A view of the driveway that would serve as the access road for the solar facility project, from River Road.
A view of the driveway that would serve as the access road for the solar facility project, from River Road.
TOWN OF TRENTON — Members of the Trenton and West Bend community who live near a proposed solar farm voiced their opposition and desired changes to the Trenton Plan Commission during a public hearing held Monday night, after which the commission voted unanimously to pause the project as they gather more information and make changes to the proposal.
Dennis Schloemer petitioned the town to be able to build a 5 megawatt solar facility, from Sunvest Solar LLC, on approximately 25.18 acres of his 40-acre parcel of land in Trenton, however, neighbors, who mostly live in a neighboring subdivision in West Bend, voiced opposition to the project for several reasons.
Brandon Schneiberg, whose property backs up to the area where the solar facility is proposed, said he was against the facility due to it having a significant impact on his family’s quality of life.
“According to the site plan, the converters and transformers will be placed directly behind our house. This equipment will produce a constant, disruptive hum,” said Schneiberg. “Aside from the noise, I’m also concerned about the proximity of this highpowered equipment and power lines.”
He added that he can see the entirety of the project area from his bedroom window, kitchen and front yard.
“There is no screening in sight here,” said Schneiberg. Screening refers to trees and berms, which are used to obstruct the sight of the solar facility, as well as act as a buffer for the sound it produces.
Schneiberg added that the solar facility will also have a negative impact on property values for all the residents in the area, and the spraying of herbicides to prepare the site for construction could have a negative impact on the health of residents in the area.
Craig Martin, who neighbors the Schloemer property, said he had an issue with the drainage from the site, as well as emergency response times in the event that a fire occurs.
“The existing driveway I don’t think can handle the substantial load of construction trucks and trucks, et cetera,” said Craig Martin. “Our property, along with other properties on that street, have had drainage issues, because of the elevation differences, and I don’t think that has been addressed at this point.
“… Trenton currently uses Newburg as their EMS … in order for the Newburg Volunteer Fire Department to get to our location if there was a fire, the drive time is 15 minutes on a very, very good day.”
He said there is a fire at a cold-storage facility that had solar panels installed on the roof in Los Angeles, California, which has been burning for days and is believed to have started due to testing done on the solar panels by subcontractors, according to reports.
Several area residents also expressed concerns about fencing around the site, the impact on birds and wildlife, impacts to their lives during the construction process and its proximity to a public park.
Ten area residents spoke, roughly split between those who outright opposed the solar facility and those who just opposed the current plan and wanted to see changes made, which included adding screening to the area to obstruct the view of and sound from the facility, moving the equipment pad, which would house the inverters and transformers, further from the property line and making sure an emergency response plan was in place in the event of a fire.
Among those who spoke was West Bend Common Council President Matt Sternig, as most of the residents who live near the proposed solar facility actually live in West Bend District 4 and not the Town of Trenton.
“I’m keenly aware that most of the people who have spoken here this evening are not your constituents,” said Sternig. “… I recognize that you have a duty to your constituents in the Town of Trenton, I humbly ask that you respectfully hear those who have spoken this evening and the concerns they have raised.”
Trenton Plan Commission addresses concerns
Following the public hearing, the Trenton Plan Commission met to further discuss the solar facility and address some of the concerns of the individuals who spoke during the public hearing.
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In regard to noise from the equipment pad, Jake Van Domelen, a project development associate for Sunvest Solar LLC, said that the decibel levels from the inverters is 70 decibels, and between 50 and 60 decibels from the transformers, which he equated to the sound level of a normal conversation and that you don’t hear it past roughly 15 feet.
Currently the equipment pad is slated to be roughly 140 feet away from the property line, and roughly 175 feet away from neighboring homes, but Van Domelen said that it could be moved back to roughly 200 feet away from the property line to help ensure there is not a noise impact for neighbors.
He added that the solar panels themselves, which use sun-tracking technology, do not emit sound when moving, and that Solarvest can do an ambient sound study for the equipment pad to test the decibel levels and sound frequency at various distances to place it optimally on the site.
Another issue addressed was the emergency response for the facility in the event of a fire, which the plan commission said it would talk with the Newburg Fire Department about to have a plan in place.
Additionally, the commission explored using a different access road to the site, but of the three proposed, two would not be feasible as they go through wetlands and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will not allow their use as an access road, and the third is on a neighboring property. While the third is a possibility, it would require the permission of the neighboring property owner, according to Van Domelen.
The current access road, however, is not a road, according to neighboring property owners, but a driveway on the property.
The plan commission also addressed the issue of impact on birds, citing two studies that have shown the impact to be minimal in comparison to other man-made causes of bird deaths.
“There’s been studies done on that and, quite frankly, they’re not seeing this as an issue,” said commission member Doug Hein. “Not saying it doesn’t exist, but the studies are showing that solar energy production in the United States causes an estimated 37,800 to 138,000 bird deaths annually, whereas 14.5 million deaths are attributed to fossil fuel power plants. Human sources, such as birds flying into buildings, are taking out up to 1 billion a year.”
Fencing had also been brought up as a concern, as parents wanted to make sure their children couldn’t just wander into the area of the solar facility.
According to the commission, an 8-foot fixed knot fence would surround the property, however, they would need to look into the zoning code to see if anything would be needed to be changed to allow for an 8-foot fence in any of the areas, as while it is OK on agriculturally zoned properties in the town, the residential property limit is 6 feet.
The commission also asked if existing power lines would be used, or if new ones would need to be constructed. Van Domelen said that they would connect to existing power lines, but would need to add four to five poles along the access road.
As for during the construction process, first herbicides would be used to treat the field before a seed mix was put down. According to Van Domelen, the amount of herbicide they use is less than what is used by farmers on the same sized parcel of land each year. The area wouldn’t be sprayed with herbicide again for about 20 years. The construction process would take 12 to 16 weeks, with two weeks of pile driving, and be conducted during the hours of 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
According to Van Domelen, there is no need for grading on the site, so they won’t need heavy equipment and most of the construction equipment being used will be brought in on flat bed trucks.
After construction is complete, maintenance workers would be in the area every two to three months to make sure the seed mix takes and to perform maintenance, then after two years they would visit the site very six months.
The Plan Commission also told Van Domelen that Sunvest will have to add more screening, trees and berms, to specified areas to alleviate neighbors’ concerns for them to vote for the project.
The plan commission voted unanimously to postpone any further vote on the solar facility so that they can gather more information from the NFD, meet with the town’s attorney and for studies and site plan changes to be made by Sunvest.
According to Town Administrator Cindy Komro, it is unlikely that the solar facility will be on the July plan commission agenda, but it will be back before the commission as soon as possible.
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