Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Solar Project topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Planning board approves PolyLab Solar project with decommissioning and screening conditions
Summary
The board approved a conditional use permit for a 2.5‑acre solar array at 745 Webster Street with conditions requiring public works sign‑offs, an extended solid wood fence, stormwater guarantees and a decommissioning agreement filed at the registry of deeds.
The Lewiston Planning Board approved a conditional use permit and development review for a solar project proposed by PolyLab Solar LLC at 745 Webster Street, imposing several pre‑construction conditions including public works approvals, a 15‑foot extension of a solid wood screening fence facing Webster Street, a post‑construction stormwater performance guarantee, and a decommissioning agreement and financial guarantee to be filed at the registry of deeds.
Staff described the proposal as a roughly 2.5‑acre solar array sited on just over 4 acres of undeveloped land with panel heights of about 12.5 feet and approximately 0.05 acres of new impervious area. The project includes an agricultural‑style see‑through metal fence around the array and a segment of solid wooden fence facing Webster Street for buffering. Because the array is under 3 acres, Maine DEP thresholds for decommissioning guarantees did not automatically apply; staff recommended the city require a decommissioning agreement and a guarantee filed at the registry of deeds to fund removal at end of life or if abandoned. Staff said the typical life expectancy for projects like this is about 30 years.
Applicant representative Henry Hess described the proposed fencing as high‑tensile steel mesh with 4‑by‑4‑inch openings to permit small animal movement; where the fence is solid wood it will be raised about 12 inches off grade to allow small animals to pass. Board conditions require that public works comments be addressed prior to building permits, that the solid wood fence be extended 15 feet to the southeast to reduce visibility from Webster Street, that a stormwater performance guarantee be recorded, and that a decommissioning plan and financial guarantee be filed before construction begins.
The motion passed on a roll call vote with one member voting no. Planning Board member Roger Dupree said for the record he opposed the project because he did not “agree with cutting trees down to make a solar array.”
