Following months of talks, Alna’s planning board Feb. 1 passed Alna Community Solar’s proposal. The project on part of Charles Ussery’s land off Route 218 will cut trees, add two poles and a fenced-in array of solar panels and cost the developer $49,000 to get the building permit, according to meeting participants and Wiscasset Newspaper files.

Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum requested the two poles stay out of the museum’s right of way. The museum asked that no poles or hardware go permanently between the ditches of the original railroad bed; that overhead line clearance across the railroad bed meet Central Maine Power’s standards; and that an improved road’s grade height not be more than 18 inches higher than the railroad’s. 

Project representatives said they will work with the museum and will not put in the poles until they know where the museum’s right of way is. They called co-existing with the museum very important.

“I’m thrilled that you guys are working together,” Amaral said. “It sounds like everything’s going to work out fine.”

Board member Taylor McGraw’s property is about half a mile from the proposed site of the solar farm. He said the site has been a deer yard for years. The state did not find it was a moderate or high value wintering area, project representatives responded.

“You’ve met the criteria. But the locals really know ...,” including hunters, like McGraw, member Beth Whitney said. She did not argue against the project. Rejecting projects on that basis would throw the process into chaos, Amaral said.

The board nodded a business license for the project in December.

About two hours into the Feb. 1 meeting at the town office and over Zoom, the board put off until March Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission’s Emily Rabbe’s presentation of possible changes to town rules on accessory apartments. The board may also take up Crooker Construction’s yearly blasting request.