Barnstable Planning Board Unanimously Rejects Solar Moratorium Citizen Petition

BARNSTABLE -- March 28, 2022, Barnstable Planning Board unanimously rejects citizen petition for solar moratorium, citing legal deficiencies. The board voted 5-0 Monday to send a negative recommendation to Town Council on item 2022-134, a petition by at least 10 registered voters seeking an 11-and-a-half-month halt on large-scale ground-mounted solar photovoltaic systems. Vice Chair Steve Robichaud presided in the absence of Chairman Steve Costello. Planning staff relayed a same-day opinion from town attorney Ms. Conley identifying two fatal flaws: an open-ended duration clause reading "or until sufficient deliberation" and the absence of a defined study task for planning staff to complete during the pause. Board member Bob Twiss argued the board had already addressed the petitioners' core concerns, hazardous materials, setbacks, and battery storage, in a comprehensive solar ordinance forwarded to Town Council two weeks earlier, and pressed the petitioner to identify "what would happen during that 11 and a half months" that the board had not already done. Petition signatory Ann Salas, who spoke in favor of the moratorium, was directed to the town attorney's letter, posted on the town's project-information webpage, as a guide for redrafting.