Blandford Committee Advances Six-Month Solar Moratorium Filing

BLANDFORD — October 8, 2025 — Blandford solar committee pushes six-month moratorium as substation expansion draws new development pressure. The committee, which has been working to update the town's 2021 solar bylaws, agreed at its October 8 meeting to advance a draft moratorium letter to the state Attorney General, aiming to halt new large-scale solar applications while the town rewrites its zoning rules. Attorneys had advised the group that a six-month request was more likely to survive AG review than a year, and that the moratorium takes effect the moment it is posted after a town meeting vote. Members set a Friday deadline for comments on a draft prepared by Christina, the town administrator's office liaison, with newspaper submission targeted for Sunday and a possible public hearing by October 30 or 31. The committee also welcomed three prospective members — Richard Meswar, a sanitarian who lives 500 yards from a proposed battery storage site, and two other residents — pending Select Board approval, and flagged that roughly 90 percent of Blandford's land is zoned agricultural, making nearly the entire town theoretically eligible for commercial solar development under current rules.