Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Solar topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Planning Board approves Aberdine Farm solar site plan with condition barring short-term rental use
Summary
The Town Planning Board approved a revised site plan for a ground-mounted solar system at Aberdine Farm, 1693 Hollow Road, conditioned on the property not being used as a short-term rental; the applicant clarified array layout, maximum heights and that calculated generation covers 76% of on-site consumption, below the ordinance limit of 110%.
The Town Planning Board on May 28 approved a revised site plan for a ground-mounted solar energy system at Aberdine Farm, 1693 Hollow Road, imposing a condition that the property not be used as a short-term rental going forward.
Jeff Irish, with Hudson Solar Solutions, who was contracted to prepare the solar installation, told the board the updated plans remove an AutoCAD artifact that had shown a parallel DC line and clarify that the two systems for the Yellow House and Pony Barn are separate arrays of 30 solar modules each. He said the plans now include dimensions and that the maximum array height is 10 feet, 1 inch.
The applicant provided an annual kilowatt-hour generation estimate for the combined systems excluding an existing array serving the white house that predates the town's solar zoning law. "The coverage is 76%," Irish said, "and the law limits the size of the system to 110% or below," a number the zoning administrator had emphasized in a letter to the board.
During discussion a board member raised a concern that similar applications could be argued in the future to circumvent the town's tiered solar system, but staff said the situation is unusual because the systems in question are separately metered and the pre-existing array changes the calculation. The board also reviewed whether additional screening was required and concluded the existing site conditions and the pre-existing array supported the draft resolution's approach not to require additional screening.
A resident who appeared as part of the application noted a portion of one house is rented when relatives are not present and said, "we rent it out when they're not there." Board members discussed that short-term rental use could affect how the installation is classified for the ordinance and agreed to a condition: the property shall not be used as a short-term rental from this date forward as a condition of approving the site plan. The applicant indicated they would cancel existing bookings to comply.
The board opened and closed the public hearing with no members of the public offering comment in the chamber, then moved to adopt the planner's resolution language subject to conditions, including the short-term rental restriction. The board directed the applicant to proceed with building permits and inspections; the building inspector will oversee permit issuance and final compliance checks.
Next steps: the applicant may apply for building permits and the building inspector will review required inspection items; the resolution and conditions approved by the board govern future use of the site.
