Solar Project Prompts Road Closures
By Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA
October 11th 2024
RICHMOND – Two detours, one on Beaver River Road and a second at Shannock Hill Road, were a source of frustration for Beaver River Valley residents this week.
Gail and Andy Tibbits live on Beaver River Road. Gail Tibbits said Friday she was not disturbed by construction noise as she had been during the installation of the solar array across the street from their home, because the work is taking place farther away, but the road closures have nevertheless been disruptive to the neighborhood.
“We’re coming in from the Heaton Orchard Road side,” she said. “There’s a policeman sitting there, and there hasn’t really been any problem getting in for us, but I do know that it created a problem with the recyclables and the trash pickup and it causes a problem with FedEx, because FedEx can’t figure out how to get in from the other end of the road.”
As Green Development continues the construction of its solar energy facility on Beaver River Road, the roads have been closed to through traffic to allow underground duct work to take place.
Police Chief Elwood Johnson said he had been told that the work, and the resulting detours, would continue for at least another week.
“I just talked to Green Development,” he said on Wednesday. “They’re thinking all this week and next week, and they hope to be done at the end of next week.”
Contacted Thursday, a spokeswoman for Green Development said the duct work is expected to be completed by Oct. 18.. Shannock Hill and Beaver River Roads will be milled and paved at a later date.
DEM Receives a Complaint
The developer is building an underground wiring duct under the road, and was pumping the water that had collected in a newly-dug trench directly into the Beaver River.
Sediment from the construction work began to cloud the water in the river, which has been designated by the National Park Service as “Wild and Scenic,” and a formal complaint was received on Wednesday by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.
Asked what the inspector had found, DEM spokesman Evan LaCross said he could not discuss the case.
“Because the investigation is ongoing, we are unable to share inspection reports at this time.”
Rhode Island Conservation Commission Chairman Jim Turek, a restoration ecologist, observed the work on Wednesday and confirmed that a DEM inspector had gone to the site.
The Electric Poles
The Town Council will consider a request at the Oct. 15 meeting to install electric poles on Shannock Hill Road. Rhode Island Energy seeks to install three electric poles and one additional pole to be shared with Verizon.
The council has twice deferred the decision on one of the poles, first at the Aug. 20 meeting after receiving a letter from David Martland, the attorney representing abutting property owner John Peixinho. Martland sought clarification and requested that a plan be submitted specifically locating the poles, guy wires and any necessary alterations in relation to Peixinho’s property on Shannock Hill Road. The matter was again discussed, and continued, at the Sept. 3 council meeting. RI Energy has since provided the requested detailed plans.
A question remains regarding the need for a new special use permit for the overhead wires. A Rhode Island Superior Court decision, in March, 2023, ordered the town to grant a special use permit for the project.
Normally, projects with special use permits are required to return to the Zoning Board if they make changes to the permitted plans, and in this case, the stamped permitted plan called for the wires to be underground.
At the Sept. 3 meeting, Green Development CEO Mark DePasquale told the council that the intention had been to keep the lines entirely underground, but that conditions at the site, a very old wooden road foundation in particular, had made that impossible, so the wires would be partially overhead.
Town Planner Talia Jalette maintained that since the plans had been changed, the developer would have to apply for a new special use permit.
The council decided to let the Zoning Board decide on a special use permit, if the developer applies for one.
As the project stands now, the wires will run underground, but only until they reach the river. At that point, they will be raised above ground and attached to a new pole as they cross over the road, before they go back underground again.
Work Continues
As work continued Thursday, a DEM inspector is reported to have made a second visit to the site.
The town, and Peixinho, both petitioned for, and were granted, a Writ of Certiorari, which asks the Rhode Island Supreme Court to review the lower court’s March 2023 decision. That review is pending, but construction continues nevertheless, and is nearing completion.
Town Council President Mark Trimmer described the sediment incident as another example of the developer’s disregard for the town.
“It’s one more example of their disregard for the residents’ wishes,” he said.
