Town Planner Nancy Durfee asked the Rochester Planning Board during Tuesday night’s public meeting to consider proposing a solar-farm moratorium for the October 17 Special Town Meeting. Board members mulled whether doing so is worth the effort.
Durfee noted Wareham, Carver and Acushnet all have enacted moratoriums for up to a year that have successfully withstood legal challenges. Such a moratorium would have to be time-limited, no more than a year, Durfee said. But, as such, it would give the town the chance to tweak and improve its solar bylaws. “It’s time we could use to take a fresh look at our bylaws,” she said.
Board members were mainly lukewarm to the idea.
Planning Board Chairman Arnold Johnson asked to see a sample of the moratoriums in those other towns but later added, “I’m looking at it that it might have unintended consequences. We don’t have any solar farms before us now. Are we going to rattle the cages of these developers? Will we be inundated with solar-farm proposals now so they can be grandfathered in before our changes? I’m not sure the effort’s worth it. I’m not 100 percent for this.”
Board member Ben Bailey asked if restricting solar farms would be on the table if the town set a moratorium. Durfee was not sure that would be the case. Johnson suggested the board could simply go directly to tweaking the bylaw while the current regulations are in place.
Board member John DiMaggio countered, “It might be a missed opportunity. Just because it’s quiet now, now’s our chance.”Johnson had the last word, noting the board could do both, look at either tweaking the bylaw or setting a moratorium. “Let’s just chew on this until the next meeting,” he said in conclusion.
In other action, the board endorsed the Approval Not Required (ANR) application of Bradford and Ruth Correia’s plan for their property at 0 Featherbed Lane. The Correia’s wish to add two nonbuildable parcels to their buildable lots to create a larger living space.
Durfee informed that board that while Town Counsel Blair Bailey told the board last month that a Marion Road parcel where the Buzzards Bay Coalition was clearing trees is state property and not town property, the violation of a town bylaw that prohibits such tree cutting without a permit is still applicable.
That means being state property still makes the property owner liable to the town for the violation. A Buzzards Bay Coalition representative, appearing on Zoom, agreed to set a follow-up meeting with the board.
In other business, the board allowed the Village at Plumb Corner project to continue moving forward by approving completion of the Phase I punch list, agreeing to keep $850,000 for the Phase II bond and endorsing the tree cutting for Phases II and III.
The Rochester Planning Board’s next meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 23, at 7:00 pm.
Rochester Planning Board
By Michael J. DeCicco