HATFIELD — A bylaw that would allow battery energy storage projects to be developed in Hatfield, likely with some limits on where they can be placed and an associated permitting process, is being drafted for annual Town Meeting in May.
Isabella Yeager, associate planner for the town, explained to the Select Board at its March 10 meeting there is urgency to get something on the books that will give the town some ability to regulate these projects, where renewable energy is stored from solar and wind power.
Such a bylaw would come in advance of the state expediting approvals through so-called consolidated permits starting in July. The state’s push for battery energy storage systems, also known as BESS, is part of the 2024 Climate Act and the 2050 emissions-free Massachusetts plan.
Hatfield, Yeager said, is seen as a place where such systems may be sought for placement, due to the large stretches of flat, open land.
Yeager said that a model state bylaw came out in October, drafted by the Department of Energy Resources and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs.
But whatever bylaw Hatfield pursues must be approved by the attorney general, which won’t happen if there is any attempt at a blanket ban, making large swaths of land unavailable or putting limits on their size.
“We can’t confine it to just the industrial section of the town, because that’s not enough land area for the law, but we can ban BESS from zones that exist for the stated purpose of protecting public health and safety,” Yeager said.
Those would include the drinking water protection district and flood plain zones.
At a Planning Board hearing earlier this month, members endorsed having the town attorney review the zoning amendment before deciding, in April, whether to recommend it to Town Meeting.
Yeager said that a temporary prohibition is also not allowed. “We can’t issue a moratorium on any scale of BESS,” Yeager said.
Planning Board Chairwoman Stephanie Slysz said that if not passed at Town Meeting, Hatfield would lose all town control until a bylaw is in place.
Planning Board Vice Chairman Jimmy Tarr said the bylaw will give protections to the town and mean local boards have a say in renewable energy development.
“The town needs to be made aware that if we don’t do this, it’s going to be done to us,” Tarr said.
Affordable housing trust?
Meanwhile, the Select Board is being asked to consider whether to bring creation of an Affordable Housing Trust to the Town Meeting warrant.
Yeager said this would form a board that eventually reviews use of funds for affordable housing projects.
Currently, this review is done by the Community Preservation Act Committee, which may not have expertise in housing-related matters. Those members of the trust, including a representative of the Select Board, would have a period of training and learn how to review applications.
Creation of the board would allow the members to be trained later this year, and next year money could be moved into the trust.
Yeager said benefit in creating the trust sooner is that the Massachusetts Housing Partnership is ready to do the training in 2026, and the trust would be ready to work on goals of a housing production plan anticipated to be in place in 2027.