Proposed 6,000-Panel Solar Farm Near Whittier Tech Before Haverhill City Council Tonight

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The Haverhill City Council tonight is expected to decide whether to grant special permits for a “large scale ground-mounted solar energy” system on Amesbury Line Road.

Solar Smart of Summerville, S.C., seeks to use land at 139 Amesbury Line Road, owned by Theodore Xenakis, for installation of a 2-megawatt solar farm, consisting of more than 6,000 panels. A related permit requests seeks permission to locate a system near a city Water Supply Protection Overlay District, according to the company’s lawyer, Robert D. Harb.

An educational tie-in with the adjacent Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School is also proposed.

“At this location, a cooperative educational relationship is in development with Paul Moskevitz, the vocational technical director of the Whittier Regional Vocational Technical School,” said Kyle Burchard of Ayer-based Goldsmith, Prest and Ringwall engineers, in an April 8 letter to the City Council. He explained plans call for providing the school with weather and solar output data and resources for emerging technologies in energy systems engineering.

The project would use 18.6 acres of a 26.8-acre property, partially straddling, what is described as, a natural drainage divide between the Merrimack River and Millvale Reservoir. The property is largely forest and slopes toward the school.

The Haverhill City Council meets tonight at 7, both remote and in-person at the Theodore A. Pelosi Jr. Council Chambers, City Hall, room 202, 4 Summer St., Haverhill. As a public service, 97.9 WHAV plans to carry the meeting live.

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