Stockton Springs residents are pushing the town to move more quickly to pause commercial solar projects in the town, as one is currently proposed on private property off Blueberry Lane.
The town is now scheduled to vote on a 180-day moratorium on solar projects at the regular town meeting in June, but residents have asked to hold a separate meeting before then to allow the pause to go into place more quickly.
During a Select Board meeting Monday night, multiple residents urged the town to move up the moratorium vote.
“I live on Old County Road and I’ve talked to all the neighbors, and none of us really want the solar farm there,” said resident Michael Qualey. “We should be able to have our voice heard in this process of you guys deciding to have this; it kind of bothers me that this is going forward.”
The debate in Stockton Springs comes as the amount of solar energy generated in Maine has exploded in the last few years, as the state works to lessen its dependence on fossil fuels, but as many project proposals still generate local opposition. Many skeptics complain about their appearance and effect on property values, along with concerns they have about the risk of fire and contamination from the panels themselves.
“Do our fire departments know how to react to a solar panel fire?” Stockton Springs resident Becky Seifrit said on Monday night.
The goal of the proposed moratorium would be to give the town time to create a set of rules around solar projects that would apply to any future projects that are proposed.
“We need the input to … get all of that voice at these public hearings, so that we can begin to put the pieces together for an actual ordinance,” Select Board member Betsy Bradley said at Monday night’s meeting.
The attendees urged that any moratorium be retroactive, so that it could apply to the project that was already submitted to the planning board.
“We need to write retroactivity to this date for the moratorium, because we’ve been asking for a moratorium for months and it’s not getting put through the process fast enough,” said resident Abram Guay.
Residents also recently voted down a proposal to outright buy a set of solar panels that are currently being leased on a town garage. The lease spans roughly 20 years, and is currently in its seventh year