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Planner outlines redline: lower Main Street height, define data centers, require solar restoration bonds
Summary
Planner Kristen O'Donnell reviewed the redline comprehensive plan, saying the committee recommends lowering a Main Street mixed‑use height cap from 55 to 45 feet, defining and prohibiting data centers, and adding site restoration bonds for large solar installations sited off active farmland or brownfields.
Kristen O'Donnell, who walked the audience through a redline version of the draft comprehensive plan, highlighted several substantive edits the committee added after public comment. She said the plan now recommends a community preservation plan to identify parcels for long‑term protection and that the committee sought to curb the potential number of apartments in the GC (Main Street) zone by lowering the recommended maximum height from 55 feet to 45 feet, which she said would limit buildings to about four stories.
O'Donnell also said the committee recommended clearly defining 'data center' and making that use explicitly not permitted in any zone to avoid treating data centers as generic warehouses. On solar, the plan advises siting large‑scale installations on brownfields or in association with agricultural uses and recommends a site restoration bond so the town can remove installations if a developer fails to restore a site.
