Solar Panels on the Roof of First Parish ~ A Letter to the Selectmen from Donald Corey

Dear Board Members,

I was disappointed to learn of your decision to appeal the Superior Court’s order to grant permission to the First Parish to install solar panels.  I have the highest regard for your judgment, but cannot fathom the Board’s decision in this case.  Having had similar debates over CPC historic funding eligibility and during HPC demolition delay hearings, I would like to express some of my concerns.

First, this environmentally-unfriendly decision would seem to conflict with the town’s position as a green community.  Second, this seems to represent a possible double standard.  For example, in recent years the Community Preservation Committee recommended and Town Meeting approved rehabilitation of  Town Hall, including storm windows and the latest telecommunications, mechanical, and electrical systems.  The energy-efficient storm windows are more obvious than the proposed energy-efficient solar panels would be, and the noisy and unattractive ground-level mechanical systems outside Town Hall have vastly more impact on historic integrity than the proposed panels.  Town Hall is just outside the Local Historic District but within the National Register District.  Would the improvements have been blocked by the Board if Town Hall fell within the Local District?

Finally, over the years the First Parish/Second Meetinghouse has seen numerous changes, as stated in the First Parish’s complaint, that were implemented to maintain its functionality.  These include 20th Century modifications that have changed the historic aspect of the church much more than the proposed solar panels would.

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  • The current asphalt shingles are a 20th Century product of the fossil fuel industry, which replaced historic cedar roof shingles due to their improved flame retardant quality.  Asphalt shingles are not historic but serve a public purpose.
  • Similarly, the brilliant white exterior paint on First Parish is based on a titanium oxide pigment developed by DuPont during the 20th Century.  It replaced historic leaded cream-color paint that was a health hazard.   Brilliant white paint is not a historic color.
  • Gas lights, whale oil lamps, and candles were replaced with incandescent electric lights, powered by fossil-fueled generators, early in the 20th Century.  The century-old First Parish and the other historic buildings in Bedford were all retrofitted with this non-historic utility (now fed by a mass of ugly overhead wires across the front of the Common) to improve the quality of life.

Retrofitting in the 21st Century to derive power from a local passive renewable source that serves a public purpose to reduce global warming would seem to me to be a parallel situation to all of these.

I hope that the Board might reconsider its position.  Failing that, as a token of goodwill and reconciliation, I would like to offer those Board members that favor the appeal a gift that may serve them well – one of our old buggy whips to continue “flogging this dead horse”.

Respectfully,

Donald Corey

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