By Kathy Dickinson
A well-attended Special Town Meeting was held March 7th at the Becket Washington School to consider and vote on solar bylaw amendments, a proposed bylaw governing Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), road repair funding, and budget amendments.
Articles 1 and 2 allowed for transfers from the Road Stabilization Fund (a savings account for roads) to provide up to an additional $700,000 to supplement costs for the reconstruction of Leonhardt Road (already partially funded by a grant of $1 million) and allocation of $62,500 for engineering plans for Tyne, Yokum Pond, and County Roads. Both articles passed, as did Article 3, which authorizes payment of nominal funds due for office expenses.
The remaining articles incorporated the Planning Board’s and Town Counsel’s recommended changes to address zoning bylaws.
Article 4 proposed a temporary moratorium on construction of industrial ground-mounted Solar Photovoltaic Installations with Battery Energy Storage Systems (Solar BESS).
Article 5 proposed authorizing the Select Board a Home Rule petition to the General Court to establish a moratorium on Solar BESS installations to set a more reasonable timeframe for the town to comply with the state’s regulations still being finalized.
Article 6 proposed to incorporate updated language detailing how Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) mandated by the state will be adopted here in Becket.
After an edit to Article 5, Section 1—reducing the duration of the proposed Home Rule petition from one year to six months—motions to approve the three bylaw articles passed.
Full text of the warrant can be found on the town website:
