news from Barre No BESS in Barre - Planning Board 4-15-26 - Rotokawa / Wauwinet Update

[Janet Sinclair]

Hello,

The Planning Board met tonight and read the following letter, from the attorney representing Rotokawa Estates LLC, into the record.  It had been sent to Attorney Winner and then to the Planning Board:

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Hi, Folks -

Please accept this email as a formal request for withdrawal without prejudice of the Merlin Definitive Subdivision Plan.

As we have said from the beginning, the purpose of the Preliminary Plan followed by the Definitive Plan was to freeze the zoning bylaw in effect at the time at the filing of the Preliminary Plan in order to, ultimately and hopefully, propose a standalone battery energy storage project on a portion of that land.

The law as it relates to the approval path for such a battery storage project has recently changed and now requires Energy Facilities Siting Board approval. To that end, it seems like a misuse of everyone's time, energy, and resources to continue to pursue the Definitive Plan.

We appreciate working with the Town to date and look forward to continuing to work together as the process moves forward.

Unfortunately, I tore my Achilles this weekend so am unable to attend this evening.

Thanks,

Tom

Thomas R. Reidy, Esq.

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[Dean Huggins]

Hi Janet, this is exactly what Zero Point did in our case. They filed a "subdivision" in April before our May town meeting at which we approved the ban on battery storage in residential A and B areas, leaving the lion's share of the town open to battery storage, including the Agricultural zone. The PB denied the battery storage in the residential B zone in December and Zero Point has appealed. They maintain that their filing of a subdivision in April froze the zoning before the town meeting changed it. 

Only problem from my point of view is that it may have frozen the zoning as to a subdivision, but this is not a subdivision. There will be no houses on this acreage.

ugh.

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[Janet Sinclair]

from what I understand, the filing of the Subdivision does freeze zoning in that day. you vote was later. this is one of the common strategies used every where.

they did this in Shelburne related to 8 500 foot tall wind turbine plan. what happened..the towns lawyer said don't bother voting. the town voted in favor of New bylaws. looked like we lost. the town clerk said give a check for such and such amount of money. the t.c. had said the wrong amount. the application was incomplete. we won. 

I have worked on a bunch of projects..opposed them

 we used to be able to win. not any more.

but..you know about our board of health strategy, yes??

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[Rita Renee Toll-Dubois]

greetings

can you please reiterate and review the boh strategy?

Thanks since here in Barre we face the same thing.

thanks

Renee

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[Janet Sinclair]

the big strategy is for your board to use the site assignment that boh are allowed to do by law. it does not required special boh regs for BESS. Michael Hugo at the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards is available to help your board. please contact him if you have not already

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[Dean Huggins]

hi janet,

i have forwarded your boh strategy to our chair of the BOH, very environmental minded and sensible - opposed the clear cutting of old forest 16 acres for a battery storage facility.

thank you agin,

bev

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[Donna Byron]

Hi Janet and everyone. On a future zoom meeting, it would help me understand how the Board of Health can intervene in a BESS application if we could walk through an actual case of a town in MA where that happened.  The public health concerns about stand-alone BESS seem clear to me, but how does it play out in practice nowadays with the backdrop of the 2024 climate act. Has there been a town that denied a request to build a BESS site due to its BOH site assignemt process? Is that possible for a future meeting topic? 

Thanks!

Donna 

Dr. Donna K. Byron 

978-434-1486

https://www.linkedin.com/in/donna-k-byron/

[Maureen Doyle]

good news. What about Oakham? Peace, maureen

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[Janet Sinclair]

Not sure 

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