A little over a year ago, Harvard was struggling to find a suitable location for as-of-right solar zoning. But now, like several other towns in the area, Harvard's Planning Board is racing to come up with a bylaw that would address the possibility of large-scale solar arrays anywhere in town.
The board intends to have the bylaw ready for vote at the annual Town Meeting in April.
Two things have happened since the November 2010 Town Meeting that created a solar overlay district encompassing 10 acres at the transfer station.
Solar investments have become increasingly profitable because of federal and state incentives, solar renewable energy certificate (SREC) income, and falling solar panel prices. Very large-scale commercial solar farm projects and proposals are under way in towns all around Harvard.
Nearby projects include a 25-acre, 6-megawatt solar farm on in Lunenburg; a 20-acre farm also in Lunenburg; a 2.5-megawatt installation on the Stow-Bolton line; 4.4 megawatts in Westford; 6 megawatts in Shirley; and 6 megawatts in Barre. For comparison, Carlson Orchards' solar installation in Harvard is a 220 kilowatt array on 2 acres.
Most of these projects are on agricultural- or residential-zoned land. Several have met opposition from residents, while others, like the Shirley project (that town's second) are town-supported partnerships.
The speed of commercial solar development is outpacing local planning boards' ability to respond and Massachusetts towns have discovered that state law prohibits solar zoning restrictions for other than the protection of "public health, safety or welfare."
According to Massachusetts General Law Chapter 40A, Section 3: "No zoning ordinance or by-law shall prohibit or unreasonably regulate the installation of solar energy systems or the building of structures that facilitate the collection of solar energy, except where necessary to protect the public health, safety or welfare."
Harvard Planning Board Chair Kara McGuire Minar said the board supports renewable energy installations, but wants to balance solar energy benefits, property owner rights, town character preservation, commercial rights, and state law.
A solar bylaw could delineate responsibility for decommissioning installations at the end of a project or in case of bankruptcy, require a surety to pay for decommissioning, and define set-back and vegetative requirements, structural height restrictions, and lighting and safety requirements, among others. The board is weighing whether or when to require a special permit, without which there is no obligation to hear comments from abutters.
It is a lot to juggle, as Planning Board member Michelle Catalina has found out as she attempts to draft a solar bylaw that will pass Town Meeting by the required two-thirds majority vote. Catalina said that she is modeling the bylaw on ones other towns have passed, many of which are waiting for approval from the state Attorney General's office.
Stow recently passed a bylaw by Special Town Meeting that the Attorney General's office approved in November, according to the Stow Sentinel. Stow's bylaw allows solar installations byright in the Industrial and Commercial District and by special permit in all other districts.
The Planning Board heard several points from constituents at its regular meeting last week.
"If you don't have a bylaw, you work with the community only as much as your client allows you to work with them. If nothing's there [no regulations], you get the permit," said Bruce Ringwall from Goldsmith, Priest, and Ringwall, a local civil engineering firm.
Worth Robbins, who is spearheading a community solar garden project, outlined how the solar garden project evolved to meet the desire for solar energy from many Harvard residents who could not participate in the Solarize Mass/Harvard project due to site or structural insufficiencies.
"It would be really great if we could have a facility that was producing electricity for the town," he said, "but the economy of solar projects is heavily driven by tax considerations and it is not economically possible for the town, which doesn't pay taxes."
"Part of me wants you to do exactly what you're doing to regulate a large-capacity commercial array," Robbins said. "If left alone, without constraints, someone will come along and find an area for megawatt capacity."
At the same time, Robbins said, he did not want the town to preclude the possibility for town-supported solar projects.
"Let's not try the hardest we can to make it not happen," said Harvard resident Steven Strong, president of Solar Design Associates and an advisor to the community solar garden project. Strong has often spoken on benefits of solar energy and the environmental dangers of fossil fuel. He said that restricting larger-scale solar arrays to the commercial district would make them prohibitively expensive.
"There needs to be some protection for abutters," said Robin Calderwood, whose Woodchuck Road property abuts one proposed site for the community solar garden.
"I personally bought land in Harvard because there was lots of ledge. That's the best way to guarantee open space," said Bill Calderwood, Robin's husband.
"These are legitimate concerns. These are legitimate values," said Minar. "It's very difficult."