SJC hears challenge to Petersham denial of large solar project under Dover Amendment

At a hearing in the Supreme Judicial Court, James F. Martin, attorney for the appellants, argued that the Zoning Board of Appeals of Petersham improperly denied a special permit for a large ground-mounted solar project in violation of the Dover Amendment. "This is a Dover Amendment case," Martin told the court, saying the project complies with the town's solar bylaw and that the bylaw expressly permits "necessary" tree clearing.

The bench pressed how the Land Court reached its conclusion that locating the project in a forested parcel served the public welfare. Justice Kafka asked how reviewing courts should treat a split three-member ZBA vote where a lone member provided a lengthy written dissent: when the statute requires unanimity and a split vote results in denial, which reasoning should control appellate review?

Martin told the justices the Land Court erred by relying on a general-purpose bylaw provision rather than the…