By TIM
FAULKNER/ecoRI News staff
By a 3-2 vote Monday night, the Hopkinton Town Council voted down what would have been Rhode Island’s largest solar facility. The outcome was uncertain up until council member Sylvia Thompson outlined her pros and cons of the 58-megawatt project.
At first, Thompson
sounded like she would approve the project, when she said at the Jan. 28
meeting, “The bottom line is we can’t say no to everything.”
But she stressed the
enormity of the development and the negative impacts of clearing 175 acres of
open space and the added stormwater runoff it would create.
“I just can’t support this particular proposal on this piece of land,” Thompson said. “I’m worried about the owls. I’m worried about the other animals. It’s just too big.”
The were cheers from
most of the 60 attendees in the Chariho Middle School auditorium as Thompson
cast the deciding vote.
Moments before, council
vice president Scott Bill Hirst and council member Sharon Davis stated their
opposition to Brushy Brook. Hirst called the project “repugnant” and said the
five-member council should follow the advice of the Planning Board and town
experts who recommended rejecting the request to change the zoning for the
348-acre parcel from residential to commercial.
“We need to value our
staff and our boards and experts in this town, they are our experts,” Hirst
said.
Davis said she voted
against the project for three reasons: it wasn’t consistent with the town’s
comprehensive plan; the Planning Board voted against it; and it wasn’t
supported by residents.
Davis said she endorses
a statewide effort to build or import 1,000 megawatts of renewable energy by
2020. But, she said, the rural town has already approved 16 utility-scale solar
arrays equaling 51 megawatts of electric capacity.
“I think Hopkinson has exceeded
its fair share for making this goal,” she said.
After the outcome of the
vote was clear, council member Barbara Capalbo and council president Frank
Landolfi noted their displeasure with the decision.
Capalbo cast most of the
opponents of the project as environmentalists who oppose any and all
renewable-energy development.
“Most of you are really
interested in it, but you want it only your way and you’re not saying attention
to the entire state or the entire region,” she said.
Capalbo said opposition
to fossil-fuel development has left few options. “Solar and wind, though
imperfect solutions, are all we’ve got,” she said.
Capalbo, who was an
early supporter of the project, negotiated with the developer, Southern Sky Renewable Energy LLC, to secure $250,000
toward an expansion of Town Hall, along with other financial contingencies.
Landolfi said he knows
the town’s finances as well as anyone and that the budget sorely needed the
revenue from the project to keep the ever-escalating school finances in check.
The developer, Ralph
Palumbo and his team, sat in the front row and were clearly disappointed with
the outcome. They declined to comment on the vote or say whether they planned
to appeal the decision.
After the vote, Eric
Bibler, a vocal opponent of the solar project and a leader of the Keep
Hopkinton County movement, said he was ecstatic with the outcome.
“I’m glad the Town
Council really listened and heard what their constituents wanted,” Bibler said.
As the founder of Hopkinton Citizens for Responsible
Planning, Bibler noted that the Planning Board rejected six other
applications for large solar arrays that sought permission to rezone residential
land as commercial. He said other large solar and perhaps wind proposals need
to be contested, to protect the rural character of Hopkinton.
“And that’s really the
message we’re trying convey,” Bibler said.
At least two other large
solar projects are expected to come before the Town Council in March and April.
The board has addressed pleas from residents who want rules for future solar
development.
On Jan. 22, the Town Council approved a change to the solar ordinance that limits future applications for solar arrays to no more than 3 acres or 3 percent of residential property and no more than 75 percent on land zoned for commercial development.
On Jan. 22, the Town Council approved a change to the solar ordinance that limits future applications for solar arrays to no more than 3 acres or 3 percent of residential property and no more than 75 percent on land zoned for commercial development.