West Tisbury selectmen last week heard Steve Bernier, owner of Cronig’s Markets, describe his plans to install an array of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels that will include roof panels and vehicle canopies at his State Road West Tisbury property, which includes Up-Island Cronig’s and a nearby retail building that houses the West Tisbury Post Office.
The canopy-style solar panels will be similar in appearance to three sets of canopy-style solar panels installed in 2012 at Mr. Bernier’s Vineyard Haven market.
The West Tisbury zoning board of appeals approved the project, which now moves to the planning board. Selectmen, apparently caught unawares, have expressed concern about the project.
“Some members of this board are expressing concern about the aesthetics of the project, and we agreed to ask Mr. Steve Bernier to come in,” chairman Cynthia Mitchell said at the Wednesday meeting.
Selectman Jeffrey “Skipper” Manter thanked Mr. Bernier for attending the meeting, then got straight to the point.
“I have some very strong personal feelings about how our town looks,” Mr. Manter said. “All I can say is, I think it will look like hell.”
Selectman Richard Knabel said he was also concerned about the project’s aesthetics, but is supportive of the environmental effort.
“Steve, I congratulate you for being on the forefront of doing all this solar activity, which you’ve done now for a long time,” Mr. Knabel said. “I’m completely in favor of what you’re doing as far as the solar component is concerned.”
Mr. Knabel questioned if there is a way to make the project smaller in scale. Mr. Bernier did not think it possible, but he agreed to think about it.
Mr. Bernier said that the West Tisbury location will have roof arrays, which do not exist in Vineyard Haven.
Mr. Bernier added that customers love having the canopies for the protection they afford from the sun and rain.
“I think right now if I went to the Vineyard Haven store and said, Look, the folks in West Tisbury want me to move this up to West Tisbury, they’d shoot me,” Mr. Bernier said.
He added, “I don’t know how to address someone who just hates them, versus what should we be doing as leaders and as responsible citizens with what’s going on with the planet right now.”
The solar canopies are rated for 120 mile-per-hour winds, and thus their size needs to be significant to stand up to various weather conditions, he said.
“I can’t say I feel as strongly as Skipper does,” said Mr. Knabel, “But I think the aesthetic impact up-Island is more of a concern.”
Mr. Bernier said he has spoken with hundreds of people since completing the down-Island panels, and that people want the canopies and charging stations up-Island. Mr. Bernier also pointed out that the charging stations come from Eversource, not from the sun, and that the charging stations get shut down when the store closes each day. “I wasn’t born yesterday,” joked Mr. Bernier.
Ms. Mitchell weighed in, and said she supported the value of solar energy and the example that it sets. “I applaud what you’re doing,” she said.
The project does not meet any of the threshold triggers that would subject it to Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) review of the project as a development of regional impact (DRI).
While selectmen could send the project to the MVC as a discretionary referral, they have opted to not take that route.
Mr. Bernier told selectmen they may contact him any time with ideas. “We can get to this, as neighbors, quick and easy,” he said.
Mr. Bernier said the payback on the project is about 11 years.