Zoning board to review request for Weirs solar farm

LACONIA — A request to construct a solar energy production site on White Oaks Road is set to appear before the Zoning Board of Adjustment at their meeting Monday night at City Hall and has garnered opposition from abutters. 

The request for a special exception to the zoning ordinance was submitted on behalf of White Oaks Road Solar LLC, a holding of White Oaks Road Realty Trust, according to their application to the ZBA. White Oaks Road Solar LLC is a registered corporation in Delaware, according to the New Hampshire Secretary of State. A representative of the corporation did not return requests for further information.

The application notes the owners intend to construct a 5-MWac community solar energy system on a 108-acre parcel with a listed assessed value of $590,000, according to a government property index.

The solar array would be constructed on private property and enclosed with a perimeter fence and will not create an excessive demand for municipal police, fire protection, a burden on the schools or for solid waste disposal services, according to the special zoning exception application. 

According to their application, the project would not create additional traffic or create pedestrian safety hazards once it's complete, but there will be occasional additional truck traffic during the period of construction, if approved. Natural tree lining would provide visual screening of the solar energy site, which would run silently. 

The parcel is zoned rural-residential and is eligible for a special exception to the zoning ordinance for a power generation facility, according to the city’s zoning ordinance.

A special exception from the zoning ordinance is not the same as a zoning variance. In applying for a special exception, an entity acknowledges they’re requesting something not allowed by the city, unless a number of specific criteria have been met. The special exception can be granted by the ZBA if it determines an applicant has met those criteria. 

In their application to the city’s planning board, 41 abutters are listed. One of those abutters, Thomas Bonaccorsi, wrote a letter published in The Laconia Daily Sun on Sept. 13, expressing his opposition to the project. Bonaccorsi did not return a request for comment Friday afternoon.

“Those of us who bought property here in the White Oaks area did so because we enjoyed the rural lifestyle of quietness, wildlife availability and sanctuary that this environment provides. For years now we have witnessed the incursion of condos and townhouses and thus turning our once quiet road into a Grand Prix race course for all the drunks that prefer to drink and drive,” Bonaccorsi wrote. “Now they wish to turn, in one fell swoop, over 100 acres of forest and wetlands into an electricity generating facility in order to put money into some unnamed individual's pocket. This is not and cannot be acceptable.”

Bonaccorsi wrote that wildlife present in the area, including hawks, eagles, owls, great blue herons, moose, deer, and other species' populations, are already stressed and the impact to their habitat cannot be justified.

“This is not a barren wasteland that we are talking about here. This is home to countless of my furry friends who do not have a seat or voice in this venue,” he wrote. “Please consider all sides of this before consenting to the decision that is the most profitable, particularly those that do not have a stake in the local environment.”

The ZBA will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall downtown.