The developer of a proposed solar farm has filed a lawsuit against the Marion Planning Board for what it considers an “improper denial.”
Solar developer ZPT Energy Solutions LLC filed a complaint with the Land Court on December 28 after the Planning Board denied the special permit request to construct a 21+-acre solar farm at 78 Wareham Street. ZPT is asking that the Court overturn the Planning Board’s decision and order the board to grant the special permit, alleging that the board’s interpretation of its own bylaw unreasonably restricts solar energy projects.
Within the denial decision finalized on December 10, the board classified the clearing of about 18 acres of forest “large-scale” clear cutting. ZPT’s argument was that the Town’s solar bylaw failed to define “large-scale,” and that the clear-cutting of roughly 86 percent of the proposed solar array field site was not large-scale.
The vote to adopt the language was 5-2, with board members Eileen Marum and Chris Collings dissenting, while also lamenting the denial of the special permit.
“There’s no way to quantify ‘large-scale,’” Marum argued. “We don’t have anything that quantifies that.”
Despite their dissenting votes, Marum and Collings have both been named as defendants in the complaint that includes the individual members as well as the Planning Board as a whole.
As of press time on January 15, the counsel for the Marion Planning Board had yet to file a response to the complaint with the Land Court.
By Jean Perry