The Norwood Conservation Commission on Jan. 8 continued the public hearing on a proposal to place a ground-mounted solar array on the closed Winter Street landfill to Jan. 29, 2025, after engineers described site plans and commissioners and residents raised questions about stormwater, wildlife, access and visual impacts.

Rich Stavazinski of Atlantic Design Engineers, representing the applicant (TES Winter Street Solar 2223 LLC/Engine Energy), said the proposed fenced array would occupy about 9.9 acres of the landfill surface and that roughly 28,000 square feet of work lies within the wetland buffer zones. He described project elements in the buffers as limited to utility poles and lines, a transformer/equipment pad at the north end, part of the fence, and some panel rows: “The only work that we're asking for within the 0 to 25 foot zone is the installation of, or the installation of 1 utility pole … Between the 25 and 50 foot zone … an overhead electric line, 1 additional utility pole, and a portion of the fence and transformer pad,” Stavazinski said.

Stavazinski and Tom Hammond (Engine Energy, remote) told the commission the landfill had an earlier post-closure review (late 2021) and that CDM Smith conducted the landfill closure; the project team said they reviewed CDM Smith’s stormwater calculations and supplemented them. The project team reported modeled increases in some peak discharges in small amounts (fractions of a cubic foot per second), which they characterized as negligible relative to existing stormwater systems and basins. The applicant has not yet supplied a DEP file number for the town record; staff and the applicant agreed to continue the hearing to allow responses to town engineering and conservation comments and to obtain the DEP file number.

Multiple residents and local groups spoke during public comment. David Jable, an abutter at 382 Winter Street, said his yard and basement already experience water intrusion and asked whether any increase would be mitigated: “We're already having issues with water in our yard, in our basement. So an increase at all is going to have a real bad effect on us,” he said. The applicant’s engineer responded that runoff from the proposed array generally discharges toward the northwest basins and not toward Jable’s property to the east.

Trails and neighborhood speakers, including Randy Champagne (233 Sycamore Drive) and members of Norwood Trails, asked about loss of recreational access and aesthetics. Brian Palmeteer and other trails committee members described frequent community use of the landfill for walks and events (including school outings and stargazing nights) and urged the commission and applicant to consider site access, wildlife movement and trail replacement options before approval. The project team said fencing must meet electrical code (7-foot chain link) and that a 6-inch crawl gap would be provided for small wildlife passage.

Town staff noted they had received comments from the town engineer that basins likely can handle a modest runoff increase, and staff asked the applicant to address outstanding questions and to supply the DEP post-closure-use permit number. The commission voted to continue the hearing to Jan. 29 so the applicant can respond to comments and provide the missing DEP file number.

Outcome: hearing continued to Jan. 29, 2025. No permits issued at this meeting.