Adams Solar Project on Track for Spring Start

ADAMS, Mass. — Solar panels should be sprouting this spring at the old landfill on East Road.

Work on the delayed 1.1 megawatt project is expected to start by March 1, if the weather and permitting process cooperate.

"The process has taken a little longer than we all would have liked, but it's full speed ahead at this point," Sharon Barr, senior developer and project counsel for TectaSolar, told the Planning Board on Monday, thanking the town for its patience as the solar developer got its financing package completed.

The delay allowed the design of the $5 million project to be refined, she said. "We think it's a better design ... It doesn't change our obligations under the power purchase agreement."

The changes included a different framework for the panels that seats them lower and closer together. It also mixes 300-watt panels in with the planned 280-watt ones.

The most significant change, and the reason the project was back before the board, was a reorientation of the array that moved it off the steeper sides of the capped, hillside landfill and further south toward the storage garage on the site. The entire profile should be smaller and less obtrusive.

Alan Benvides, senior vice president of Woodard & Curran engineering consultants, said the project has already been through the permitting process with the state Department of Environmental Protection, the Planning Board and the Conservation Commission.

Town Administrator Jonathan Butler had also suggested the project go back before both the town boards, said Benvides, but the Conservation Commission did not feel a need to review the changes primarly because the array will now be further away from the sensitive ecological areas at the site.

He expected to get the go-ahead from the state this week. The first step will be to cut the grass, and then lay down filter fabric and cover it with gravel. Some fencing will be added, but Benvides noted that posts could not be put through a capped landfill.

In response to questions from the board, he did not anticipate parking problems during construction but could not say what the final count of panels would be. The original plan called for some 4,000 to 5,000 panels; Benvides said the final calculations on the new design were being completed.

Barr added that the interconnection agreement with National Grid had been completed and that TectaSolar was applying to the state Department of Public Utilities for the net metering so town will get the energy credit.

The town is expected to save between $130,000 and $190,000 in energy costs annually over the next 15 years. TectaSolar, a division of Tecta America Corp., had expected to have the array up and online a year ago.

The board approved the redesign with little discussion and adjourned.

Cheshire Town Meeting Oks Budgets, Debates Potential Prop 2 1/2 Override

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
10:12PM / Monday, June 08, 2026

Moderator Carol Francesconi, left, and Anne Marie Furey were presented flowers in memory of the Rev. William Furey, their brother and husband, respectively. The town report was dedicated to him. 

CHESHIRE, Mass. — Town meeting on Monday approved all 35 articles on the annual meeting warrant, including a total spending for fiscal 2027 of more than $8.5 million. 

 

Some 77 of the town's more than 2,500 registered voters filled the Cheshire Community House meeting room, debating on a number of articles during the meeting that lasted nearly three hours

 

The town dedicated its annual report to the Rev. William David Furey, longtime pastor of First Baptist Church and more recently Berkshire Union Chapel in Lanesborough. Furey died last year at age 77.

 

His wife, Anne Marie Furey, and his sister, Town Moderator Carol Francesconi, were presented with a bouquet of flowers in tribute to him. 

 

He was an exemplary member of the community who left a lasting impression in each and every life that he touched, said Town Clerk Whitney Flynn. 

 

Voters approved several warrant articles that make up an operating budget of $3,840,314 for fiscal 2027. Of this amount, $1,642,481 is allocated for the general government budget, which was approved after clarification of a few questions.

 

One item was the administrative assistant's salary. Prior to the annual meeting, the town eliminated the executive assistant salary of $54,309 in favor of a part-time administrative assistant salary of $27,155, to reduce costs considering the financial constraint the town is in.