image description — Adams Planners Sandra Moderski, left, Martha Stohlmann, Chairman David Rhinemiller, Barbara Ziemba and Michael O'Brien hear a presentation on Monday night for the solar array planned for the capped landfill.

Adams Planners Grant Approval, Waivers For Solar Array

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
11:00PM / Monday, September 26, 2011Print Story | Email Story

Alan Benvides of Woodard & Curran engineering consultants explains how the panels would be sited on the landfill. The panels will installed on 3-foot-square, foot think concrete slabs.

ADAMS, Mass. — The Planning Board on Monday night waived two considerations that will allow the planned 1.1-megawatt solar array at the landfill to move forward.

The board unanimously approved the site plan for the 4,000-panel facility that is expected to save the town betweek $130,000 and $190,000 in energy costs annually over the next 15 years but could not completely agree on the waivers.

TectaSolar, the developer for the $5 million project, had asked the board to waive a zoning ordinance that would require an environmental impact report as well as the requirement for a performance bond.

Alan Benevides, senior vice president for Woodard & Curran, the engineering consultants for TectaSolar, said the project would cover about 5.36 acres but it was decided to round up to six acres for application purposes. That triggered the zoning ordinance that calls for an EIR for projects greater than five acres.

However, the project will not require any digging; it will consist of 6 inches of gravel over the capped landfill to provide drainage and support for the concrete slabs that will support the solar panels.

Benevides said the project does not have to go through Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act review but will have to go before the town's Conservation Commission and the state Department of Environmental protection.

"Because it is on a closed landfill, it will be going through a very thorough environmental review at the state level," said Sharon Barr, senior developer and project counsel for TectaSolar. "So the concerns about the use on the landfill will be, in addition to any concerns you have, will be going through DEP as well."

As for the performance bond, TectaSolar pointed to the lease agreement with the town to use the land and the power-purchase agreement to sell power to the town as providing assurance for the completion of the project, estimated to take six to eight weeks to install.

Planner Sandra Moderski said the town needed assurance the project would be completed properly.

Board members expressed concern over the waivers, particularly after Benevides said this would be the only the second solar array in the state to be situated over a landfill. The first, in Easthamption, began construction last week.

Chairman David Rhinemiller and Planner Sandra Moderski, in particular, asked about both companies' experience and stability.

Benevides said his company was not expert in installing solar arrays on landfills, but rather was expert in landfill projects in general, including capping them and building on top of them. "Our job is to work with Tecta to figure which part of the site is appropriate to put the panels on," he said.

Barr said Tecta has been working in solar for five or six years and its parent company "is the largest commercial roofing company in the United States."

Attorney Jeffrey Grandchamp, special counsel to the town on the solar matter, said the town's position was that the contracts ensured the project would be completed. He noted no roads, infrastructure or buildings were involved; rather, the only thing before the board was a site plan so what the performance bond would actually cover was questionable.

"It would be a substantial sum of money," said Grandchamp of a possible bond, but he could not give an estimate. Town Administrator Jonathan Butler offered that some $50,000 had been put in escrow by the company to cover certain consulting and legal fees for the town and, if some insurance was needed, less than half had been spent.

Moderski, however, said the unknowns in the project were too great and she couldn't support a waiver of the environmental impact report.

"I also believe that the town should have a performance bond. This is a big project; I know it's going to benefit the town," she said. "But I really think that we, as a Planning Board, we have been elected here to ensure that the inhabitants of this town are taken care of, not just the company that's putting it up."

Both waivers passed 4-1 with Moderski voting in the negative. She voted with the rest of the board in approving the project in total.

Barr said Tecta was in the process of submitting permits to the DEP and would be filing with the Conservation Commission. Dependent upon the permits and weather, installation could begin by November.

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Community Feedback Essential During Ed Collaborative

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
05:29AM / Tuesday, January 06, 2026

CHESHIRE, Mass. — Ensuring everyone's voices are heard will be a constant during all stages of exploring secondary education collaborative efforts to achieve long-term sustainability in North Berkshire.

Hoosac Valley Regional School District Superintendent Aaron Dean presented an update to at the Select Board last meeting of 2025 on the collaboration to pool resources and explore the possibility of regionalizing the three high schools and the elementary districts in the North Berkshire School Union.

"I think it's something that we have to make sure we bring everybody's voice to the table and bring everybody's concerns to the table through this, so we do it the right way and we don't have a bad taste in people's mouths as we go and take those next steps," he said.

"The communities have learned from some history, unfortunately, on how things have gone. So, I think we have to be mindful of that and kind of make sure that there's a high level of engagement as we go through the process."

NBSU, Hoosac Valley, North Adams Public Schools and the Mount Greylock Regional School District are in the initial stages of the initiative that may take three to five years to complete, he said.

"It's really looking at what are some models, and maybe even what are some different models of regionalization that the communities could utilize, that might be most effective in terms of providing opportunities for kids," Dean said.

With a $100,000 state grant that Dean referred to as "seed money," the task force has issued a request for proposals (RFP) to hire a consultant. The bids are due by 4 p.m. on Jan. 20. The resulting study will guide next steps with the goal of maximizing funding and resources while reducing pressure on communities.

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