On 2nd Try, Solar Panels Get Green Light

Hamden zoners took a second look at allowing new solar panels on an apartment complex’s parking area — after balking over concerns that the green power would get in the way of green grass.

That’s the upshot of a vote taken Tuesday night by Hamden’s Planning and Zoning Commission.

The commission voted to move forward a plan to install carport solar panels at 905, 925, 955, and 975 Mix Ave., which are all part of the Chestnut Hill apartments.

The Chestnut Hill complex is owned by Franklin Communities, which contracted with the PurePoint Energy firm to provide solar energy to local tenants and their cars.

PurePoint’s idea is to position eight solar carports in the complex’s parking lots to cover approximately 13 rows of existing parking spaces. 

The commission refused to approve the plan at first when it came up at an August meeting. Commissioners continued the matter instead because of concerns that the company did not have a plan to properly light the site upon introduction of the panels, that the site plan did not follow height regulations concerning canopy coverage — and that the shade imposed by the new power sources might harm nearby shrubs and hinder grass growth.

On Tuesday night, PurePoint returned with a bolstered plan, pledging to attach LED lighting to the backs of the solar panels. 

They also adjusted the angle of each carport from seven degrees to five degrees to get in line with the town’s zoning regulations concerning canopy heights. Canopies are typically tilted primarily to account for snow load in the winter, but the town also requires a clearance of 14 feet on the structure’s lower end to permit emergency vehicle access and a maximum height of 18 feet at its tallest peak. Town Planner Eugene Livshits said that the company’s August site plan featured carports taller than 18 feet.

A final request from the zoning commission did not necessarily have to do with strict zoning code compliance — but policing of landscaping particulars.

“Last time you were here we talked about the disturbance of green space,” Commissioner Robert Cochiarro said to PurePoint Project Manager Denise Murillo Tuesday night. He inquired: What changes had the company made to account for grass preservation?

First, PurePoint postponed presenting two additional solar panel site pitches until late September — including plans to build more Chestnut Hill carports at 835 and 865 Mix Ave. — in order to address the properties separately and more intensively rather than grouping the proposals all together. Murillo said they also modified the location of certain panels to distance the structures from any present landscaping.

Overall, Murillo said, the only plant life proximate to the panels is some ​“grass and mulch.” 

“There’s nothing we’re disturbing there,” she said.

Livshits said that Hamden’s zoning code does include ​“grandfathered in rules” concerning landscaping on residential properties like Chestnut Hill, but that the Planning and Zoning discussion concerning greenery was never about landscaping requirements. The carport plan did not compete with any extant zoning regulations, he said; the commission was more broadly concerned with ensuring that the company was not inadvertently increasing the amount of impervious site space.

Livshits also clarified that the proposed panels would not increase the total impervious coverage, or landscape that can’t effectively absorb or filter precipitation, on the site. 

However, Cochiarro said at the end of Tuesday’s presentation, he was ​“still a little bothered by the landscaping.” He suggested that PurePoint could do more to move the carports away from extant shrubbery lining the sidewalk by the apartment complex and to integrate new plant life into the site’s current landscape.

“The purpose of these is to provide solar energy for the tenants,” clients who are often deprived of sustainable energy options compared to homeowners, Murillo said.

“I’m passionate about doing this,” she said.

Despite the light tension between diverting greenhouse gas emissions and tending to turf, Cochiarro ultimately joined the commission in green-lighting the upcoming solar energy project.

Nora Grace-Flood’s reporting is supported in part by a grant from Report for America.