By: centraljersey.com
WEST AMWELL – According to the township’s Zoning Board of Adjustment secretary, the solar farm proposal is expected to be on the Nov. 23 meeting agenda.
Green Power of West Amwell LLC wants to install 18,000 solar panels on nearly 11 heavily wooded acres adjacent to Music Mountain, near Route 179. It would abut the Calton homes development. The plan calls for the panels to be surrounded by a chain link fence topped by barbed wire.
The land is zoned rural residential, allowing one house for every four acres. There is a farmhouse plus farmed acres already on the plot. But Green Power wants to add a second use – the solar farm – while retaining the house. That would require a use variance granted by the Zoning Board.
Neighboring houses sit high on Music Mountain, and their windows would look down on the panels. The panels would ruin the view, neighbors say. They also object to the noise they say the solar farm would generate. Some residents also do not want to see the destruction of woodlands, nor the solar panels’ proximity to an environmentally sensitive stream.
A meeting on the topic was slated for Nov. 4, but was canceled because Green Power had failed to take the required step of notifying neighbors (within 200 feet of the land in question) of the hearing, according to board Secretary Ruth Hall. Notices must be sent by certified mail. Some neighbors received notices, but some did not.
At that point, Green Power asked to be on the agenda for the regular Nov. 23 zoning session.
– Linda Seida
