UPDATE: Stamp Solar Case Appeal Now Awaiting Judge’s Decision

by Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA

RICHMOND – The attorney representing GD Beaver River I LLC has filed a reply memorandum in the appeal of a Richmond Zoning Board decision to deny an application for a commercial-scale solar energy development.

Filed on Dec. 5 in Washington County Superior Court, the memorandum supports an earlier memorandum, filed last June.

Attorney John Mancini, representing the applicant, William Stamp III, states in the latest memorandum that members of the Richmond Zoning Board and Zoning Official, Russel “Bo” Brown, overstepped their authority in denying the application. The memorandum also argues that the development would be consistent with the town’s comprehensive plan and states that the board misinterpreted a zoning ordinance requiring that a solar energy system be located entirely within a two-mile radius of an electrical utility substation.

Mancini’s memorandum states,

“GD Richmond avers compliance with [Richmond zoning ordinance] § 18.34. based on the solar energy system being “in the range of” of two miles of the utility substation; that § 18.34.030A does not require the solar energy system to be ‘inside of’ two miles of the utility substation. By, applying the definition ‘inside of’ to ‘within’, while applying the definition ‘in range of’ to ‘within’ for other sections of the Richmond Zoning Ordinance, the Town has unfairly prejudiced GD Richmond to the extent of reversible error.”

The History

The legal wrangling began in 2018, when Stamp proposed the construction of a commercial-scale solar array in a field he owns at 172 Beaver River Road.

The developer, GD Beaver River LLC, owned by Green Development of Cranston, applied in May, 2018, for a special use permit to build a 5.3 – megawatt solar energy facility in the residential zone. The array would occupy about 7 acres of the 41-acre property, located in the Beaver River Valley which, in 2021, was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Russel “Bo” Brown, who was Richmond’s zoning official at the time, denied the application because it violated the town zoning ordinance requiring that the solar energy facility be “within two (2) miles of a utility substation.”

The proposed array, comprising 15,896 solar panels, as well as transformers and other equipment, would be located almost entirely outside the two miles required by the town.

In July, 2018, at a public hearing on the developer’s appeal of Brown’s memo, Brown asked the board, before the hearing even began, to deny the application on the grounds that the developer had missed the 30-day deadline to appeal Brown’s decision.

The board continued the hearing to August 1, when it denied the developer’s appeal because it had not been filed within 30 days, as required by the town’s zoning ordinance.

On Aug. 21, the developer appealed the zoning board’s decision on the 30-day window.

The special use application proceeded nonetheless, with the Zoning Board referring the application to the Planning Board for the required advisory development plan review. 

In its Dec. 2019 decision, the Planning Board found that in addition to not complying with the substation ordinance, the project would be inconsistent with the town’s comprehensive plan, specifically, policies that protect rural landscapes, cultural resources and the protection of the town’s rural and architectural heritage.

The developer appealed the case to Rhode Island Superior Court, which remanded the case to the Zoning Board.

On Feb.22, the Zoning Board voted to deny the special use permit.

The case now rests with the judge

Richmond Town Solicitor Karen Ellsworth said she was confident that the Zoning Board’s decision would be upheld.

“There are two reasons why the Zoning Board’s decision is correct,” she said. “The entire solar array is not within two miles of the substation and putting it where they want to put it is not consistent with the comprehensive plan, because it is a state-recognized, and now, federally-recognized historic district.”

John Peixinho, owner of the historic Samuel Clarke Farm on Lewiston Ave., which is itself on the National Register of Historic Places, said he hoped the judge would take into accountthe importance of preserving Richmond’s historic cultural landscapes.

“I am hopeful that the judge will agree with the many residents of Richmond, our Planning and Zoning Boards and our Town Council, who have all consistently voted against and rallied against out of town developers building industrial-scale solar facilities on historic Beaver River Road,” he said. “It should also be noted that the Beaver River Road National Register Historic District determination of eligibility, by the Secretary of the Interior, dates back to the mid-1990s.  National awareness of the cultural and historic significance of Beaver River Road and this section of our town is not something new.”

Peixinho also noted that in addition to marring the natural and historic qualities that have made Beaver River Road worthy of national recognition, the solar development would have few tax benefits for the town.

“In the end, the developers make millions at the expense of our farmland and rural character,” he said. “The town makes pennies and isn’t able - legally - to even raise the taxes on the newly developed property.”

It could take many months for Superior Court Justice Sarah Taft-Carter to rule on the appeal. 

“An appeal of a Zoning Board decision is an administrative appeal,” Ellsworth said. “The judge does not conduct a trial or hearing. The judge makes a decision based on the record in the case and the memoranda of law filed by the lawyers.”