FALMOUTH — The Falmouth Planning Board gave the green light on the solar farm slated for the 100-year-old golf course in Teaticket.
The board voted unanimously at its Tuesday meeting to amend the town’s zoning bylaws to help a renewable energy company turn the Cape Cod Country Club’s 150-acre golf course into a large-scale solar farm.
“We like the fact that it will be used for solar,” said Chairman Patricia Kerfoot at the Tuesday meeting. “That is a policy of the town to increase solar as much as possible, that it will keep it open space, which is part of our local comprehensive plan, as much as possible.”
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The proposed zoning changes will now go before town meeting, which could take place either in April or June. The Select Board is considering whether to separate the meeting into two, with one in April focused only on essential, time-sensitive financial articles. The rest of the articles could be pushed to a separate special town meeting in June. The Select Board will discuss the issue at its Monday meeting.
Since 2019, Cape Cod Country Club owner David Friel has been considering other land use options for the golf course, citing less business over the last decade as the reason. Amp Energy, a renewable energy company, plans to lease the property for a large-scale solar farm.
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The changes to the zoning bylaw will allow Amp Energy to have more flexibility on where it places the solar panels by lowering the amount of buffer between the abutting conservation land and the solar farm. It also will allow Amp Energy to clear-cut more trees and use a greater percentage of the property for the solar array.
If the changes to the zoning bylaw do not get approved, Friel is considering a housing development instead. Many residents and planning board members have opposed that plan.
If all goes in Amp Energy’s favor, the company will donate a portion of the property to the town for conservation purposes. The entire farm also will serve as a pollinator meadow, said Evan Turner, a representative for Amp Energy, in a previous meeting. Another smaller portion of the property could become affordable housing.
The entire property may go to the town in 40 years after the solar array’s lifespan ends, although that has not been confirmed, planning board members said.
The project has brought comments from people in support and in opposition.
Planning Board member Robert Leary said the solar project is the “lesser of two evils,” as the other alternative proposed is housing, which would increase traffic.
“The argument for maintaining it as a golf course is great,” he said. “I would love it if conservation purchased it and kept it as conservation. But the worst-case scenario would be to develop it for housing.”
Vice Chair Charlotte Harris agreed, saying the trees eventually will grow back, but a housing development could permanently damage the region’s aquifer, which is located in that area.
“It’s true that trees will be lost and that’s a sadness,” she said, “but it’s been the longstanding policy of this board and the Board of Selectmen to protect the aquifer, which is right there. … It is no place for the kind of sewer systems that would be required for housing.”
Contact Jessica Hill at jhill@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @jess_hillyeah.