“After being vetted by the Cape Cod Commission, Sandwich’s planning board and conservation commission—and the doubting neighbors—permission has been granted for a large solar farm off Cotuit Road.
The planning board gave its unanimous approval for a special permit on Tuesday, October 6, after holding another remote public hearing on the matter.
Many of the neighbors’ concerns about unsightly solar panels and noise had already been addressed by Amp Energy, the Canadian company that owns the 18-acre wooded parcel at 180 Cotuit Road.
The company has promised that the photovoltaic energy system would be built in an environmentally conscious way.
It would take up only 10.8 acres in the center of the lot, and most of that area would be converted into a pollinator-friendly meadow, the company has said.
Specifically, on Tuesday evening, company spokesman Evan Turner said the company would build an 8-foot, residential-style fence around the solar array and would surround the fence on almost all sides with bushy, fast-growing evergreens such as arborvitae.
Mr. Turner acknowledged that the company must seek a variance for the fence—which is two feet higher than Sandwich zoning allows—from the town’s zoning board of appeals.
In addition, Mr. Turner said, the company would set money aside to help abutting landowners plant even more vegetative screening on their privately owned parcels if they find the evergreen cover insufficient.”
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Woolfe, Tao. The Enterprise Sandwich 7 October 2020.