Dollar General Act 250 appeal to be heard in September; solar projects abound in Rutland

The appeal by Chester residents of the District 2 Commission decision to give Zaremba Group an Act 250 land use permit to build a 9,100-square-foot Dollar General store is scheduled to go before the Environmental Division of the Vermont Superior Court from Tuesday, Sept. 10 through Thursday, Sept. 12th.

Judge Thomas Walsh will hear the case at the Newfane Courthouse, at 7 Court St. off Route 30 South in Newfane. The Goodlettsville, Tenn.,-based Dollar General chain has 10,000 stores in 40 states, 17 currently in Vermont with more set to come in.

The appeal of the Conditional Use permit granted by Chester’s Development Review Board is also pending before Judge Walsh with a decision expected this summer.  A successful appeal by the citizens would send the application back to the DRB for re-hearing while a successful appeal of the Act 250 permit would likely end Zaremba’s hopes of building the discount store.

Solar installers chosen for Rutland medical center

RUTLAND

Two Vermont solar installers have been chosen to build the Solar Center at Rutland Regional Medical Center and the solar installation at Green Mountain Power’s planned Energy Innovation Center, according to a GMP press release.
SameSun of Vermont, based in Rutland, has been selected to build the 150-kilowatt Solar Center at Rutland Regional, and SunCommon of Williston has been selected to build 18.3 kilowatts of solar on the EIC rooftop at 68 Merchants Row.  Both projects will include educational components and will welcome visitors to learn about solar energy and related topics.

The Solar Center at Rutland Regional will be built on property surrounding two stormwater ponds just south of Allen Street, adjacent to the hospital’s walking path.

GMP, which will own and maintain the solar center under a 25-year lease agreement with Rutland Regional, will credit the hospital for 10 percent of the project’s output. The remaining energy will go onto the local electric grid and will be consumed by local GMP customers, the press release says.

The project awards were based on requests for proposals issued in April and distributed to all Renewable Energy Vermont members.  Once permits are in place, both solar projects are expected to begin construction later this summer.

The projects are part of GMP’s ongoing effort to make Rutland the solar capital of New England, the city with the highest solar capacity per capita of any city in New England.

GMP says it has already completed the Creek Path Solar Farm, a 150-kilowatt project on Cleveland Avenue and purchased an ownership stake in the Green Lantern project off Woodstock Avenue.  The company is also about to issue an RFP for developers interested in building the Stafford Hill Solar Farm in Rutland, which is expected to have capacity of about 2.3 megawatts, and numerous other project discussions continue.