LOVELL — Voters on Saturday overwhelmingly adopted a solar power ordinance that effectively shuts the door on large scale developments of arrays like the 181-acre project proposed last year.
The ordinance was supported by 87% of the voters at the special town meeting. The vote was 202-30.
A citizen group, which calls itself Our Eden Association, formed after a 35-megawatt, 181-acre industrial solar project was proposed late last year near Christian Hill and Shave Hill roads. The proposal was made by Walden Solar Maine, a subsidiary of Walden Renewables of New York and Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
According to the citizen group, more than 10,000 mature trees would be cut down and the project would intrude on the Kezar Lake watershed.
With no specific solar ordinance in place and to prevent quick approval of the project, residents petitioned for a special town meeting in January and voted 243-50 for a 180-day moratorium on all solar projects.
Most residents thought the project was simply too big for their idyllic community, would affect Lovell’s quality of life and would disrupt the stellar scenery residents and visitors enjoy of the surrounding hills, mountains and lakes.
The ordinance prevents building a solar farm or array larger than 10 acres anywhere in town. Projects up to 10 acres would be restricted to a small area in town zoned as commercial industrial.
The new policy does allow for personal solar projects. Minor personal scale solar energy systems allow up to 1,200 square feet of panels, which the group says is more than enough to power the average Maine home.
A major personal scale solar energy system is defined as having a total panel area of half an acre, which is sufficient to power business and municipal uses.
Both minor and major solar projects can be either roof mounted or ground mounted. No special and expensive permitting process is required for installation, only a standard building permit.
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