After years of shock, some awe, opposition and finally collaboration, farmer Tim Schartner has the necessary approval from Exeter officials to resume building his gargantuan, 25-acre greenhouse.
The town Planning Board voted unanimously last week to accept Schartner's plans for his $80 million venture into the future of agriculture, with the condition he meet the board's last few stipulations in the coming months.
Those stipulations include tweaking internal design to meet fire safety concerns for workers inside the enormous mall-size space, purchasing one of the three lots the project will sit on (now under agreement), and obtaining an air permit for the gas-fired electrical generators from the state Department of Environmental Management.
Schartner, who with relatives and other partners formed a company called Rhode Island Grows, LLC, hopes to have the greenhouse's glass framework completed over the winter and start growing by next spring the first of eventually 42,000 pounds of tomatoes a day. But final completion allowing the greenhouse to operate year-round would take months longer.
Read more at The Providence Journal.