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Planning board approves modified elevated solar canopy at 459 Blacksmith Shop Road with conditions
Summary
The board approved a minor modification to a 2019 site-plan approval to elevate the northern array at 459 Blacksmith Shop Road to about 28–30 feet, adding conditions on stormwater permitting and limits on future uses under the canopy.
The Falmouth Planning Board voted Jan. 14 to approve a minor modification to a previously permitted large-scale solar project at 459 Blacksmith Shop Road that elevates the previously approved north array to an elevated photovoltaic canopy roughly 28–30 feet high.
Applicant representatives from NextGrid and Weston & Sampson presented a revised plan for the north array, describing the structure as an elevated canopy-mounted photovoltaic array rather than a carport intended for parking. "It is a canopy. It is a ground mounted, canopy mounted, solar array system. We have no plans on doing any type of parking," Mike Pattison of NextGrid said.
The board’s motion, drafted in meeting materials, limited this modification to the North Array only and preserved the 2019 project footprint for utilities and site work while changing array elevation. The motion required the applicant to obtain a Department of Public Works stormwater permit before any land disturbance and instructed that no use of land beneath the elevated array is permitted without prior town review and approval. The board also narrowed a proposed 7-foot chain-link fence condition to apply only to battery-energy-storage locations rather than the entire solar facility; staff and the applicant clarified fencing details after questions about potential wildlife and amphibian access at the pit walls near the site.
The board read the motion into the record and approved it; members asked the applicant to update the draft decision to specify the canopy height of "28 to 30 feet" and to limit fencing to battery-storage areas per the engineering note. The approval included standard conditions from the 2019 decision — filing stormwater and erosion-control permits, notification to the planning board of ownership changes, and compliance with Water Resource Protection Overlay District requirements — and added an explicit prohibition on using the land beneath the elevated arrays without future approvals.
Board members discussed visibility and height and said they were not inclined to limit the canopy height further, noting the bowl-shaped, tree-surrounded excavation on the site and the project’s location below surrounding grade. No public speaker opposed the array during the meeting; the board incorporated small drafting edits discussed at the podium and then voted to approve the modification.
The decision preserves the project's previously permitted capacity and utilities while allowing improved panel performance via elevation; the board conditioned the approval on the applicant's completion of stormwater permitting and compliance with the modified decision.
