Plan Commission revisits Natick Ave. solar plan

By ROSEGALIE CINEUS Beacon Media Staff Writer

The Natick Avenue solar project has returned to the City Plan Commission seeking preliminary plan approval after getting off to a rocky start with neighborhood opposition in an earlier review of the proposal.

 The developer, Revity Energy, a Warwick-based company, has leased about 23 acres owned by Ronald Rossi off Natick Avenue for the installation of solar panels.

On Nov. 4, the Plan Commission heard the project in question. A change from the first proposal of the project moves the access road to the middle of the development, away from the side of land closest to neighbors.

The developer’s lawyer, Robert Murray, said that previously, the solar equipment was spread throughout the farm, but this change will centralize equipment in the middle of the farm. He added that Revity Energy believes making this move is a positive.

Revity is also looking to add vegetation screening like plants and flowers that can adapt to the environment.

According to Murray, there is already a 50-foot buffer between the proposed area for the development and the neighbors. And moving the access road to the middle will add about 10 feet to that buffer.

The Natick Avenue Solar project has not had a smooth ride since the Plan Commission approved the proposal’s master plan in 2019. Residents appealed the approval to Superior Court.

The project was sent back to the commission after Judge Netti Vogel found a procedural flaw in which more than 100 pages of evidence and a revised site plan were accepted into the record after the close of public comment, according to the case documents.

The project went through planning review again. And the Plan Commission rejected the master plan, underlining concerns about the proposal’s impact on the environment and neighborhood.

The city Zoning Board upheld the Plan Commission’s decision.

Revity Energy appealed the city’s actions to Superior Court, and Judge Joseph Montalbano overruled the city’s decision and ordered the Plan Commission to approve the solar farm’s master plan.

That decision cleared the way for the project to move forward.

Drake Patten is a part of a group of residents, sometimes known as the “Citizens of Natick,” who have long been fighting the project. Patten is a neighbor of the property, and her farm looks out on the project site.

She said Montalbano’s decision was a huge insult to the Plan Commission, a body that she says has city residents’ respect. She said that over time, the group has grown to include many residents not only throughout Cranston but also in Warwick.

“I think the people who have gotten involved more recently have experienced the downside of commercial solar,” Patten said. “We’re people who care about the fabric and residential fabric of our neighborhoods and protecting our open space and farmland. That is what is at the heart of it.”

Murray said that throughout the project’s process, Revity has always been confident that it was in compliance, and he said Montalbano’s decision affirmed that.

But for Patten, “by right doesn’t mean it is right.”

“I also feel that the applicant is forever saying ‘we’re by right.’  Well, many things are ‘by right’,” Patten added. “That doesn’t mean they happen magically. There is a process, [and] the public has a right to speak on that process.”

Patten said for that reason, the neighborhood group, which has brought on legal counsel, will continue to do what its members think is right, “which is to fight for the best future of where we live.”

But to Murray, it’s less a question of whether the project is going to happen and more a question of when.

The Natick Avenue Solar project was continued at the Nov. 4 meeting, and the Plan Commission will hold a special meeting to hear public comment at City Hall, on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 6:30 p.m.