HOWELL – The Planning Board has approved the application of Monmouth Solar 1, LLC to construct a 239-acre solar farm on a former sanitary landfill in the township.
Appearing before the Planning Board, attorney Grace Chun returned with new evidence seeking approval for a Preliminary and Final Major Site Plan to construct a solar energy facility located at 2921 Lakewood Allenwood Road in Howell. The land is owned by Monmouth County, and the applicant sought to keep the existing maintenance and pump buildings, as well as a perimeter fence and an existing gravel access road that runs through the facility.
“At the May hearing the Board Planner asked some really good questions with respect to the buffer,” Chun said, “We went back, we did our homework, we spoke with the (State Department of Environmental Protection), we got documents from the D.E.P. and I believe we continue to have jurisdiction in this matter.”
Opened in 1946, the landfill was officially closed 50 years later. As part of its closing plans, the D.E.P. capped it and provided a three-foot layer of soil above it. The site is somewhat unique in that it is surrounded by four streams and associated wetlands and the cap, as well as the soil layer, helps to protect the area.
Because of the inability to drive support poles into the soil, the solar panels will sit on ballast blocks on the ground. The framework that supports the solar panels will then rest atop the ballast blocks to avoid any penetration into the cap, and the subsequent incursion of contaminants into the soil. When it is fully operational, the site is expected to generate 19 megawatts of power and would tie directly into the JCP&L power grid.
During the May application, Chun and her accompanying professionals met with stiff resistance from the Board regarding the encroachment on the required 50-foot buffer zone due to the fence and roadway that already exists within the site. The issues and possible solutions involving the buffer had been enumerated by Howell Township Planner Jennifer Beahm in a February letter to the applicant’s legal and professional experts.
When those concerns appeared to be unaddressed by the applicant during their May presentation, Planning Board Chairman Brian Tannenhaus was moved to comment that Monmouth Solar 1, LLC had been given a “potential solution and then you guys decided just to completely ignore it, and then just try to jam [the application] down our throat.”
Repurposing a former sanitary landfill raises concerns for potential ecological disturbance. Large level construction at the closed Monmouth County landfill could breach the cap, where the gradient of the land could cause storm water runoff to carry contaminants into nearby waterways and riparian buffers.
Chun went on to explain to the Board members that because of this, the DEP has a post-closure care period which is designed to maintain all the stipulations set forth by the agency at the time of the landfill’s closure. Chun said that because of the “exceptional circumstances” presented by the requirements of the DEP, it directly influenced the applicant’s “inability to make certain changes to the project” regarding the buffer and the existing gravel road.
It was at this point in the proceedings that Chun found an ally on the Board.
“So, if I could just cut through it,” Beahm said, interrupting Chun’s opening remarks, “they need relief from the buffer on the one side of the landfill where their solar array is, for the [gravel] drive and the fence. And it is very clear to me based upon the information that’s been provided that the location of the road [is] in accordance with the closure plan, and [it] cannot be relocated.”
Several Board members seemed to nod in approval during the planner’s explanation, and Beahm then concluded, “that the Board can act, in my opinion, affirmatively on the application.”
Perhaps feeling that she now had the approval of the Board, Chun chose to forego letting her engineer testify, given that passage seemed imminent.
“Ms. Beahm did a perfect representation of everything that we’ve submitted,” said Chun. “I don’t think I want to belabor the point.”
No one from the public chose to comment or participate during the hearing, leading to Chun summarizing her case.
“I think I said before this project is being done in conjunction with the county. It’s going to ultimately benefit the taxpayers and the township. I think that this will be a beneficial use of the current site, and I hope the Board will act favorably.”
The Board then moved to vote, and the measure passed unanimously.
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