Townsend Planning Board Continues Solar Screening Dispute, Sets July Deadline

TOWNSEND -- June 8, 2026, Townsend Planning Board continues contentious solar screening dispute and launches multi-family design guidelines review. Vice Chair Carol Hosmer presided over the latest hearing on a site plan modification at 22 West Meadow Road, where a solar operator sought permission to replace a required natural vegetative buffer with synthetic ivy attached to a perimeter fence. Town counsel's written opinion, read into the record, concluded that the original planting condition remained binding and that synthetic vegetation was "doubtful" to satisfy the bylaw; multiple board members raised concerns about precedent and the board's role in what member Robert Terry called "a landlord-tenant dispute." The board continued the hearing to July 13 at 7:15 p.m., signaling that meeting must produce a finalized, bylaw-compliant natural-screening proposal or the operator will be held to the original approved planting plan. The board also spent more than an hour reviewing a draft site plan approval regulations document prepared by Joseph Boz of the Montachusett Regional Planning Commission, debating how broadly the rules should apply and how prescriptive design standards should be for multi-family housing, with a project completion target of September 30, 2026.