Reason Driving Large-Scale Solar Moratorium Questioned

A temporary moratorium on large-scale solar projects in Northborough passed Monday night, although some voters questioned the lead proponent's motivation.

The moratorium until May 1, 2014 received the required two-thirds majority approval at Northborough's special town meeting Monday night, as declared by Town Moderator Fred George.

A citizen's petition put the article on the town meeting warrant.

Resident Greg Roody presented the proposal to voters, and said he became aware of "how easy it is to put in an inappropriate project in a place where it doesn't belong" when a large project was proposed in his neighborhood.

That project would be grandfathered from the moratorium, he said.

However, one resident said that the only such project proposed in Northborough is the one proposed by Roody's neighbor.

As a result, Northborough has "a town meeting that's costing us thousands of dollars, and all of our time, just because you don't like that system in your back yard. And that just doesn't seem right to me," she said.

Roody said during his presentation that the moratorium seeks to "give the town planning board time to change the zoning bylaws to put in common sense regulations regarding things like setbacks."

Planning board Chairman Rick Leif said the board plans to present proposed regulations on large-scale projects to town meeting in April.One resident said that "what we have going on here is an attempt to stop solar development disguised as a temporary moratorium."

He said that he's looking at putting a solar facility on the roof of a commercial building in another town, "and I have to tell you: when you start looking into these things, the economics of it barely make sense. If the subsidies are cut even a fraction, they don't work. The cost of producing solar electricity is far higher than the cost of producing it from other methods."

The moratorium approved Monday night differed slightly from the wording in the warrant. Voters approved two amendments proposed by Roody: one to change the  voltage measurement in one definition, the other delete a reference to on-site systems.

"It is not our intention to ban on-site photovoltaic systems. That would ban every implementation of a photovoltaic project in town, including rooftops and small scale," Roody said.