GRANVILLE – The Planning Board will hold a continued public hearing at the Granville Town Hall on Monday at 7 p.m. for a proposed solar installation site.
Charles Sheets owns the 91-acre property at 1730 Main Rd. and is looking to utilize 4.96 acres of the property to install a large scale ground-mounted solar photovoltaic installation. According to Gale Head Development, solar developer for the project, access to the site will come from Sheets Road, which is off of Main Road.
Granville residents are seen at a Planning Board meeting for solar in November. (WNG File Photo)
Regarding the environmental aspect of the proposed site, there are wetlands around the 4.96 acres but they will not be disrupted as it will be out of the 100-foot buffer zone.
According to the submitted site plan, the array will be set back at least 40 feet from any property lines. Gale Head also mentions that there will be a shade management area consisting of 5.3 acres to the west, south, and east of the proposed solar site. The shade management area includes cutting trees near the 100-foot wetland buffer zone, which comes out to 1.73 acres.
Due to the proposed solar site being less than five acres, Gale Head doesn’t have to go before the Zoning Board of Appeals for a variance. The continued public hearing with the Planning Board is for a special permit to go forward with the project.
Rich Pierce, Chairman of the Planning Board, has some optimism that the project could move forward.
“There’s a reasonable chance we’ll approve it (site plan) because they’ve (Gale Head) been responsive to our requirements, but it all depends on the engineer’s opinion,” said Pierce.
The Town of Granville has hired an engineer, Michael Petrin of VHB, to look over the solar project and give the town feedback on what Gale Head needs to do to have their site plan adequate and special permit approved.
On December 20, a special town meeting was held where the proposed 1730 Main Rd. project was approved by the voting residents to allow the Select Board to enter into negotiations with Gale Head. The negotiations would allow the two parties to have the possibility of moving forward with the project and entering into an agreement. Since residents voted in favor of the warrant article, the town can now benefit from the state’s PILOT program (Payment in Lieu of Taxes). The PILOT program takes the place of personal property taxes.
