ROCHESTER — A row of 36 Fraser Fir trees that will block sightlines for a proposed solar canopy over the Rochester Memorial School parking lot will be covered by a $38,000 bond over five years.

The maintenance of the trees will be the responsibility of any group or company that owns the solar panels, said Rochester Planning Board Chair Arnold Johnson during a meeting on Tuesday, March 28, but the bond ensures that the town will have a means of covering damage if the project owner neglects to maintain or repair the trees.

“The bond is for our protection, not their protection,” said Johnson. “They don’t take the bond and then go do the work, they just do the work.”

Johnson noted that the “first two growing seasons are when you’re going to see the most death [of trees].”

Planning Board member Ben Bailey noted that the trees are south-facing, giving them good access to sunlight, but that Fraser Fir trees are “very tough to grow.”

According to Johnson a five-year bond will allow for certain “legislation” drawn up by former Rochester Town Counsel Blair Bailey to go into effect which puts the responsibility on the project owner to maintain the trees in perpetuity.

“After five years, the bond expires,” said Johnson, “and [whoever owns the project] is on the hook.”

Now, the Rochester Planning Board needs to draft a decision on the entire solar panel project. This decision will be discussed at the Planning Board’s next meeting in April.