I have lived on North Street in Belchertown for 10 years and have come to love the town, as well as my neighborhood.
We enjoy a fine school, a spirited if small population, and a bounty of land, much of it forested. We are also a green community in a green state, and recently we have been inundated with proposals for large-scale solar projects, sited in woodlands, including one on my street.
Given that 60 percent of electricity in the United States is produced by coal and oil, this seemed to me to be a step in the right direction. Then, I started reading.
Forests are widely acknowledged to be the last and worst choice for siting large solar projects. Three such projects are now pending, requiring the clear-cutting, fencing and abrading of 300 or more acres (a football field is an acre) for the installation of a total of around 50,000 panels. Because solar “farms” are considered agricultural, the property owner leases protected land, developers make a profit, carbon dioxide emissions rise and wildlife habitat and migration is disrupted.
As we change and grow as a community, we need to develop clear and far-ranging policies to allow for reasonable development. Allowing this scale and rate of deforestation ahead of meaningful discussion and useful controls is the equivalent of encouraging strip-mining.
I urge residents to attend meetings of the Conservation Commission and Planning Board at the Town Hall this summer. I plan to call for a moratorium on large-parcel developments in order to complete zoning laws adequate to meet present and future needs.
Judith Mann
Belchertown