WELD — Selectpersons agreed Tuesday night that work on a draft ordinance regulating commercial solar energy facilities will continue.
Selectpersons Dina Walker and Lisa Miller approved a six-month moratorium on those facilities at the June 12 meeting. Chairman Richard Doughty was unable to attend the meeting.
After listening to the tape of that meeting, Doughty said he had concerns about how the solar ordinance was to be approved. He thought members of the board might have different views on the role of the Select Board.
It appeared from the tape the intent going forward with the solar ordinance was that it didn’t need to go before voters for approval, Doughty said.
Town Meeting and the voters constitute the legislative body, they approve the budget, set amounts for taxes and approve ordinances that regulate certain activities, Doughty said. The Select Board is the administrative body, is supposed to implement ordinances, he added.
Selectperson Dina Walker agreed the town is the legislative body.
“We are not just the implementers, we are the executive branch,” she said.
Weld has no charter and no written policy.
Based on her communications with Maine Municipal Association, the Select Board has duties to come up with policies, there are some ordinances it can pass, she noted. That doesn’t mean the opinion of the town isn’t taken, she said.
“There is a difference between what the board can do and should do,” Doughty said.
Walker said she was fine with bringing the solar ordinance to the town, the Select Board had to agree on the draft — hopefully unanimously.
“Isn’t it our job as a Select Board to move this forward?” Miller asked. Now is the time to put the brakes on, see what the town wants, she noted.
Changes to the ordinance should be finalized before presenting it to voters, she added.
A moratorium on solar development came up two meetings ago after a resident and Miller received letters about potential projects, Doughty said. He noted Walker suggested holding off on the issue for two meetings then the date of the next meeting had to be changed. Doughty couldn’t attend that meeting and didn’t realize the solar issue would be addressed.
“I have a lot of input on solar,” Doughty said. “I was discouraged you had proceeded, went ahead without input from me.”
The only place where there is a three-phase line is on Route 156 coming into town, he noted. Solar can’t be put on single-phase, it costs about $900,000 per mile to upgrade, Doughty said. An engineer from ReEnergy shared a Central Maine Power map indicating where there is solar potential, it confirmed Route 156 is the only potential location, he noted.
Capacity at the Central Maine Power substation in Wilton is seven megawatts, a project submitted in 2021 will consume five megawatts, another one is being proposed so there is no more capacity, Doughty said. That further reduces the likelihood of solar projects in Weld, doesn’t mean Weld doesn’t need an ordinance, he said.
Those are excellent comments, types of things that should be in writing while reviewing the draft ordinance, Walker said. The ordinance would regulate commercial solar, would not regulate homeowners, she sad.
“The moratorium gives us time to draft the ordinance,” Walker said. If the board decides not to follow up on the ordinance, the moratorium will end or it can be extended if more time is needed to finalize the ordinance, she added.
“I am encouraged to hear what you just said,” Doughty said.
It was suggested that department heads provide input on the draft ordinance one at a time to get that department’s perspective before moving to the next department.
Once that is done, Doughty proposed holding a hearing for voters to give input.
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