether it is approved, the town’s permitting process for the solar farm proposed for the west side of Route 5 in central Bernardston will be finished by this time next week.
The company proposing to build the solar farm is now facing a deadline of Nov. 30 to apply for the state funding that would make the project financially viable. So if the project isn’t approved by the Planning Board and Conservation Commission at a hearing Thursday at 6:30 p.m., it won’t go through at all.
Public hearings on the project have been going on for four months now. Since the beginning, the sticking point for town officials has been how the solar panels would affect the flooding problem in Cushman Park, across the street and down-slope from the field where the panels may go.
The other issue, which some residents have complained about at the public hearings, is the appearance of the solar panels.
“It’s been lengthy because the members of the town boards have been very conscientious and wanted to make sure this project is done right before they act on it,” said Joe Shanahan, director of real estate at the solar panel company, Clean Energy Collective.
The project’s designers are hoping that a final revision to their plan will address all parties’ concerns. In the plan that the Conservation Commission and Planning Board will be looking at on Thursday, the size of the solar farm has been reduced from about 24 acres to 17, eliminating the part that would have been on a slope and visible from the center of town.
The designers also added water drainage features that they expect will be approved by the town’s consultants, Shanahan said.
Previously, hearings had been scheduled for Nov. 15, but were canceled due to a snowstorm. Town officials “bent over backwards” to reschedule the hearing in time for the company’s deadline, Shanahan said.
If the project is approved, the Clean Energy Collective will then negotiate a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement with the town, by which the Clean Energy Collective would pay Bernardston an agreed-upon amount every year. Typically, Shanahan said, the Clean Energy Collective pays about $10,000 per megawatt in town PILOT agreements. This solar farm will produce about 4.8 megawatts.
Contact Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-772-0261 ex 261.