Burlington Fox Hill Building Committee Votes 12-0 to Pursue Solar Power Purchase Agreement

BURLINGTON -- March 18, 2025, Burlington's Fox Hill Elementary School Building Committee unanimously backed a power purchase agreement over direct town ownership for the new school's solar installation. The committee voted 12-0 at its March 18 meeting to recommend the PPA, which would cover rooftop panels, parking-lot solar canopies, and no battery storage, to the full School Committee, which is expected to take up a warrant article for May Town Meeting. Financial consultants presented a net-present-value model showing the PPA would save approximately $842,191 over 20 years, compared with about $722,000 under direct purchase, with the town-ownership scenario also requiring roughly $3.5 million in new borrowing. Members cited construction-schedule pressure, bids are due in December and the first MSBA submission in July, and the risk of competing with other town borrowing needs as key factors. The committee also rescinded and re-voted a bundle of Danisco invoices totaling more than $370,000 after a bookkeeper caught a duplicate line-item entry of $9,157.50 that should have read $4,950.