Applicant withdraws solar farm proposal in Raymond residential neighborhood

By Ed Pierce

An eight-month initiative by residents in Raymond to oppose placement of a commercial solar farm in their neighborhood has resulted in the applicant withdrawing the project from consideration.

In October 2023, Allen Solar LLC proposed installation of a 1MW ground-mounted solar power generation facility on a residential property in the Pulpit Rock Road and Twin Pines neighborhood near Thomas Pond off Route 302. It spurred a months-long controversy between the residents and the solar company, ultimately involving the Raymond Planning Board and the Raymond Select Board.

Nature is rebounding from a
partial timber harvest at the
proposed site of a solar farm
on a residential property in
the Pulpit Rock Road and 
Twin Pines neighborhood 
near Thomas Pond off
Route 302 in Raymond
some 16 months ago. The
solar project developer has
withdrawn his application
to locate there.
COURTESY PHOTO  

Allen Solar, LLC submitted the proposal to the Raymond Planning Board and sought permission to locate the Mainely Solar facility on Roosevelt Trail on a lot owned by Scott and Aimme Allen with access to the project area through a lot owned by Scott Allen using the existing Raymond Marine entrance to Roosevelt Trail. The project was to be situated on 17,817 square feet of land and the company wanted to occupy about 6.8 acres located within the town’s Rural Residential District and portions within the Shoreland Zone, and Limited Residential/Recreation District.

The location itself is hilly, heavily wooded and filled with vernal pools, critical wetlands and streams that run downhill directly into Thomas Pond. It would have required approval from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for filling a small 325-square-foot wetland to support project access. The solar company planned to fence the property and proposed buffers and setbacks to be deployed to minimize visual impact.

Trees at the site were cut down to accommodate the proposed solar farm prompting project abutters to retain an attorney, and to file a complaint with Maine DEP regarding the clearing of trees inside of vernal pools and wetlands on the proposed project property.

Laurie Wallace, who lives next to the site said concerned residents discussed some of their objections to the project at the Raymond Select Board meeting in February and they voiced environmental concerns and placement of such a project in a residential neighborhood. The group requested a town moratorium on ground-mounted large solar projects but the select board said that was something for the Raymond Planning Board to do. During the Feb. 21 Raymond Planning Board meeting, board members requested more time to evaluate a minor change to the buffer for the project from 20 feet to 50 feet.

A vote during the March Planning Board meeting required that the applicant hire a landscape architect to perform a visual assessment from the perspective of several abutters. That happened in mid-April and the architects promised that the report would be furnished to the applicant within a month. The Planning Board also voted to require third-party peer review of the project to verify or discredit the evaluations performed on behalf of the applicant. Attorneys for the Town of Raymond, the abutters, and the applicant eventually hammered out a mutually agreed upon statement of work.

In an effort parallel to the peer review, a petition was started by some of the solar project abutters which would modify the Town of Raymond’s existing solar ordinance prohibiting commercial solar projects in the Rural Residential District and in Shoreland Zoning, effective July 2023. The petition received more than 500 signatures within 10 days, and it presented the Raymond Town Manager with those signatures on May 21.

Raymond residents had first approved a general solar ordinance in 2022 that allowed commercial solar arrays in residential zones. State law mandates that the proposed ordinance amendment must go before the public for a vote and because the petition was turned in too close to the town’s annual meeting on June 11, it was not able to be added to the town warrants because of mandatory public meeting requirements and printing constraints.

In June, abutters received a letter from Raymond Town Manager Sue Look that Allen Solar LLC had withdrawn its application, citing costs associated with connections to CMP and for Raymond Fire and Rescue's requirements for a robust fire suppression system.

“We support energy sources other than fossil fuels. But placing a commercial solar farm in this sensitive ecosystem can ultimately do more harm than good,” Wallace said. “The Thomas Pond watershed feeds directly into Sebago Lake, the source of drinking water for thousands in the Greater Portland region.”

Following the developer withdrawing the project for consideration, the Raymond Select Board voted Tuesday evening to recommend a vote to change Raymond's solar ordinance to keep commercial solar arrays out of the rural residential district and shoreland zoning.

The public will be able to discuss the ordinance initiative at a public meeting at 6 p.m. Aug. 13 at the Raymond Broadcast Studio next to Jordan-Small Middle School. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m.<