Imagine Norwich clear cut of all trees and replaced by acres and acres of solar panel farms. Far fetched – yes. But, such a scenario is supported by the Renewable Energy Project Siting Standards at pages 28 and 29 in the Planning Commission’s draft of the Town Plan.
I submitted a written public comment to the Planning Commission on this topic, which is at the end of this blog post. Here is my thinking in 6 sentences.
Under the draft Town Plan, as I read it, nearly all land in Norwich is fair game for commercial solar development. In contrast, other land development must take into account competing considerations such as protecting natural resources, environmental quality, scenic resources and rural character. The Town Plan says Norwich can meet its renewable energy target for year 2050 with “about 160 acres total, or about 0.5 percent of the town’s total land area,” based on “current solar technology.” Although solar siting decisions are made by the State PUC, specific standards in the Town Plan are relevant. Accordingly, rather than rely on the Agency of Natural Resources to protect Norwich before the PUC, the Town Plan could, perhaps, explicitly channel commercial solar development away from farmland, forests and scenic areas, unless the land is ‘prime’ solar land. I am not comfortable giving solar carte blanche as a matter of local policy, particularly when the stated goal is coverage of less than 1% of Norwich with solar.
Perhaps the Planning Commission has confidence that state law will protect natural resources in Norwich. Or, perhaps the draft document reflects the Planning Commission view that solar farms deserve preference.
Nonetheless, it is interesting that environmental groups are generally opposed to clear cutting forests to install solar panel farms, even though the result is a net reduction in carbon. Two examples are the New Jersey theme park Six Flags Great Adventure, which planned to clear cut 66 acres of woods, according to a 2016 article in Slate, and DC’s Georgetown University, which sought a permit to clear cut over 200 acres in Maryland, reported the Baltimore Sun in August 2019 .
Under the draft Norwich Town Plan, both projects could move forward, so long as the land will be re-forested when the site is “no longer actively used for renewable energy generation.”
I see solar farms as permanent structures, making the obligation to re-forest illusory, more or less.
The PC will be reviewing a summary of written comments at its meeting on January 16. I will post again if something of substance occurs.
My written public comment follows.
