Dexter council moving forward with solar ordinance

DEXTER — A proposed solar ordinance has been moved forward by the Dexter Town Council. The item is set to be on the agenda for the next meeting on Thursday, March 19 — a session moved back a week from the usual second Thursday of the month due to staff training — which will include a public hearing.

The ordinance has been developed after several years of work, Council Chair Marcia Delaware said during a Feb. 12 council meeting. She thanked Town Manager Trampas King for all his work.

“To emphasize, we are no longer allowing commercial solar energy farms,” Delaware said, with five projects already begun to be grandfathered.

The town currently has a moratorium on commercial solar arrays in place through the spring.

Last year King met with legal counsel to look at specific differences between commercial and residential solar arrays in terms of municipal ordinances.

Questions concerned the size of larger residential solar systems, which could potentially cover more land than commercial outfits and still be exempt from the ordinance, and the definitions of medium and larger arrays.

Last March the council extended a moratorium on commercial solar arrays for another year as the planning board develops the more comprehensive ordinance to regulate what kind of developments would be permitted in town,

The latest moratorium was put in place for a year, as opposed to a previous moratorium that was only 180 days. It is the second time the moratorium has been extended since first going into effect in May 2024. 

With the moratorium in place, the town can temporarily pause any new solar farm development while more permanent measures are developed. The moratorium is based on the development’s size, and does not apply to solar panels that homeowners or small businesses may install. 

The council is also moving forward with a sign ordinance, with the item also to be on the March 19 agenda.

“We are specifically interested in not allowing the yard sale look in front of the post office,” Delaware said, as in the past many signs have been placed on this parcel of town property.

The ordinance specifies procedures for sign posting. 

The full text of both ordinances is available on the town website at https://www.dextermaine.org/town-council-1.

In his report King said the Dexter Firefighters Association’s Annual Ice Fishing Derby on Lake Wassookeag the previous weekend went well. 

“A great turnout even though there were probably four other derbies going on in the state, Greenville was one of them,” King said.

The weather was good over the three days, being a bit windy on the Sunday.