Adams to Decide Solar Array PILOT Fee at Town Meeting
 Town Administrator Tony Mazzucco is recommending charging a commercial solar array a flat fee of $15,000 a year rather than assessing personal property taxes. The decision will be made by town meeting. |
ADAMS, Mass. – Town meeting will decide if the 217 East Road solar panel project will pay the town a fee instead of taxes.
Town Administrator Tony Mazzucco introduced the warrant article to the Selectmen on Wednesday.
Mazzucco said the PILOT, or payment in lieu of taxes, agreement is standard throughout the commonwealth.
"They are standard throughout the state for clean energy projects," Mazzucco said. "There are actually elements in state law that will allow PILOTs for solar projects."
The proposed 1.5-megawatt array, which is being developed by Apis Energy Group LLC, will be placed on the 11-acre East Road property. The developer holds a lease agreement with the land owner.
Mazzucco said the agreement will provide the town with a yearly fee of $15,000 that the assessor felt was a fair price.
"She did a lot of research with a lot of other communities that have solar fields this size, and she found the rate they offered is very competitive compared to other communities," he said.
Mazzucco said this constant rate allows the town to avoid depreciation, changes in market value, or changes in value in use that would come into play if the panels were taxed as personal property.
The Planning Board initially voted down the project in 2013 because it was felt it would negatively affect the neighborhood. However, a vote by the Zoning Board of Appeals reversed the planners' decision.
Abutting property owners took legal action against the developer and the town because they felt the ZBA acted beyond its purview and the decision was made unfairly. However, many residents dropped out of the case and the project has moved forward.
Chairman Arthur "Skip" Harrington asked if the array will affect the landowner's property value in any way.
"I just wonder if the value of that property would increase just like it would when you build a house on it or just like you would if you subdivide," Harrington said. "It is still the same land ... that could be part of the formula for what the town is gaining."
Mazzucco said it would likely stay the same because the panels themselves would not be assessed with the property but as equipment. He said he would double check with the assessor.
Harrington also shared concerns about the other East Road solar array on the capped landfill. The town has a power-purchase agreement with the solar developers to save on electrical costs.
The panels are ground-mounted so they cannot penetrate the capped landfill. Because they are ground-mounted, they were getting covered with snow.
Harrington was concerned that because the developer does not clean them off, the town loses money.
Mazzucco said the developer has cleaned them a few times this winter, however, when the snow reaches a certain level it is not cost effective to try to clean them.
"The challenge is once the snow banks reach a certain level it is tough to keep them clean because the spaces in-between them have to be shoved out," Mazzucco said. "It's really cost benefit analysis and there is the chance of damaging the panels brushing snow off them in hopes you are going to generate a little bit more electricity."
Mazzucco said the panels would likely produced little energy during the overcast winter months anyways. He said any spikes in electricity the town saw came from the Waste Water Treatment Plant, which tripled in cost this year with higher electrical rates.
Tags: PILOT, solar array, town meeting 2016,
