Bethlehem Township board postpones solar farm vote; new details released on project

BETHLEHEM TWP. − The township Board of Zoning Appeals has unanimously voted to table a Boston-based company's application to build a solar farm.

Several residents attended Monday's meeting, which lasted more than an hour at Township Hall, to ask questions about the project proposed by Galehead Development. Would there be around-the-clock security? Would foliage block the view of the solar panels from the road? Would trucks bringing in solar panels for installation tear up the township's roads?

With residents expressing concerns, the board members, wanting more time to think the matter over and get more information, voted 4-0 to indefinitely put off a vote on whether to approve the conditional-use permit application for the planned solar facility. It's not clear when they might have a final vote.

Board of Zoning Appeals Chairman Dennis Wheeler indicated the soonest would be late March with 30 days public notice.

Related: Solar farm coming to southern Stark County? Township zoning board to vote on project

More details about the proposed Bethlehem Township solar project

According to Galehead's application, solar panels would be installed on a 76-acre footprint on four parcels owned by Berlin Mineral totaling more than 317 acres bounded by Beth Avenue SW to the west, Hudson Drive SW to the south and Sherman Church Avenue SW and Interstate 77 to the east. The properties were once a mining site.

"The proposed solar project will make use of the reclaimed mine property and help to bring clean energy to the power grid," Galehead said in its application.

Galehead hopes to start construction this summer, which is expected to take about a year. But that's contingent on getting all approvals, and Galehead's project development manager Amanda Willis said the timeline might be overly optimistic.

Wheeler allowed members in the audience, which included Township Trustees T. Renee' Veselenak and Ronald Lambert, to ask questions of Willis.

Lambert expressed concern about how trucks transporting solar panels, supplies and equipment would impact township roads. Willis said Galehead would work out a traffic management plan with the Stark County Engineer's Office and the township's road department to ensure no negative impacts on traffic due to trucks transporting the solar panels or excessive wear and tear on local roads.

In her other answers, Willis said:

• The solar farm would generate 19.3 megawatts at a time, or enough to power about 3,000 homes. Power generated would go directly to the grid and not to be stored in batteries.

• The solar panels would not move and would require only occasional maintenance a few times a year. "The project has no moving parts. The panels just sit there," Willis said.

• The solar panels would be quiet and would not operate at night without the sun. Inverters would make a hum, but they would be closer to the center of the site.

• The solar farm would be connected to an above-ground distribution power line, to be constructed by American Electric Power, that would exit the site on the eastern side by an access road, go south on the western end of Sherman Church Avenue SW, cross Sherman Church near Hudson Drive SW to switch to the east side of Sherman Church and connect to a substation to the south in Bolivar.

• Before construction, Galehead will conduct a stormwater pollution study to ensure the solar panels would not affect water runoff or cause flooding. The project would not impact ponds and wetlands on the property.

• The solar panels are expected to operate for at least 35 years. Willis suggested that the panels would be recyclable after that.

• Galehead would not remove trees on Beth Avenue SW. "It's going to be very difficult to see the panels unless you're actively trying to get in and look," said Willis. "We're trying to make a monetary impact, but not a visual one."

• Galehead would be required to make payments in lieu of property taxes, which it estimated at about $135,000 or more than $4.7 million over 30 years, with about $3 million of that going to the local school district.

• The site tentatively would have vehicle access from Beth Avenue SW and Sherman Church Avenue SW.

The security arrangements for the site haven't been worked out yet. A fence at least 6 feet high would surround the solar farm, which will not be accessible to the public.

When a man in the audience asked if the solar panels were made in America, Willis said Galehead had not yet signed contracts to purchase panels yet.

She later declined to discuss the anticipated return on investment from the solar farm.

'It was being used for farming.'

A farmer from Tuscarawas County who attended the meeting said he was leasing about 76 acres of the properties that are to host the solar panels to grow hay and alfalfa. Eric Spillman of Lawrence Township said he just found out Sunday from a Repository article about the project. And he read that Galehead was hoping to begin construction on the site by this summer, when he would be growing and harvesting his crops there.

He disputed Galehead's claim that the properties weren't being used for any useful purpose.

"Yes, it was being used for something," Spillman said. "It was being used for farming."

The farmer said House Bill 397, which became law in 2022, protects him if Berlin Mineral wishes to terminate its lease. The state law requires in the absence of written terms setting a lease termination date, a property owner renting land to be farmed must give written notice to end the lease by Sept. 1. And the lease will end when the farmer completes the harvest on that property or Dec. 31, whichever comes first.

"I'm not for or against the solar deal," Spillman said. "I have a lot of money invested there. I should have been informed last September."

Wheeler questioned how many others might be leasing land at the proposed solar farm site from Berlin Mineral.

Willis said she would speak with Spillman after the meeting.

Residents in the audience who indicated they lived near the site said no one had told them anything about the project until they read the Repository article.

"Until today, we've all been in the dark," one woman said.

A man sitting next to her said to Willis, "I'm not going to waste my time to follow up with you. You follow up with me."

Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. X formerly Twitter: @rwangREP.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Bethlehem Twp. board postpones action on Galehead solar farm project