Committee Questions Solar Panel Sizes on Small Lots

The Bedminster Township Committee is preparing for some substantive changes on a proposed ordinance that would establish regulations for solar facilities in town.

That also means residents will have more opportunities to give input on the ordinance while it is being finalized by the township committee and reviewed by the Land Use Board, which will be required to determine whether it is in line with the master plan.

Committee members Bernie Pane and Carolyn Freeman both raised questions at Monday's meeting about the installation of ground-mounted solar panels on smaller residential lots in the township.

Freeman said she is concerned about the lack of regulations on the size of solar panels that could be constructed on a 1-acre residential lot.

“I want to look out my window and see something attractive,” she said.

“I like the idea of solar,” she added, ”but it’s not that attractive.”

Committeeman Lawrence Jacobs agreed, saying that it may not be “appropriate” to allow smaller backyards to have ground-mounted solar panels.

The size of any ground-mounted solar panels in the smaller residential districts will be one of the changes included in a revised draft. Mayor Steve Parker estimated that the size of panels for use on a residential property without some outbuildings would be about 300 to 500 square feet.

Pane also questioned the draft ordinance’s requirements for visual buffering of ground-mounted solar panels. He said he wondered about the meaning and enforcement of the ordinance’s call for the systems to be installed “in as inconspicuous and unobtrusive a manner as reasonably possible.”

The township committee will hold another discussion of the ordinance at its April 1 meeting—that was initially planned to be an approval of the ordinance, but now it will serve as a public hearing for residents to speak, without an actual vote.

Once the committee agrees on a final draft—and reintroduces the ordinance if major changes are required—the ordinance will be forwarded to the Land Use Board to determine if it is in compliance with the township’s master plan. The public can also speak at that Land Use Board meeting, which is expected sometime in April.

The ordinance will then return to the township committee for adoption and a formal public hearing.

No definite timetable for the ordinance has been set.

As a result of the discussion among township committee members Monday, township attorney John Belardo will meet with the township planners to incorporate changes suggested by the elected officials into the proposed ordinance and to clarify other issues.

Parker explained that the purpose of the ordinance is to promote the use of solar panels, mounted either on roofs or on the ground, to generate power for landowners' use.

The original draft of the ordinance created by the Land Use Board, Parker said, contained “silly stuff,” including onerous permit fees.

“We’re not looking to get in your way,” he said.

The township committee then decided to draft its own ordinance in January, Parker said.

Jacobs said the ordinance was drafted after reviewing solar regulations from almost 15 other municipalities. The ordinance’s goal, he explained, is to preserve open space in Bedminster and to regulate the use of solar without “Draconian” rules.

Parker emphasized that the proposed ordinance is a separate issue from the controversial application before the Land Use Board to construct a solar farm on the Kirby property on Country Club Road. That application by KDC Solar of Bedminster calls for the installation of a 55-acre, 49,000-panel industrial-scale solar power plant that would power only Sanofi-Aventis on Route 202/206 in Bridgewater.

The hearings on that project are scheduled to begin May 2.