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Town counsel: ZBA denial of battery storage at 180 Payne Street is under Land Court appeal; Planning Board pauses final action
Summary
Town counsel told the Planning Board the zoning-board denial for a battery energy storage system at 180 Payne Street has been appealed to Land Court; the board agreed to continue related hearings to July 23, 2026 and to begin technical peer review while the legal question is pending.
The Bellingham Planning Board was told on June 26 that the zoning-board denial of a proposed battery energy storage system at 180 Payne Street has been appealed to Land Court, and the board moved to continue related hearings until July 23, 2026.
Amy Quessle, town counsel, told the board the applicant’s special-permit application for a battery energy storage system (sometimes called a BES or BESS) was denied by the zoning board of appeals and that the denial is now ‘‘appealed to the land court’’ where a case-management conference is scheduled in July. Quessle said that because the legal question about whether the use is allowed is unresolved, ‘‘it doesn’t make a lot of sense’’ for the planning board to complete a development-plan approval now. She advised starting peer review of technical materials while the court decides the use question.
Quessle said the applicant and counsel have agreed to continue the Planning Board hearings to July 23 so the board will know more after the Land Court conference. ‘‘It is expected … the question before the court is a matter of law and so it’s anticipated that we would go straight to summary judgment,’’ she said.
The board moved and voted to continue the preliminary subdivision, the special-permit, and the stormwater-management permit hearings related to 180 Payne Street to July 23 at 7 p.m. Several board members voiced their assent during the roll call vote.
Town staff and counsel repeatedly told residents and board members that technical review can proceed in parallel to preserve the engineering review schedule. Planning staff said peer review would examine screening, circulation, stormwater and other site-plan details once the board has the applicant’s submitted materials.
Because the central legal question—whether the proposed BESS is a permitted use at the site—remains with Land Court, any final planning-board approvals remain contingent on the court’s outcome and on subsequent permitting steps. The hearings were continued; the board directed staff to begin peer review and to schedule the matter for July 23, 2026, at 7 p.m.
