VASSALBORO – Small problem turns out bigger: resolved anyway

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Planning Board members started their Dec. 7 meeting thinking they had a small problem. It turned into a bigger one, and they solved it anyway.
At issue was the solar development at 2579 Riverside Drive. It was originally proposed by and permitted to a company named Longroad Energy (see The Town Line, Sept. 10, 2020), and repermitted in August 2021 as the permit’s one-year expiration date loomed.

The work had not started because Central Maine Power Company had not, and still has not, given final approval for adding the solar energy to the power grid.

After several changes, the project now belongs to a different company, Summit Ridge Energy, based in Arlington, Virginia. Ben Aparo, Summit’s Senior Director for Northeast Development, and Brook Barnes, representing a prior owner, asked the planning board to please change the permit to the new owner.

However, board member Douglas Phillips pointed out the clause in the Vassalboro Site Review Ordinance that says: “Permits shall be issued to the applicant of record. The permit(s) are not transferable to a new owner.”

Board members agreed the restriction makes sense. The new owner might not be able to carry out the permitted project; or ordinance requirements might have changed since the original permit was issued.

Neither situation was applicable to the solar development. Aparo and Barnes presented evidence that Summit has the financial capacity to build the solar farm; they assured board members that they intend no changes from the previously-approved plan; and Vassalboro voters have not amended the ordinance.

Barnes and Aparo therefore submitted a revised application in the name of the new ownership, incorporating the information from the original application. Board members voted unanimously to approve it.

The Dec. 7 meeting was Paul Mitnik’s last as Vassalboro’s Codes Enforcement Officer. Ryan Page will succeed him in the position as of Jan. 1, 2022, and Mitnik will become an alternate member of the planning board, appointed by select board members at their Nov. 18 meeting.