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Council conditionally approves Cottage Avenue solar project; requires $195,412 security and grants multiple waivers
Summary
Following a presentation by Dogwood Engineering, council conditionally approved the Student Lodging Inc. Cottage Avenue solar subdivision (roughly 25.5 acres), required $195,412 in financial security pending engineer review, and approved three waiver requests including a curb/sidewalk waiver tied to a future deferral or path construction.
Council reviewed and conditionally approved the Cottage Avenue solar project final plan submitted by Student Lodging Inc., following a technical presentation from Tom Godfrey of Dogwood Engineering. Godfrey described the site and mitigation measures and answered engineering questions before council voted on conditional approvals, financial security and waiver requests.
Tom Godfrey said the plan divides the 240 East Howard Avenue tract into two lots — roughly a 4.5‑acre front parcel to preserve the existing house and about 20.5 acres to host a primary solar energy system — and described topography, meadow‑mix reseeding with pollinator seed, and a 10‑foot wide gravel driveway for construction and maintenance. "The plan before you ... is roughly 25 and a half acres," Godfrey said while outlining the subdivision and solar array layout.
Because a portion of the site has slope that requires stormwater controls, Godfrey described several shallow private stormwater‑management basins and emphasized the system would be privately owned and maintained, not added to the borough's MS4 system. "It is all privately maintained, essentially," he said in reply to council questions.
Council considered three planning waivers: (1) combining preliminary and final plan submissions (single‑phase final plan), (2) plan‑sheet scale relief for full‑property depiction, and (3) waiver of the curb/sidewalk requirement for the affected stretch of Cottage Avenue. Planning commission and borough engineer recommended the first two waivers and recommended either a waiver or a deferral agreement for the curb/sidewalk question; council approved the waivers with the condition noted in the engineer/solicitor letters.
Council also voted to require a $195,412 financial security amount for the project pending final engineer review and to grant conditional approval of the subdivision/land‑development plan upon completion of items listed in the borough solicitor's and engineer's letters of 10/??/25 and 8/29/25 (as referenced in the motions). Motions to approve the conditional plan, to set the $195,412 security, and to approve the listed waivers were moved and carried.
Next steps: the developer will post the required financial security, satisfy the outstanding solicitor and engineer comments and return for final plan recording; staff indicated a deferral agreement could be drafted later if council prefers that route for curb/sidewalk obligations.
