Solar Ordinance and Site-Plan Review Amendments
New screening, noise, and decommissioning rules affect commercial solar developers and town aesthetics.
A solar ordinance enacted in March 2026 triggered the need for revised site plan review regulations. The Planning Board began addressing those updates in April by scheduling a workshop and continued the process in June through consultation on a municipal solar project that tested the emerging standards on noise, buffers, and decommissioning.
The solar ordinance passed in March 2026 created new standards for solar installations that required corresponding updates to the town's site plan review regulations.
At its April 2 meeting the Planning Board therefore placed on its agenda a proposal to schedule a dedicated workshop for drafting those regulatory amendments.
The board's action directly followed from the March ordinance and was framed as necessary to give developers and staff clear procedures for noise, buffering, and decommissioning requirements.
By the June 11 meeting a concrete municipal solar project at the wastewater treatment plant had advanced to the consultation stage, prompting the board to test the still-evolving standards on erosion control, inverter noise, glare, property-line buffers, and decommissioning plans.
That non-binding discussion illustrated how the March ordinance and the pending regulatory updates would be applied in practice, with board members requesting detailed engineering information before any formal submission.
No formal vote on the regulatory amendments occurred at either meeting; the board instead moved the process forward through workshop planning and project-specific feedback.
At its April 16 meeting the Planning Board reviewed proposed amendments to the solar ordinance itself, debating 50-foot vegetative buffers, a 40-decibel noise limit at the property line for commercial inverters, and surety-bond requirements for decommissioning. Members discussed making system and property owners jointly responsible and explored mitigation options such as enclosures or parking-lot installations.
At its May 14 public hearing the Planning Board considered the first set of site-plan regulation amendments required by the March solar ordinance, focusing on visual screening for commercial rooftop installations. After debate on fairness to other commercial equipment and the risk of over-regulation, the board approved the solar-specific changes by a 6-1 vote rather than postponing for wider buffering revisions.
The board will revisit broader site plan review regulations on buffering and screening at a future meeting after required public noticing periods.
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