Planning board to review Weirs solar application

LACONIA — Members of the Laconia Planning Board will review an application to develop a large solar array on a parcel along White Oaks Road during their meeting Tuesday night.

The planning board is set to meet at 6:30 p.m. in the Armand Bolduc City Council Chambers at City Hall downtown. 

Kevin Corbett of White Oaks Realty Trust is applying to construct a 5 MWac community solar energy system on 21 acres of an 111-acre parcel on White Oaks Road. The proposed system would make use of a private gravel road with an existing curb.

The site would have a fenced perimeter and trees on the property would conceal the site from adjacent properties, according to a city staff report. On the parcel, 21 acres would be developed, 2.3 acres of wetlands would be temporarily impacted during the period of construction, and 0.34 acres would be permanently impacted. About 4 acres of a wetland buffer would be permanently impacted, and 0.28 acres would be temporarily impacted. 

At the Sept. 16, 2024, meeting of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, the project received a special exception for the use of the property as a power generation facility. The technical review committee received the application the next day. The application and accompanying site plan had been reviewed by the conservation commission on Sept. 18, 2019, which expressed no concerns and supported the project.

This project and associated conditions must be completed by Feb. 4, 2030. If all conditions are not met and no extension application is filed with the city’s planning department by the completion date, any potential approval Tuesday night would be rendered null and void.

Developers say they weighed impacts to the environment in a supporting document with their application. 

“The project team has carefully considered the wetland and natural resources on site during the planning and design phases to avoid and minimize adverse effects. The design minimizes wetland and buffer impacts to the maximum extent practicable. A rare plant survey for the federally threatened species, small whorled pogonia (Isotria medeoloides), was conducted during the appropriate survey period, and the species was not detected,” an application response reads, in part.

At the September meeting before the ZBA, Kevin Corbett, Rewild Renewables vice president for construction, said the project could offset the carbon emissions of about 1,400 cars.

Perimeter fences would be made of wood or steel posts and likely a thin mesh material. At other sites, the company has used chain link fences to partition the solar arrays. Wildlife would be theoretically uninhibited because the perimeter of the entire property would not be fenced in.

An environmental study of the property and the project is available at City Hall in the planning department, Planning Assistant Director Tyler Carmichael told those in attendance at the meeting.

The proposal was met with significant opposition from abutters along White Oaks Road, who argued the project could degrade quality of life for those who live there and that it could cause negative environmental impacts. Residents worried people experiencing homelessness would be attracted to the solar farm and loiter there, and property values could be lowered.