Johnston residents express displeasure with solar panel projects

JOHNSTON, R.I. (WLNE) — Johnston residents continue to fight an influx of solar panels coming into town, showing out again for another step in the process during Tuesday night’s planning board meeting.

Residents have been fighting solar panel projects for the last two years because they do not want to see them in residential areas.

The zoning board previously voted against the solar panels, but the planning board voted on Tuesday to extend a master plan approval, which means developers can go back to the drawing board and try again.

Councilman Robert Civetti said he has been vouching for the residents of his district, who are against the developer — Green Development LLC — putting solar panels in residential locations.

“I don’t think there’s any residents here that are opposed to solar, but you buy a house in a nice residentially zoned area,” Civetti said. “Everybody realizes that if there’s woods behind them, eventually there could be houses there.”

“But that’s why you buy in a residential neighborhood,” Civetti continued. “Nobody wants to be in their residential home in the west end of Johnston staring at solar panels.”

If the initial proposal ever succeeds, solar panels would be placed in five residential areas and three of the locations are on Windsor Avenue.

The extension gives developers time to change the plans, and Civetti said, in his mind, the planning board is essentially kicking the issue further down the road.

“When it first came before the planning board, we were told that the planning board just had to go through the process, check the boxes and then from there it goes to zoning,” Civetti explained. “If zoning were to deny it, then its done.”

“Well that happened, zoning denied it, they denied it twice, one of the projects a second time and here we are back in planning,” Civetti said. “In my opinion, it should of been stopped.”

Members of the planning board argued Tuesday night that they had to approve to extend the master plan for legal reason.

Thomas Chadwick Sr. has lived in Johnston his entire life and does not want to see the proposal go any further.

“The planning board could’ve denied it, and I wanted them to read the law to me to where it says they have to approve it, and it’s not there,” Chadwick said. “They should’ve denied it and done what was right for the town.”

Residents said if they wanted to live near an electric grid, they would have bought a house near one.

“They’re basically going to destroy 350 acres of prime habitat that will never come back,” Chadwick added. “They’re going to clear cut it.”

Two years after the plans were first brought up, developers can apply for a one-year extension. That is where it stands now.