The city is working with a clean energy company to install a solar canopy on the Bowen Field parking lot — a project that has renewed neighbors’ calls to address noise, litter, and partying in the area.
Plans for a solar carport were discussed during Tuesday’s meeting of the Whalley, Edgewood, and Beaver Hills Community Management Team (WEBCMT) at 332 Whalley Ave., the location of a local police substation.
In the last year, the city has seen new solar arrays pop up on a public landfill and two schools. Both were installed by solar developer Greenskies Clean Energy, which the city also chose for the Bowen Field project.
A canopy at 175 Crescent St. would generate an estimated 852,900 kilowatt-hours of electricity, powering more than 80 homes for a year, according to Greenskies’ site plan.
In addition to the Bowen Field project, Ryan Linares, a vice president at Greenskies, said the company is working to install new solar canopies on the parking lots at the Alling Memorial Golf Course, East Shore Park, Clemente Leadership Academy, and Hill Regional Career High School.
All of these solar developments have been led by Steve Winter, executive director of the city’s Office of Climate and Sustainability and a state representative for parts of New Haven and Hamden.
On Tuesday, Winter presented the Bowen Field project to attendees of the evening’s WEBCMT meeting.
For this project, Winter said the city is leasing the Bowen Field parking lot to Greenskies. The company will pay around $34,000 to the city annually, though rent will vary depending on the ultimate size of the solar array.
In exchange, Greenskies can sell the power they generate to United Illuminating (UI), which may then deploy the electricity on their grid. Greenskies would own all of the solar equipment and be responsible for maintaining it. The company would also fund the planting of new trees to replace the 11 that will be cut down for the installation of a solar canopy.
Greenskies and the city have already agreed to a lease for Bowen Field, said Linares. The company’s next step is soliciting approvals from the city’s planning and zoning departments. He estimates that it will take another eight months before installation can begin.
Amid the excitement for a new solar canopy, neighbors raised their existing concerns with the Bowen Field parking lot.
“There is ongoing partying at the parking lot near from Hillhouse [High School],” said Nan Bartow, a lead volunteer for Friends of Beaver Pond Park. “Some people that are partying are responsible, but others are not. They leave litter.”
“A lot of [the partying] happens during the daytime,” said Rebecca Cramer, chair of the WEBCMT. Addressing the issue is critical because children play on Bowen Field, she said.
Beaver Hills Alder Gary Hogan, whose ward stops a few feet short of Bowen Field, agreed that the parking lot attracts revelers. While one neighbor suggested locking the gates to keep people out, Hogan said the field hosts events through the late evening, so the parking lots needs to be accessible at night.
Cramer suggested a meeting with community leaders and city staff, including officers from the New Haven Police Department, to find solutions to the lot’s noise and litter problems.
In the end, concerns about the parking lot did not lead neighbors to oppose the solar array.
“I don’t think the parking canopy will have a big impact on whether people decide to go and hang out there,” Winter told the Independent. One reason is because lights will be installed on the underside of the panels, preserving brightness and visibility in the area.
Even so, Winter said he and Linares are committed to being good stewards of the property and are eager to work with the city on addressing the lot’s ongoing issues.
Hogan and Acting Police Chief David Zannelli discuss security improvements for Beaver Hills.
See you at the Bowen lot. Credit: Thomas Breen photo