Council refers moratoria on battery storage and data centers to legal and technical review; schedules hearings

The Leominster City Council on July 13 referred separate proposals for temporary moratoria — one on battery energy storage systems (BESS) and another on new data centers — to KP Law and municipal departments for legal, safety and planning review and scheduled related public hearings for August 24, 2026.

The items were presented to the council as communications and read into the record by the clerk. A councilor at large, identified in the record as Claire Frieder, asked for a moratorium on BESS until July 2027 while the city completes legal review and technical referrals to the building and fire departments and the planning board.

Another communication sought a temporary moratorium on new data centers pending similar review. Councilors agreed to refer both items for interdepartmental review and to schedule public hearings; the chair also asked clerks to coordinate KP Law input and to arrange planning‑board consideration prior to the council’s August public hearings.

Several councilors emphasized that some of the activities under consideration may already be restricted under current zoning and asked KP Law to clarify whether a moratorium would inadvertently permit or prohibit activities that zoning already regulates. One councilor offered to forward draft language to KP Law to make specific issues clear.

Councilors instructed staff to set hearing dates and to ensure KP Law and planning-board feedback is available to inform the August 24 hearings. The planning board is scheduled to review many of these petitions on July 20 (some dates were clarified to August 17 for specific items) before the council’s August meeting.