SOUTHWICK – The Board of Selectmen established solar fees this week as two solar projects are underway in town.
After much discussion, the board set a fee of $7 per $1,000 valuation, an electric panel fee of $200, and a per-panel fee of .25 cents, all for commercial projects. It also set a flat fee of $50 for residents and a $50 electric fee and agreed to make sure the project at Big Y was aligned with the new fees.
Building Inspector Denis Gaido recommended a fee of .40 cents per panel but the board believed this would be cost prohibitive to large projects such as the one going in on Congamond Road because the fees would be well over $130,000.
“I think it was sticker shock to hear $137,000,” said Chairman Russell Fox, adding that the project developer also agreed to a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) payment.
The company projected fees in the range of $50,000 and Fox suggested the board create fees that would bring it closer to that number.
“If you do something around $7 per $1,000, that would bring you to $56,000,” said Chief Administrative Officer Karl Stinehart. “And that would be in line with Tolland.”
A solar project just came online in Tolland earlier this month.
Before setting the panel fee, Selectman Joseph Deedy asked if anyone would be impacted by tabling that decision.
“They were coming in today to pull permits and we had to let them know the board meets tonight,” Stinehart said Monday.
Selectwoman Tracy Cesan suggested the board could make a per-panel fee of $1 but with 1,000 panels planned for the Congamond site, the board agreed the fee would be too high.
That project is designed with 16,000 panels that take up 342,000 square-feet and sits on seven acres.
