Whately Planning Board sets April 7 public hearing on battery storage bylaw

Planning Board · Meeting of February 24, 2026

Whately Planning Board schedules April 7 public hearing on a draft battery energy storage bylaw. Chair Brant Cheikes presented a substantially revised draft at the February 24 meeting, explaining that the new state clean energy law routes all battery storage applications through a single local permitting authority — the Zoning Board of Appeals — with the Planning Board serving in an advisory site-plan-review role. The board skipped its March 31 regular meeting to allow time for the state to publish final consolidated permitting forms, which are due from the state by that same date.

The board is targeting a May 4 warrant-article deadline for the June 2 Annual Town Meeting. Members also flagged an unresolved question — to be sent to town counsel — over whether adopting the board's nearly final rules and regulations requires a formal public hearing with legal notice, a step that Cheikes estimated could cost roughly $3,000 in legal advertising.

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Source: the Planning Board meeting of February 24, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.