Questions Rained on Solar Project

From technical issues about groundcover and water flow to more general questions about noise levels and tree removal, the Conservation Commission and abutters of the proposed Bullard Farm solar project questioned many details of the proposal to erect the town’s first solar-power generating facility.

In the first public airing of the project, more than two dozen neighbors turned out and listened as members of the project team, which includes New York City-based Syncarpha Solar and Renewable Energy Massachusetts of Cambridge, laid out their vision for the site.

Some 10,000 solar panels would fill what is now mainly open hay field covering just over 10 acres. The power would be sold to Nstar and sent onto the grid along Bullard St. to Fike St. and be capable of providing the electricity needs for some 300 homes. The project fits with a state mandate to generate 1 percent of the state’s overall electricity from solar, said Brian Kopperl, REM’s CEO.

Chairman Geoffrey Zeamer cautioned neighbors to keep questions focused on the commission’s jurisdiction, which includes impacts to wetlands resource areas, including Dirty Meadow Brook, which runs along the southern edge of the project site, which is in turn part of the larger land holdings of the Bullard Memorial Farm Association.

The most pointed questions of the night came from Conservation Commission member Fred Carnes, who asked why the project wasn’t designed to avoid any encroachment on land under the commission’s jurisdiction.

“This is our best shot. This thing may and will probably get moved around,” said project engineer Larry Beals. “It may shrink.”

The commission will continue to take input on the project and will hire a third party firm to review some technical aspects of the application at the project proponent’s expense. Future filings are expected to the Zoning Board of Appeals, to address work within the flood plain, and the Planning Board, which must issue a scenic road permit.