Planning Board reviews draft changes to utility-scale solar ordinance, debates 400-foot setback and stormwater rules

The Planning Board reviewed a new draft of the town's utility-scale solar facility (USSF) ordinance and discussed several substantive changes including a lower trigger size, new application requirements, larger setbacks and stricter stormwater and emergency-response provisions.

The proposal presented by planner Melanie (contract planner, KV COG) would lower the size at which a project is classified as a utility-scale facility to 0.04 megawatts from 0.10. Melanie said, "the maximum size for utility scale, it would trigger at 0.04 megawatts instead of point 10." The draft also adds or clarifies application materials: an operations and maintenance plan, a construction plan and timeline, a stormwater management plan, and a requirement that financial assurance be available before construction begins rather than tied to the end of the facility's useful life.

Board members focused much of the debate on setback language. The draft changes the minimum setback from 100 feet to 400 feet measured from existing residential dwelling structures. Several board members raised concerns about how that measurement would work in practice and whether it could be gamed by adding an accessory dwelling unit to a parcel. One proposal that drew support among members was combining the two approaches: require 400 feet…