Select Board agrees with solar developer on power contract

Posted Thursday, November 15, 2018 8:30 am

MANCHESTER — The Select Board on Tuesday approved a contract with a local solar power project that will allow the town's municipal, water and sewer departments to save money on electricity.

The 25-year deal, with Pig Pen Road LLC of Manchester, will make use of a new solar field being installed off Bonnet Street, in a former gravel pit on the west side of the road near its intersection with Pig Pen Road. The board agreed to the contract by a 5-0 vote after a brief executive session to discuss the terms of the agreement. The board also discussed the proposal in executive session at its previous meeting Oct. 23.

The 500 kilowatt array "will be online at the end of the year" and has state regulatory approvals in place, developer Thomas Hand told the Journal on Wednesday.

Select Board chair Ivan C. Beattie explained that the town will save 7.5 percent on its electric bills moving forward, regardless of the rate. Presently, the town and its water and sewer departments pay about $115,000 yearly for electricity from Green Mountain Power. At current electric rates, the town would save about $8,800 per year on electricity, Beattie said.

"We're happy to partner with them and save money for taxpayers and sewer and water users," Beattie said.

Manchester town government has already taken steps to use less electricity and improve efficiency, such as installing LED light bulbs and motion sensor controls, town manager John O'Keefe said.

"We've already done the easy stuff," he said. "This allows us to focus on the source" of electricity and purchase locally-generated green power for municipal departments, he said.

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The agreement involves only town buildings and operations and does not affect residential or business customers of Green Mountain Power, O'Keefe said.

The town is not purchasing and using electricity directly from Pig Pen Road LLC. Rather, the power generated by the array will go into the power grid, and Pig Pen Road LLC will use net metering to offset the power it adds to the grid.

Downtown Plan

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The board also held the first of two public hearings on the downtown plan approved by the Planning Commission last month. Because the plan is technically an amendment to the town plan, it must go through two public hearings in order to be adopted.

While the hearing was publicly warned, it was not included on the Select Board agenda because of an oversight. Beattie said he would make up for that by opening the second hearing at the Select Board's next meeting, on Dec. 4, and then continuing it to the subsequent Select Board meeting to allow for comment and questions from residents.

The downtown plan was based on a three-day planning charette in the summer of 2017, as well as the town plan, the Northshire Economic Development Study and the revision of the town land use (zoning) ordinance. Its goal is a downtown core that is vibrant, allows for mixed uses including residential, and pedestrian-friendly.

Town planning and zoning director Janet Hurley explained that the plan is meant as a guide for building a vibrant downtown, rather than strict requirements. For example, she pointed out that at the time the plan was assembled, the departure of several retail outlets was being seen as verging on crisis. "In the interim it's not borne out that it's a crisis. It's changing in a healthy way," she said.

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Hurley and town manager John O'Keefe noted that former retail spaces in Manchester are being repurposed as housing, eateries and professional space.

That said, the town has already started pursuing aspects of the plan, including securing a Neighborhood Development Area designation from the Vermont Downtown Program for areas surrounding downtown. That decision, rendered last month, allows for incentives for housing in the NDA zone — including an exemption from Act 250 for housing projects.

Another priority in the downtown plan is addressing the availability of parking, especially in the historic downtown area where the success of new restaurants has cars taking up on-street spaces later into the evening. The town planned to meet with its contract engineer during the week to discuss the issue, and a proposal related to parking may come before the board at its next meeting, O'Keefe said.

Board member Steven Nichols asked if the downtown plan addresses job creation. Not directly, Hurley and O'Keefe said, but Hurley pointed out that "if there's new development in our [downtown] core, we're going to be creating jobs."

In other business, O'Keefe recognized parks and recreation employee Nicole Dexter for her efforts in saving a person's life at Dana L. Thompson Memorial Park in late September by administering CPR. The board stood and applauded Dexter for her efforts.

The board also approved a pair of changes to the Grand List to address errors and omissions discovered by town assessor Karen K. Lemnah. In both cases, the town's property card did not accurately reflect property conditions, and the property assessed values were adjusted downwards by a vote of the board.

Reach Greg Sukiennik at gsukiennik@manchesterjournal.com or at 802-490-6000.