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HADLEY — A proposed agrivoltaic solar project at a South Maple Street farm appears to have support from the Planning Board, even if there is no new screening to buffer the photovoltaics from neighboring properties.
The Planning Board on April 21 began a hearing on the 499 kilowatts AC, 2.45-acre project at 129 South Maple St., in a 29-acre field across from Flavyors of Cook Farm.
Proposed by Hyperion Systems LLC, which has developed similar projects in Hadley, the board would likely be able to vote at its May 19 meeting. The hearing was continued to that date because annual Town Meeting on May 7 is expected to revise the solar bylaw and give planners more discretion on screening for solar projects.
Members of the board indicated that screening from the road isn’t necessary and the site is mostly wooded to the east, toward Amherst, and to the south, with both of those parcels owned by Hampshire College.
Planning Board Chairman James Maksimoksi said there are not many neighbors nearby.
“I don’t think anybody’s going to be negatively impacted by the viewscape of this thing being in the way,” Maksimoski said.
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He added that the town drafted its solar rules at a time when there wasn’t an expectation that farmers would be able to continue growing crops beneath them.
Kayla Loubriel, land use coordinator, said the Conservation Commission prefers to see the existing vegetation remain, rather than planting new arborvitae that would be an alteration to the site.
In other business, the board again approved signs and a graphics package for the exterior of Dave’s Hot Chicken, a new restaurant under construction at 5 South Maple St. within the Mountain Farms Mall property.
Ryan Little, who is handling the work for the business, said the multicolored art on the side of the building has “no rhyme or reason,” but distinguishes it from the nearby Chase Bank building. “All the stores have a different art phase on all of them,” Little said.
But a mural originally commissioned for the restaurant, featuring a Greek god wearing sunglasses and holding a cellphone, is being abandoned. The store is expected to open sometime before summer.
The board also advised a contractor for Gohyang Korean Restaurant that if work to improve the kitchen and make the bathrooms handicapped accessible is valued at more than a third of the building’s $200,000 assewssment, it will trigger compliance with the rules of the village overlay district, including adding a peaked roof.
Planners are also concerned that the building, once used as Gene’s Ice Cream Shoppe, has limited parking that could force people to spill off site.
Finally, planners:
Scott Merzbach is a reporter covering local government and school news in Amherst and Hadley, as well as Hatfield, Leverett, Pelham and Shutesbury. He can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com or 413-585-5253. More by Scott Merzbach
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