Board to Inquire About Landscaping Around Alcatel-Lucent Solar Panels

The New Providence Zoning Board of Adjustment is used to keeping an applicant's feet to the fire. But in this case, it's solar panels.

The Zoning Board approved variances last fall allowing the installation of on part of Alcatel-Lucent's Mountain Avenue campus in Murray Hill. The panels, , span about five acres near Southgate Road.

Before the installation of the solar panels was approved, there was extensive testimony about landscaping coverage along the side of the panels to provide sufficient buffering, said Zoning Board attorney Philip Morin III, and board members don't think the current landscaping complies.

Morin said he plans to circulate a draft of a letter he is writing to Alcatel-Lucent to board members for comments, and plans to send the letter this week. Specifically, Morin is seeking an "explanation for the failure to comply with the conditions of approval to date” from Alcatel-Lucent, which should be submitted to the board prior to its Sept. 7 meeting. Morin said he could not be more specific until he gets more feedback from board members as to the scope and amount of landscaping.

Among the conditions of the borough's approval was that the Zoning Board would retain jurisdiction over landscaping for 10 years. Jurisdiction includes the condition and maintenance of the original plantings, as well as the right to request additional landscaping to screen the fence or the solar panels.

"Dead, diseased or missing landscaping shall be permanently replaced in consultation with the borough engineer and arborist," according to the resolution passed by the board.

But Mary Ward, a spokeswoman for Alcatel-Lucent, said the company has abided by the conditions set forth by the Zoning Board and installed landscaping.

Most of the plantings will take a couple of years to mature and some of the smaller ones have died due to some extreme weather this year, she said, but the company plans to replace them.

"We're as interested in making it look good as the city is," Ward said.

San Jose, Calif.-based SunPower Corp. designed and installed the panels while ConEdison Development leases the land from Alcatel-Lucent, which buys back the electricity from ConEdison.

The solar panels are expected to generate some 1.2-megawatts of electricity, yielding a cost savings of $2.5 million over the next 15 years for Alcatel-Lucent.