MATTAPOISETT — Solar developer Next Grid Bowman wanted a fast approval and site visit process from the Mattapoisett Planning Board, but board members wanted to slow down and understand all the details. 

Next Grid Representatives appeared before the Zoning Board of Appeals for a special permit in November, were denied, appealed at the Land Court and overturned the vote because the town doesn’t have a solar bylaw, so the project is allowed as of right.

“The issue that seems to be the biggest concern is what we’re doing on Bowman Road,” Daniel Serber, the applicant, said in a virtual hearing before the Planning Board on May 4. Specifically, residents didn’t want trucks parked there.

The board and residents also raised concerns about damage to the panels, asking how Next Grid would know about oil spills, what would happen in a hurricane, or if a hunter’s bullet struck a panel.

“When a transformer breaks, you know about it pretty fast,” Serber said, adding “you would get an error message through the online moderating system.” The same is true for panels. 

Another issue was the cost of restoring the 4.5 acre site to its natural state. Abutter Brad Hathaway asked why the process was known as re-seeding and not re-planting. He wanted to know how many trees would be cut down, and if they would be replaced.

Next Grid said it would and had consulted with the Mattapoisett Land Trust on the best local tree species. Mattapoisett Land Trust President Mike Huguenin said his group was not consulted on trees.

Serber claimed he subdivided the land to give a quarter of it to the Land Trust. Huguenin said the land it was offered at the meeting was less than a quarter of Next Grid’s total, and he had seen no paperwork to make the promise a reality. 

As for plans to decommission the property, Huguenin said, “this will be a grassland for the foreseeable future if a solar farm is built there.” 

He urged the board to reject the panels, which he believed were a threat to public health. However, board member Janice Robbins said “I’m not sure we have the authority under the bylaw to reject a site plan project based on use.”

The state also recently passed legislation on solar panels, and one board member did not feel comfortable voting while unfamiliar with the legislation. Board members also had a number of technical questions, and continued the hearing to May 21.

The board started talk on a solar bylaw, clarifying the area that would require a Planning Board review. They ultimately held off on passing the bylaw to ask the town’s attorney for an opinion on one part.