Old Kings Highway Committee and public weigh implications of Massachusetts climate law for historic-district reviews

During new business at the Feb. 24 meeting, the Old Kings Highway Committee and members of the public discussed recent Massachusetts climate-and-energy legislation and its implications for historic-district review of solar energy systems and energy-efficiency measures.

Committee counsel James R. Wilson’s January letter (read aloud at the meeting) cited two changes created by the law: (1) a statutory definition of “solar energy system,” and (2) an instruction that committees “give substantial weight to the threat posed by climate change and the Commonwealth’s obligation to meet greenhouse gas emission limits” when ruling on applications for solar energy systems. The letter recommended that committees explicitly address the new criterion in deliberations and, when denying a solar application, “record in the written denial the specific overriding factors that support the denial decision.”

Chair and committee members discussed how the added statutory language will change their practice. One committee member summarized the effect as requiring “very good reasons” to deny solar projects and urged caution: the…