Southampton Planning Board Continues Solar Hearing to September, Seeks Independent Peer Review

Planning Board · Meeting of July 20, 2026

Southampton Planning Board opens contentious public hearing on 5.4 MW agrivoltaic solar and battery storage project over Barnes Aquifer. The board, chaired by Paul Deemond, voted unanimously to continue the hearing on the Manhan River LLC application at 43 and 53 Pleasant Street to September 2, 2026, and separately voted unanimously to keep soliciting peer review firms after board consultant Richard Harris reported that only two of five contacted firms, Rural Planning Associates and Berkeley Group, submitted proposals, with Ty and Bond citing a conflict and VHB declining. Board of Health member Caitlin Rooks challenged the project's daytime-only 52-decibel ambient noise baseline, saying "you can hear a pin drop on Pleasant Street at night," and asked Blue Wave to explain the public benefit of siting a battery energy storage system over a Zone 2 water protection area.

Resident Cassandra Adams, a 47-year Pleasant Street resident, asked the board to deny the application or require relocation of the two lithium iron phosphate battery containers away from the aquifer that supplies drinking water to Southampton, Westfield, East Hampton, and Holyoke. A separate Planning Board meeting is scheduled August 5 solely to select a peer review firm with an expanded scope covering noise, fire safety, and stormwater review under the town's general bylaw, not just the Wetlands Protection Act standards addressed in a prior peer review completed for the Conservation Commission by Levesque Associates.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report, 3,594 words

Source: the Planning Board meeting of July 20, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.