Hampton continues to hear solar facility proposal

Hampton continues to hear solar facility proposal HAMPTON -- A hearing on permission to use about 40 acres of land off Halsey Road for a solar power facility will continue at the township's Zoning Board of Adjustment meeting on May 3. The 40 acres is owned by Hampton Associates and sits on a hillside behind Northwest Christian School, which fronts on County Route 519. But there's no effective screening for some neighbors who live on a hill to the north of the site who claim their property values will decline. "Now I'll have to look at an industrial plant," claimed Denise Spina, who lives on Halsey Road, across from the proposed project site. He said there already is a stretch of forest between the homes and the property under consideration. "Yes, I believe in solar power and like it," Brundage answered, "but what's it doing to us?" Scott Lewis, from Green Energy Partners, who would build and operate the site, said the power would be sold to Jersey Central Power o his concerns and "sitting down with us to talk and listen. During his presentation, Graham showed pictures taken from the nearest neighbors on Downer Road, a dead-end lane between the proposed solar project and Halsey Road. He said the state has determined that solar energy facilities are required in the state and are not inherently detrimental. According to the presentation made to the board on Thursday, the plans call for banks of solar panels which will produce about 9. In Frankford, the board voted in June in favor of a 5. Lewis promised to work with the Moores once the project is up and running "because you may not even hear anything. " . Graham said there would be minimal grading required and most of the 40 acres has been disturbed through the years by farming so most of the forest on the property will remain, helping to provide screening. Graham said state and local laws set a daytime standard of 65 decibels of sound when standing at the property line and a nighttime level of 50 decibels at night. Jim Brundadge, who lives on Old Stagecoach Road, which goes off Halsey Road north from the project, asked the board: "What is this going to do to this side of Hampton Township?" Collinsresponded that the developer has "done everything he can reasonably do to screen this from the nearest neighbors," and added it wasn't possible to screen every project from every possible viewing angle. The site will be enclosed by an 8-foot-high black chainlink fence that will have four padlocked gates. "The panels will mimic the rolls of the land," said Tom Graham, from Dykstra Walker, the engineering firm hired by the developer, Green Energy Partners of Newton and Dover. Solar panels convert sunlight into electricity, but it is direct current and needs inverters and transformers to convert that DC into alternate current used by power companies. Hampton continues to hear solar facility proposal Trade News selected by Local Linkup on 10/04/2012