Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the BESS Zoning topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Pittsfield board considers detailed zoning rules for battery energy storage systems
Summary
The Community Development Board reviewed a draft ordinance to regulate battery energy storage systems (BESS), defining small/medium/large tiers, siting limits, emergency planning and a decommissioning fund; the proposal would steer medium and large systems away from residential areas and allow brownfield siting by special permit.
Kevin Rayner, City of Pittsfield planning staff, presented a detailed draft zoning ordinance on March 17 that would create a comprehensive local regulatory framework for battery energy storage systems (BESS), including new definitions, permitting tiers, siting rules, and decommissioning requirements.
The draft categorizes BESS by energy capacity (small: up to about 250 kilowatt-hours; medium: greater than 250 kilowatt-hours up to 10 megawatt-hours; large: greater than 10 MWh up to 100 MWh) and notes systems over 100 MWh fall under the Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB). The proposal would allow small-scale systems broadly across districts, while medium and large systems would require Site Plan Review and a Special Permit in specified zones.
Rayner said the board has been cautious about siting medium- and large-scale systems in residential areas and recommended concentrating larger projects on industrial or previously disturbed sites. He told the board that "anything over 100 MWh is through the state and out of our hands," and that local regulations should therefore focus on projects within municipal control.
Key siting and operational provisions in the draft include: a 500-foot buffer from public or private K–12 schools, playgrounds and licensed day cares for systems other than small residential units; screening and downcast lighting; compliance with local stormwater and noise ordinances; limits on vegetation clearing with a recommended 30-foot combustible-vegetation clearance; and access requirements meeting DPW and Fire Department standards.
The draft sets setback minima for medium and large systems (medium: no closer than 25 feet to any abutting property and no closer than 50 feet to abutting residential properties; large: no closer than 50 feet to abutting properties and 100 feet to abutting residential properties). Accessory BESS installations must directly support the principal use of the site and are discouraged as stand-alone principal uses in business districts.
The ordinance would also encourage siting BESS on brownfields with a special permit and special spacing (minimum 200-foot buffer to abutters) as a potential reuse strategy for contaminated or previously developed parcels. Mr. Levante suggested mapping the city's brownfields to identify candidate sites for larger systems.
Applications for medium and large systems would need to include engineering drawings, electrical one- or three-line diagrams, lists of major components, a disposal plan for hazardous materials, a limit-of-disturbance plan, locations of noise-producing equipment, and contact information for operators. The Community Development Board may require third-party review at the applicant's expense.
The draft requires an Emergency Preparedness Plan describing shutdown and isolation procedures, inspection/testing protocols, response procedures for alarms or hazardous conditions, safety data sheets, and contact lists for owner/operators; copies of the plan must be provided to the Fire Chief and Police Chief. It also establishes abandonment and removal timelines (abandonment presumed after 12 months of nonoperation; physical removal within 150 days of a discontinuation determination) and requires a decommissioning surety equal to 125 percent of an engineer's cost estimate with a 10-year and then five-year update schedule.
Board member Libby Herland urged numeric noise limits (“a decibel level rather than 'reasonable'”) and favored a 30-foot defensible buffer from combustible vegetation. Rayner said the Zoning Board of Appeals would likely be designated the granting authority for special permits related to BESS given their existing work on solar, and Rayner intends to bring the draft to the next Master Plan outreach meeting at Conte Elementary for public comment.
The draft remains a proposal and the board did not take a final vote on the ordinance at this meeting. The Community Development Board set a follow-up schedule and the next board meeting for April 21.
