Selectboard Approves a New Site for the Solar Installation
by Nancy Wood,
October 6, 2011.....

The Selectboard held a special meeting tonight to approve an amendment to the application for a Certificate of Public Good (COPG) for the installation of 14 net-metered solar trackers at Thompson's Point. The application already filed on September 16 is for a site that is in the same field as the Thompson's Point sewer system, at the corner of Flat Rock and Thompson's Point Roads.

The site proposed for tonight's vote was in the field that is the site of the old poor farm, near the corner of Lane's Lane and Thompson's Point Road.

About 30 people attended the meeting, a mix of seasonal residents of Thompson's Point and year round residents of Charlotte.

There was lengthy public comment and discussion, including airing of concerns about the impact of the proposed site on the leaseholders on Lane's Lane, objection to placing the trackers in a Conservation District, requests for more justification for not using a town-owned site behind the Town Hall or on the Burns property or elsewhere in Town. There was also strong support for taking the question to a vote of the Town.

When there seemed to be less objection to a site in a different location about midway between the original and the Lane's Lane site, the Selectboard amended the original motion and voted 5-0 (with two members attending by telephone) to amend the COPG to specify a site that is on the south side of the northern-most mound of the sewer system, and to bring the issue of siting the solar trackers at that location for a vote at a special Town Meeting on November 10.

Winslow Ladue is pointing to the new site, near the mounds, in the picture. The Lane's Lane site was in the field to the east (right side of the picture), and the original site is to west (left side of the picture).