What: Upper Blackstone Clean Water applied under Section 12.4 of the zoning bylaw for site plan review of a large ground-mounted solar photovoltaic installation on a capped landfill area of its Route 20 facility, built by a contractor on a ballasted system so the cap is not penetrated.
Where it stands: on 2026-09-28 the Board closed the public hearing and approved the requested waivers (about 18) and then the site plan with staff and Board conditions, each by a 3-2 roll call vote.
Contention: the two members opposed objected to waiving the bylaw's perimeter fence requirement in favor of warning signs; the fire chief had walked the site and was comfortable with signs.
Details
The facility already has a six foot fence with barbed wire around the whole site; the applicant said posts cannot be driven into the cap. Signs would likely be ballasted.
The array is behind the meter and would cut the facility's electric bill by about 10 percent. No battery storage is included because of how incentives treat storage larger than the solar system.
The applicant would own the system and maintain it with a contractor maintenance contract and 24/7 monitoring; a DEP response action covers the landfill, with a temporary solution not yet finalized.