Proposed Solar Farm In Howell Would Cut Down 11 Acres Of Trees

HOWELL, NJ — A project for a solar farm in Howell that would involve cutting down roughly 11 acres of mature trees was presented to the Zoning Board last week.

The solar panels would be installed in a property on Casino Drive.

Board members were concerned with deforestation and the potential impact on local species, particularly on the bats they believe inhabit the area.

"This is mature trees, this is a nice forest," said chairman Charles Cunliffe. "And it's gonna be gone, we're not gonna be able to replace it."

Other members echoed that same concern.

"We're talking not just small trees, these are mature trees," said board member Richard Mertens.

Board planner Jennifer Beahm questioned whether the developers had considered other properties in town that would not require trees to be clear cut.

"How many other sites in Howell did you investigate and were any of those sites cleared farm fields? Because let's be real, we have plenty of those," she said.

Beahm insisted that the applicant should come back to the board with documents that clearly show the area where it would be appropriate to develop, taking into consideration the distance to the power grid.

Sam Bailly, the development manager for the project, said that there was a very limited number of places where the project would be viable and it was strongly bound by the interconnection capacity.

"A project of this size does cannot feasibly interconnect to the gid at great distances because of the exorbitant cost associated with doing so," he said. "The project will simply go underwater."

The applicant also agree to have a survey done in order to determine the impact the project would have on the localspecies.

Behind the proposed development is Lightstar Renewables, a company based in Boston that owns NJ Solar 2ooo LLC.

The application will be heard again by the board on Dec. 13.