Deerfield Selectboard Approves Eight New Utility Poles for Eagle Brook School Solar Project

DEERFIELD -- May 13, 2026, Deerfield Selectboard unanimously approves utility pole petition enabling Eagle Brook School's 480-kilowatt solar project. The board, sitting jointly as the Board of Health and Sewer Commissioners, voted 3-0 Wednesday to grant Eversource and Verizon New England permission under MGL Chapter 166, Section 22 to install eight poles and four push braces along Keats Road, upgrading aging two-wire delta infrastructure to three-phase power needed for a solar array on adjacent Jingle Hill Road. A separate Sunrise Avenue conduit hearing was withdrawn after Don Varner, appearing for the utilities, told the board the road is privately owned and outside its jurisdiction. A group of North Hillside Road residents led by Kathy Sylvester presented research on temporary rubberized speed humps, priced at $1,600 per unit, citing a 59-to-11-percent reduction in speed violations in comparable installations, though Chair Trevor McDaniel said road classification and state guidance complicate any speed-limit or hump decision; the board agreed to revisit the issue at its June 3 meeting. Public comment was dominated by residents Charlene Galinsky and Jeff Upton, who pressed the board to better explain the two-step override process after annual town meeting voted down the South County EMS appropriation yet the Proposition 2.5 ballot questions remain on the May 20 election.