Haverhill Councilors to Review State Law, Decide Tuesday Whether to Permit Lovers Lane Solar Field

Preliminary layout of proposed solar panels along Lovers Lane in Haverhill.

Click image for Haverhill City Council agenda.

Haverhill city councilors Tuesday will review past legal decisions on permitting solar array before deciding whether to approve a 6.8-megawatt project on Lovers Lane.

Councilors postponed a vote last month on the proposed large, ground-mounted solar system in the rear of two woodland parcels on the northerly side of Lovers Lane, adjacent to Interstate 495. Members expressed concern any decision they make could run afoul of the, so called, Dover Amendment, a state law that exempts educational, agricultural and solar uses among others from certain local zoning restrictions.

Councilors delayed their decision last month after hearing from several residents who expressed concerns over altering vistas of Haverhill’s tallest hill. Resident Christine Kwitchoff was one of those who spoke.

“This is an incredible, beautiful area—one of the most scenic in Haverhill. People take views like this for granted. They don’t think about land ownership when they’re looking at this land, they appreciate the view and they believe it belongs to the people, to the community at large. What we don’t realize is unprotected, open space like Ayers Hill is ours to lose and it’s only after like a site like this is developed that they bemoan the outcome.”

Among previous decisions, councilors will review a 2022 ruling by then-Attorney General Maura Healey. Healey disapproved the Town of Carver’s moratorium on solar projects, ruling it violated the law by restricting solar and battery storage systems “with no articulated evidence of an important municipal interest, grounded in protecting the public health, safety or welfare…sufficient to outweigh the public need for solar energy systems.”

Kevin P. Garneau, vice president of Northeastern Consulting Forestry Services, told councilors the project is expected take down 2,470 trees on approximately 21 acres of the 126-acre property, with five acres previously cleared. Attorney Robert D. Harb, representing the developer SPI Solar, said the project would include replanting 11,000 trees on the property.

Separately, Harb said, “It has been determined that, if the project is approved, the total annual (payment in lieu of taxes) obligations have been calculated to be $114,034 per year for 20-year total lifetime payments of $2,280,680.” He added, “With the rising budget and real estate tax increase felt by the citizens of Haverhill, it would certainly be a welcomed additional income stream to the city.”

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

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