Fight for Fearing Hill solar project fires up again

A drive along Fearing Hill Road reveals roadside signs, reading, “Don’t Kill Fearing Hill.”

The signs have sprung up in response to the return of a proposal to put a solar farm at 91 and 101 Fearing Hill Road, a project which has set developers against residents

What is the project?

The project would put approximately 18 acres of solar panels on an approximately 44-acre site on Fearing Hill Road.

The land is currently undeveloped woodlands, and solar development on the property would involve the clear-cutting of the site. It stands across the road from a number of residential properties.

What are residents’ concerns?

Residents of Fearing Hill Road, as well as other residents of Wareham, have expressed a wide range of concerns about the project.

They are concerned about how the water runoff form the clear-cutting of the site will impact their properties; they are concerned about the degradation of the site’s natural and historic resources; they are concerned about the potential run-off of toxic chemicals from the panels, due to the coating on those panels.

Colleen Malone said her house is directly across the street from the potential site of the solar farm.

Malone acknowledged that the Planning Board has reviewed the developer’s plans to reduce water runoff from the site. However, the board's review did not give her much faith.

“This is going in in the middle of a residential development,” she said. “What happens when his plan doesn’t work?”

What can the planning board do?

Multiple members of the Planning Board said  the board took the opinions of residents very seriously.

However, “the law is the only thing we are allowed to consider” in making a decision, said Planning Board member Carl Schultz.

And, Schultz added, the law in Massachusetts favors solar development.

For the board to reject the solar farm, and to have its decision stand up in court, it needs to base that decision on facts, said Planning Board Chair Mike King.

“It can’t be a matter of, ‘It’s the right thing to do,’ that’s not how we’re able to proceed,” said King. “We have to proceed based on the law. 

How did the project get here?

The specter of a solar farm on Fearing Hill spent over a year in the grave before returning to the Planning Board on Tuesday, June 24.

During the project’s first lease on life, the Planning Board couldn’t act on it before the Conservation Commission delivered its result, summarized Joe Shanahan, representing the developer.

The Conservation Commission turned it down in a decision rendered Nov. 16, 2022. The Commission said the project would have adverse effects on nearby wetlands, vegetation and wildlife.

The Fearing Hill developer appealed the decision to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, which deferred it to the state Historical Commission. After an archaeological survey, which included 80 test beds, the Historical Commission determined there were no historic or archaeological materials on site.

The Department of Environmental Protection then overturned the Conservation Commission’s decision, in a ruling rendered on May 10, 2024. The Commission chose not to challenge that ruling.

Now, the decision is back in the Planning Board’s hands.