Lawrence Zoning Board Approves Solar Farm at Rider

Public Service Electric and Gas (PSE&G)'s plan for a large “solar farm” that will harvest electricity from the sun was approved unanimously by the Lawrence Township Zoning Board of Adjustment last Wednesday (June 15).

The farm – to be built on 76 acres of the Rider University campus near Interstate 95 – will include 18 rows of solar panels, with 99 to 165 panels per row, engineer David Miola and other PSE&G representatives said.  The panels, which will be angled upward toward the sun, will be 4-feet wide and 5-feet high and between 3 and 5 feet off the ground.

There was no public comment at the meeting on PSE&G’s application for the use variance and bulk variance that were required in order for the plan to go forward.  The use variance was needed because the solar farm is not a permitted use, under the township's zoning code, in the EGI (Educational Government Institution) zone in which the solar farm will be built.  The bulk variance will allow the edge of the solar farm to come within 20 feet of I-95, rather than the 25 feet the zoning code requires.

In response to questions from township planner Brian Slaugh, Robert Jenen, project engineer for the construction of the solar farm, said glare from the solar panels will not be a problem to motorists on I-95. Jenen said "the panels are designed to absorb light rather than reflect it.  The panels will be framed with dull-colored aluminum."

Mark Solomon, attorney for Rider University, told the zoning board that Rider backs the solar farm plan wholeheartedly.  "We've been working on it two and a half years," Solomon said.   "Rider is very excited about this plan to provide sustainable energy.  We see no negative impact in this plan."

Melissa Greenberg, Rider's sustainability manager, added:  "We support this."

Only one tree will be removed to make way for the solar farm, Miola said, and no impervious cover of any kind will be put on the ground.  The panels will be mounted on posts that will be driven into the ground.  The solar farm will be surrounded by a six-foot chain link fence topped with barbed wire one foot in height.  The fence will be "wrapped" in a shade of green so as to blend with the surrounding vegetation.

The solar farm will be between I-95 and a Rider softball field.  Separating the solar farm site from a small residential neighborhood near I-95 are nearly 300 feet of woodlands.  The houses in that neighborhood cannot be seen through the trees from the solar farm site, Jenen said. 

PSE&G has a 20-year lease with Rider for the solar farm, PSE&G planner Paul Morrison said.  He said the plan is to remove the solar farm when the lease expires.  It will take three months to build the solar farm, he said.  It will be maintained twice a year during its first two years and once a year thereafter, he added.  Maintenance will involve one truck and about five technicians being on the site for one or two days, he said.

Also approved unanimously at the June 15 meeting was One Retail Associates’ application for variances needed to allow a fourth retail unit in a building zoned for a maximum of three retailers.  The building, at 3321 Brunswick Pike (Route 1), is near Mercer Mall.

David Hekemian, One Retail's leasing agent, said the variances were being sought because of the difficulty his firm has had leasing an 18,000-square-foot portion of the building vacated two years ago by Fortunoff.

"There aren't many players in the 18,000-square-foot area," he said, adding that One Retail believes it would have a much better chance to rent the vacant 18,000 square feet if it were divided into two retail spaces, one of about 11,000-square-feet and one of about 7,000-square-feet.

"Sewer and water won't be a problem.  Electricity won't be a problem" if four retail units in the one-story building are allowed, Mr. Hekemian testified. 

The variances the board approved pertain to lot size, lot frontage, square footage and signage.  The variances are needed because, under the zoning code, four retail units in one building constitute a shopping center.  However, One Retail's building is too small to meet other requirements of the zoning code for shopping centers. 

One Retail's planner Jerry Lenaz noted that the building has been in operation for nearly 20 years.  "It will still be a handsome, upscale building architecturally," he said.  "Parking won't change.  Traffic impact won't change."

Before the zoning board voted unanimously to approve the application, board member Cathleen Lewis said approval was justified because "we need to help get businesses back in there."

Because the hearing of the PSE&G application ended a half-hour past the board's normal adjournment time of 10:30 p.m., the board did not have time to hear the last item on its agenda.  That was Anthony Poz's (of Anthony's Jewelers) application for a variance on signage at his business at 2978 Brunswick Ave.