The Community Solar Garden should be allowed on our Woodchuck Hill Road land. We have been surprised and disappointed by a few limited but aggressive objections, and moves to prevent it. In the same way it made sense to allow a community garden to be created on Conservation Land to serve residents who couldn’t raise vegetables at home, or a septic system to be built on a neighbor’s property because of unsuitable soils or ledge, we believe it makes sense to allow a shared solar generating facility to be built for those lacking good solar exposure, and we are happy a small piece of our land can serve a portion of this community need.
Our properties have been in our family for many decades. We have a keen appreciation for Harvard’s rural character, and for our duty as stewards of the land. When we took up residence nearly five years ago, after our admittedly impulsive decision to purchase the General Store, it was with the intention of making Harvard our permanent home.
We spent the first year focused primarily on the store, investing heavily in its renovation and restoration as a vital center of community life. That work continues, and the store may finally reach break-even operations when the sewer connection is a reality, and we can add prepared foods to the offerings. We appreciate every customer and every employee, both past and present, who continue to support the vision of the store as a gathering place for visitors and the community.
In our spare time, we worked to return a portion of our land to farm production. We reestablished a small producing peach orchard behind the house, which is picked on a neighborhood and charity cooperative basis, and we evaluated what to do with the 16-plus acres across the road.
An apple orchard had been in operation on about three acres behind our neighbor’s house, but Lyn’s mother had stopped production a few years earlier; otherwise the land was wildly overgrown with invasive species, and fallow. Our neighbors let us know that apple production on the land was a concern for them; overspray, with its related health risk to pets and children, and noise from nighttime management activities had disturbed the peaceful enjoyment of their property.
At significant expense, we had brush and some trees removed, to open up the land for public access. Rather than resuming cultivation of the orchard, we took the property out of Chapter 61A (agriculture) and put it in 61B (recreation). Changing the property classification was also costly, as the new classification resulted in significantly higher property taxes. Community members have freely enjoyed our land for hiking, cross-country skiing, and snowmobiling, with connections to adjacent trails leading to conservation land.
When we heard about the Community Solar Garden, our first thought was to take a substantial share to offset electricity use at the General Store. We had evaluated solar on the roof of the store, but its age and the presence of other equipment made that infeasible. We envisaged that a share in the solar garden, net metered to the store, would be a way to put a small portion of our land back in production, and we liked the idea of passively harvesting electrons rather than apples.
Early versions of the solar plan had as much as 800 kilowatts being constructed, but we realized that could intrude on our own future plans for the property. That plan drew objection from our neighbors, and rightly so, as it would have intruded on the viewshed as well. Working with the solar garden volunteers, we scaled it back and moved the location down the hill, away from the road and abutting properties, to its present location more than 300 feet from Woodchuck Hill Road, and more than 180 feet from the nearest abutter.
Helpful input on orientation allowed us to preserve a number of oak trees, which was appreciated and is in keeping with the current strategy for the land.
The solar garden volunteers have held “open houses,” inviting planners and those actively participating in the solar bylaw review, to let everyone see where the system will be located, and to confirm that all panels will be out of sight except to those who walk into the property to have a look.
The plan for the foreseeable future is that the bulk of the property, more than 15 acres, will be left open for continued recreational use; the location of the system is such that it will not interfere with the paths that have been established for passage through the property.
We share the concern for proliferation of large solar facilities on open land. But locally captured solar energy for the use of ourselves and our neighbors is not a commercial project for financial gain. Pristine views of open space and farms, as well as the habitat they represent, are an important part of Harvard’s rural character. But that does not mean that we should prevent building of shared facilities to support our many residents and businesses that are unable to locate solar systems on their own property.
We believe that we, as a community, should have a process for evaluating proposals on a case-by-case basis. Where rare, sensible siting can be found that benefits the community at large, we should expedite approval for what is clearly a mutually beneficial arrangement among community members, and move forward on Harvard’s voter-approved journey toward renewable energy self-sufficiency.
We would like to thank the volunteers for their time, care, and attention. We recognize it is always more difficult to move forward than to do nothing.
Lyn and Adam Horowitz, of Woodchuck Hill Road, are owners of the Harvard General Store. Adam is a co-owner of the Harvard Press.
