CONWAY — About 50 residents packed Town Hall on Tuesday night to discuss developer BlueWave Solar’s plans for a 20-acre solar array on farmland along Roaring Brook Road that residents fear will put the town at risk of fires, cause property values to drop and negatively impact the pristine landscape.
The application for the project on Ronald Boyden’s property describes solar panels set 10 feet above the ground, along with a battery energy storage system, a 20-foot-wide gravel access road and a stormwater basin. BlueWave would be responsible for decommissioning and removing the solar farm after 20 to 35 years based on the lease agreement, according to Melinda Costello, a civil engineer with Weston & Sampson.
The solar farm would be a dual-use system, allowing landowners to continue using the site for farming. According to Costello, the height of the solar panels would allow cattle to graze under them, and they would be spaced with enough room for sunshine to reach the field. Instead of fixed panels, the solar panels would move to follow the sun throughout the day.
Planning Board Chair George Forcier explained that the board will “[chew] on all the information” residents raise during the site plan review and special permit process, and will hold future hearings to answer more questions.
“We may not have all the information tonight,” Forcier said, “but we will get there.”
Fire Chief Christopher Herrmann asked for further details about the battery energy storage system, claiming “there really wasn’t much detail at all” in the project application.
In response, Costello said she plans to pass along his questions to the fire protection engineer who is working with BlueWave.
Resident Mary McClintock voiced concern about potential fires at the battery energy storage system and asked if BlueWave plans to donate to the Conway Fire Department to compensate it for handling the potential new risk.
She and other residents claimed the proposed array could also lead to erosion caused by the flow of stormwater.
“I know that land. I tilled and farmed that land for many years. It is not erosion-resistant,” said Howard Boyden, property owner Ronald Boyden’s brother. “There’s no way that this should be planted on agricultural land until every roof and parking lot is.”
“It’s going to be a big flat table where water is going to be pouring on these panels. It doesn’t make any sense,” said Devlin Selman, an abutter to the only solar array in town on North Poland Road. “As Howard said, solar belongs on already developed land to be considered green energy. We need our pastures, we need our fields, we need farms that aren’t going to be ruined.”
While answering questions at the end of Tuesday’s hearing, Costello said the solar panels will allow rain to fall off throughout the day as the panels move while following the sun, instead of collecting on a fixed flat surface.
Selman and Gerry LeBlanc, whose home also neighbors the existing solar array, claim they have shouldered the upkeep of the North Poland Road development themselves, from picking up litter during construction to calling the phone number on the fence when an alarm rang. They called for oversight of the proposed development to ensure BlueWave and any subcontractors stick to set conditions.
“It’s an absolute nightmare across the board,” LeBlanc said of the existing solar array. “It’s an ecological disaster. That land will never be the same again.”
Former Planning Board Chair Beth Girshman told residents that the board listened to problems residents raised with the existing solar array to craft the town’s solar bylaw — the standards that are now guiding the Planning Board’s review of BlueWave’s application.
“It’s going to be a whole lot of equipment and a whole lot of technology installed into something that’s now really beautiful and pristine. It’s never going to be the same,” LeBlanc continued, with the crowd applauding after he spoke. “The state isn’t protecting us and the rural community and the beauty of the town — this board is and we are.”
Tim Luce, an abutter of the proposed solar array, said he expects the development will cause the value of his property to drop.
“You can’t tell me looking out my living room window at this instead of that beautiful field that we look at is not going to affect our property value,” Luce said. “The adverse effect to this community is pretty obvious.”
Resident William Cote requested that information on the proposed project be more accessible and comprehensive on the town website. In response, Forcier said he plans to work with Adam Reed, assistant to the town administrator, to better share information on the proposed solar development.
Resident Michael Kurkulonis described his longtime friend Ronald Boyden as a “good steward of the land,” and said the concerns and questions attendees raised “would apply perfectly to public land or town-owned land, but that’s not what this is; it’s private land.”
“I have a real problem with telling people what to do with their own land. … We can’t be buying out private land and private businesses. It’s not what the town is for [and] that’s not what we should be doing,” Kurkulonis said. “I don’t like the look of solar fields, but I’m willing to bet that 99.9% of everyone in this room is in favor of solar, and I hate to say it this way and people probably won’t like it, but I’m getting the perception just listening to this stuff, that ‘Yes, we want solar, we want wind power, but we don’t want it in our backyard.'”
The public hearing will continue on Tuesday, May 19, at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.
