Selectmen to hold Vicksburg Square hearing, also discuss net metering
by Anonym ·
Monday, February 20, 2012
On the agenda for the Harvard Board of Selectmen for Tuesday, Feb. 21, are two items of note: a public hearing on Trinity Financial's Vicksburg Square proposal and a discussion about lending support to state legislation that would increase the net metering cap for residential renewable energy facilities.
- The Board of Selectmen will hold a public hearing on developer Trinity Financial’s plan to redevelop Vicksburg Square. The hearing begins at 7 p.m. in the Town Hall Meeting Room. This is Trinity’s last scheduled public hearing in Harvard.
Trinity’s proposal is to redevelop the now-vacant former military housing in four buildings at Vicksburg Square in Devens into 246 rental apartments, 80 percent of which would be income-restricted affordable housing. A fifth building, an old theater, would become the new home of the Fort Devens Museum. Before the project can go forward, town meetings in the three towns that contain the former army base—Harvard, Ayer, and Shirley—must vote to approve changes to the Devens Bylaws and the Devens Reuse Plan. That “super town meeting” is tentatively scheduled for March 28.
During the public hearing tomorrow night, Harvard residents and other interested parties will be allowed to comment and ask questions. Trinity representatives will be there.
- Around 8:30 p.m., according to the agenda, Selectmen will discuss a request from the Harvard Energy Advisory Committee to write a letter endorsing legislation that would increase the net metering cap in Massachusetts.
Net metering is an arrangement through which owners of small renewable energy facilities (photovoltaic solar or wind, for example) can receive retail prices from their utility for the excess energy they generate. These customers are billed for the net amount of energy they consume: the total amount of energy they use minus the total amount they generate.
Under the current net metering cap, National Grid is required to accommodate up to 51 megawatts of net metering statewide. According to supporters of the legislation, there are 28 megawatts of capacity already being net metered and 189 megawatts that have applied to be net metered. The ability to net meter creates more than 25 percent of the value of residential solar systems, supporters say.
Net metering applicants include local participants in the Solarize Massachusetts program as well as the Harvard Community Solar Garden.