Natural Environment
We received a Phase 1 ESA completed by North Shore Consultants on September 15, 2021. No RECs, HRECs, or CRECs were observed during their thorough desktop review and field inspection. They did notice that adjacent land had potential issues with fuel container disposal and potential for archeological concerns. However, none of these concerns were present on the specific jobsite outlined in the Phase 1 ESA.
We also received a Botanical Survey and Vertebrate Fauna Assessment conducted by Geometrician Associates, LLC on September 2021. This report concluded that there is no immediate impact to wildlife habitat. We will use the following recommendations when moving forward with construction planning:
- To minimize impacts to the endangered Hawai‘ian hoary bat, we recommend that woody vegetation taller than 15 feet not be removed or trimmed during the bat birthing and pup rearing season (June 1 through September 15).
- To minimize impacts to Hawai‘ian hawks, we recommend avoiding earthmoving within 100 meters of tall trees or tree-cutting during the hawk breeding season (March through the end of September). If this time period cannot be avoided, arrange for a hawk nest search to be conducted by a qualified biologist. If hawk nests are present in or near the project site, all land clearing activity should cease until the expiration of the breeding season.
- Outdoor lighting may attract endangered seabirds, which may become disoriented by the lighting, resulting in birds being downed. To avoid potential seabird downing through interaction with outdoor lighting, we recommend using no unshielded equipment lighting after dark between the months of April and October. All permanent lighting should be kept to minimum necessary levels, with shielded lights so as to lower the ambient glare, in conformance with the Hawai‘i County Outdoor Lighting Ordinance (Hawai‘i County Code Chapter 9, Article 14). Furthermore, where possible, exterior lighting should consist of blue-deficient lighting such as filtered LED lights or amber LED lights, with a Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) of 2700 Kelvin. This will not only reduce the risk that threatened or endangered seabirds may be attracted to and then disoriented by lighting, but will also assist in protecting dark skies.
- Although not expected on the site, if nēnē nests or resting individuals are discovered during site preparation or work, the State of Hawai‘i DLNR should be contacted to determine measures to avoid harm to this endangered bird.
- A final biological concern related to the movement of construction products and particularly fill on and off site is the spread of invasive species, particularly little fire ants and coqui frogs. Both are rampant on the Big Island, although neither were observed in the subject area itself during surveys. It is recommended that the project proponent minimize movement of fill on and off the subject area and inspect all material that enters and leaves for invasive species.
- Our fence will be of a height and quality to keep invasive species such as goats from entering and grazing within our project boundary.
Land Regulation
Most land use approvals are already in place. In addition to what’s been provided based on the Hawaii Flood Hazard Analysis Tool, this project site is in Zone X, meaning there is only a .2% annual chance of floodplain.
Socio-economic Characteristics
The socio-economic characteristics of the immediate neighborhood are predominantly rural, agricultural without a high concentration of high-income families or individuals. This project is part of the CBRE community solar program, in which the economic benefits to the solar project will be for local utility customers that choose to subscribe to the community solar garden. Our planned subscription plan is 50% residential, 40% commercial and 10% low income qualifying individuals. We generally target our marketing and sales outreach to be in the proximity of the solar project so that the local community feels a sense of pride in the solar project. All subscribers to our community solar projects will be rewarded with a product that nets them economic benefits compared to not subscribing to the project.
Due to the remote location of the project and its lack of visibility from public ROW and neighboring homes, it is not anticipated to impact socio-economic patterns negatively. We do not believe this will increase or decrease property value; it will have no effect.
Visual Resources
We conducted an FAA Notice Criteria search and were happy to find that our location is not considered a visual or communication impact to air traffic.
Solid Waste & Hazardous Materials
There are no existing hazardous materials on site that need to be remediated or disposed of based on the findings of the aforementioned Phase 1 ESA. During construction we will have a portable dumpster onsite and emptied periodically. This will manage construction debris and other non-hazardous waste from the construction process. For all fuel and chemicals needed for the construction phase of the project they will be stored in double-walled containers safe for fuel storage. The only immediate example of this would be gasoline needed for certain construction equipment. Once the system is complete and operating there will be no onsite personnel or operations that would create any waste. The beauty of solar PV is its simplicity in operating with minimal environmental impact.
Water Quality
We contracted Imata and Associates, Inc. as civil engineer experts to study the effects of the CBRE Phase 1 solar development would have on water quality, drainage, and runoff. Their report, dated April 5, 2021, concludes that our solar development will have minimal impact especially if we use industry standard practices during construction and during the site restoration and reseeding process. We expect the impact and conclusions to be identical for the proposed Phase 2 project. Click here to view the report.
Based on this report and our submittal and our noted approvals above from the Hawai‘i Department of Public Works there should be minimal or no impact to water quality based on our solar project.
Public Safety Services (Police, Fire, Emergency Medical)
We will apply for an address for the purpose of locator services with emergency personnel. As part of our building and electrical permit process we will show the local planning department our emergency response plan and compliance with applicable building Code, fire Code, NEC Code, or similar concerns in regards to onsite safety.
Recreation
There is currently no recreational activity on this site. Due to our remote location and need to have restricted access for qualified service personnel there will not be recreational possibilities on this site. There are no parks, hiking/biking trails, or other recreational activities in the adjacent land parcels either.
