SHUTESBURY — The Planning Board postponed a Monday meeting at which members were expected to decide whether to accept an archaeological report for a 30-acre site, and possibly allow preconstruction of a 6-megawatt solar project to begin.
The meeting will instead be held at Shutesbury Elementary School at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
In an email, Town Administrator Rebecca Torres explained that town officials grew concerned that Town Hall would have insufficient space to accommodate spectators interested in commenting on the report, which is a condition of the special permit planners issued for the project in June.
“The meeting is open to the public and we need to be sure that no one is turned away,” Torres wrote to those who intended to come.
The growing interest in the project is attributed to the community group Alliance for Appropriate Development, which has contended the Pratt Corner Road location, owned by W.D. Cowls, Inc., may be a Native American burial site.
The archaeological report from SWCA Environmental Consultants’ principal investigator Jessica Schumer indicates that mounds visible on the site are root balls, not burials. “These circumstances appear to be consistent with a significant wind event that felled a number of tress with root systems that were insufficient to support the trees to remain upright when subjected to such force,” Schumer wrote.
But opponents of the project have disputed contents of the report, noting that no tribal officials have been allowed on the site. An online petition was also launched by those who want a more detailed investigation.
Alliance spokeswoman Miriam DeFant in a statement compared not having tribal input for the report to “getting a dental exam from a podiatrist; maybe it will give you some useful information, but it is not the way to find out what’s really going on. ”
Michael Pill, the attorney representing W.D. Cowls, said the burial ground theory is the final push in a year-long effort to “cook up” a reason to stop the project.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
