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TheSausageKing t1_izfd643 wrote

Reply to comment by Unique-Public-8594 in Residents ‘Horrified’ Over Proposed Solar Farm Near Waltham/Lexington Line by ak47workaccnt

NIMBYs always say "I'm not trying to kill the project, I just X". But, the problem is there are 50 people and they all have their own X. And if you do everything they're "just" asking for, it kills the project. One person wants 800 trees planted, another wants a 50' buffer on the edges, another wants construction to only be weekdays between 9 and 4:30pm, another wants the entrance moved to change traffic flows, etc.

At some point, we need to say, this is their land, let them use it. Especially if it's for solar. We badly need more clean energy generation for our grid.

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Unique-Public-8594 t1_izfg0pz wrote

Yes. Agree 100%.

A lot of us buy/own property next to undeveloped land but don’t accept the risk that the vacant land could be developed someday.

I’m all for solar. Do I like solar best when it is hidden from view? Of course.

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mini4x t1_izfs2jg wrote

There are a half a dozen affected houses, it's in a corner where rte 2 meets rte 95. The plan set has a tree wall around it as well.

https://goo.gl/maps/mh1TD8HtEqxvM1L8A

Link to project info is here:

https://www.lexingtonma.gov/1523/Tracer-Lane-Solar-Project---0-Cambridge-

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wgc123 t1_izg2586 wrote

Thanks, I came here to ask if anyone knew that.

From where the pin landed, it looks like this is between a power line right of way and the highway. What a perfect spot: does not affect any homes, nor any “wild” area!

The headline says “horrified” but the article talks about reasonable setbacks, and replanting trees. One guy complains, but if it’s really on the other side of the existing power line right of way, I don’t see how he can complain it affects him.

Edit: the pin in the map link above landed between the power lines and highway but the comment below stated it is planned for the residential side of the property. Completely changed the story

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statick89 t1_izgcxqn wrote

According to the developer's documents, their proposal puts the solar panels and inverters only on the side closest to houses, not the highway. That also brings potential runoff problems from construction much closer to Cambridge's water supply.

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wgc123 t1_izj0qml wrote

That’s too bad. Amazing how a minor change in pin placement on a map can completely change the story

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GayleOnTheMove t1_izftxh0 wrote

Who is responsible for policing and holding accountable to ensure that the build site is made structurally and aesthetically according to plan? At build and post build for many years? Bait and switch is what I've seen happen in many high growth towns in MA.

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abcde__edcba t1_izgqzg8 wrote

No one cares about any of that. Until it happens next door to them. Until that happens, they post around here about things only being a NIMBY issue.

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mjkj393 t1_izftmdr wrote

Same type of people who don't want wind farms on the cape.

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mini4x t1_izfptoc wrote

"Fifty feet from your property line, having a huge power plant go in is definitely not what people want in this neighborhood or what we moved here for," Luallen said.

It's SOLAR - it's not like it's going to be a coal plant, what a Karen.

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abcde__edcba t1_izgpjc7 wrote

I have no skin in the game, I don't live anywhere near the place.

Have you ever heard the wining of a large power transformer when it's not in tip top shape?

I have. It can get quite loud, and it is not something you just have delivered in 2 days from amazon prime, even if you can afford the millions it costs to replace something like that.

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bubalusarnee t1_izhw0zu wrote

I am familiar with the sound.

I am also familiar with someone playing what if and getting other people to round-up in their imaginations something you know full well isn't loud, and isn't placed near houses.

Go ahead. cite me a dB range at 100 feet from the equipment.

We can wait. The info is out there, but the claim was yours. So can be the proof.

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abcde__edcba t1_izkg1ur wrote

I linked to plans above, but I guess a lof of people must've been using the direct links and they no longer works. You can still get to them from Lexington's website though

https://lexingtonma.viewpointcloud.com/records/67918 then click on the Files tab. You can download the same docs from there.

Take a look a the site plans you can see the distances, elevetaions, etc.

But that is not the only issue these people will deal with. Were it the only one, it'd be a non-issue really. There construction, maintenance, noise, drainage, etc. all to be taken into account when you live next to it.

You don't have to agree with me on whether they people are going to suffer or not, but I believe you and I do agree it's not just NOT be an issue at all.

By the way: the noise at 100ft at whatever dB is going to dependon on a lot of variables (other than distance), such as temperature, humidity, what's in between the source and the measurement location, altitude differences and whether it goes up or down the terrain matters too. So it'll very a lot, IF it happens (see I can even agree it might never be an issue). But if it does happen, it's not just clear cut with a simple calculation.

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abcde__edcba t1_izgrzc1 wrote

This is all great and all until you buy a home and it happens to you.

I don't live there and it does affect me, but I am a homeowner and while nothing like this has happened to me, it has happened to a group of homeowners nearby (not as big of a project). I drove by almost daily on the way to and from work. I watched the hell these people were put through during the project and after trying to get the town and the contractors to actually do what they said they'd do and pay for remediation when the project was done.

This is the kind of thing that drive people to purchase property where it is very unlikely anything will ever be built next door, so they don't have to go through this sort of thing.

The location for this project has wetlands. Those people moved there because nothing could possibly be built on those wet lands. Now they found a way to build on the little bit of dry land in that spot. Lexington is huge. They have other places they can put this project in. The reason they do not is because their Lexington neighbors will not allow it to happen on their backyard.

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