The Northampton Conservation Commission on Oct. 9 closed a continuation of the hearing on a proposal by Parallel Products Solar Energy to install nine solar-panel canopies within the Mill River riverfront buffer at 182 Mount Tom Road and approved orders and conditions intended to protect the riverfront and stormwater controls.

The commission’s conditions require a four-foot cattle-style fence set at or near the 50-foot buffer edge for most sections, monumentation posts and GPS documentation of the property’s current limit of operations, a designated snow-storage area in the southern corner, and operational restrictions that keep routine operations on the west (inside) side of the fence. Commissioners also required gates for maintenance access—approximately four gates evenly spaced along the roughly 1,700 linear feet of fence—and weekly construction reporting while work is underway.

Project representatives said the fence line was set to separate the proposed gravel road and canopy pads from the 50-foot conservation buffer; the plan places the fence at the buffer edge where the canopy and buffer are closest and slightly inside the gravel edge in other areas. Scott Daggart, project manager for Farland Corporation, said the applicant has added a planting shrub between gaps in the bioretention/stormwater features and that snow plowing and snow-storage provisions were added to the long-term operations and maintenance (O&M) plan. Daggart also described a stone "p-diaphragm" pretreatment element (a stone interceptor roughly 12 inches wide and 18 inches deep) intended to capture fines ahead of bioretention areas.

Commissioners pressed the applicant on several details during the hearing. They asked that pretreatment vegetation be extended to the fence line where feasible to reduce sediment delivery to stormwater structures; the applicant said cost was the main reason not to extend plantings in all locations. Staff and commissioners asked that maintenance responsibility be assigned to a named party for contact purposes; the applicant agreed to list Farland Corporation as the O&M contact and to provide contact details. The commission also required that a stormwater-permit amendment be obtained if the plans change after the Department of Public Works’ initial approval, and that restoration or debris removal work be completed before construction begins.

On flood risk, the commission added language requiring inspection and reporting after flood events: proposed landscaping and stormwater structures affected by floodwaters must be inspected and a report describing post-flood conditions, immediate repairs taken, and a remediation plan must be provided to the commission within 10 business days (staff discussed a standard expectation that initial inspections occur within 72 hours). The O&M plan was revised to include snow-plowing responsibilities, monthly or post-storm inspections, and avoidance of fertilizer on landscaping adjacent to stormwater facilities.

The commission approved the conditions by roll call. Commissioners recorded affirmative votes (Beth: yes; Melissa: yes; Downey: yes; Ian Mason: yes). The hearing was closed by motion and the commission voted to adopt the orders and conditions as discussed.

The approval does not describe construction timing or final building permits; the commission’s action establishes conditions the applicant must meet as the project moves forward and remains on the property record as an order of conditions.