Dighton's solar and battery storage pause will not go to Town Meeting, Planning Board manager says
The draft counted nine approved large solar installations in Dighton, two of them paired with battery storage. A separate conservation subdivision rewrite that would cap clustered developments at 40 homes, or 60 with affordable or senior units, is headed to the June 2027 Annual Town Meeting.
DIGHTON Updated 12:19 p.m. Nov. 5, 2026.
Dighton's proposed pause on new large solar farms and battery storage sites will not go to Town Meeting, the Planning Board's department manager said Thursday, and the board took no formal vote on it.
"The Board determined that the proposed solar and battery energy storage moratorium warrant article will not be presented for Town Meeting consideration," Kerrie Easterday, who manages the department for the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals, said in an email to South Coast 360 on Thursday. She said the board took it up at its Nov. 4 meeting and that the moratorium was first proposed in connection with the state's move to "the consolidated permitting process for clean energy facilities." "Following discussion, the Board determined that advancing the moratorium was no longer warranted," she said. "No formal vote was taken on the proposed moratorium."
The draft would have stopped new large solar arrays and energy storage installations in Dighton through June 2028. Under the bylaws as the draft describes them, large and small solar installations are allowed in the Residential Zoning District through site plan review and a special permit. The moratorium and a rewrite of the town's conservation subdivision bylaw came up under one agenda item, "Review Potential Articles to be Presented at the Annual Town Meeting." Minutes of the Nov. 4 meeting are not out yet.
What the moratorium would have done
The draft would have added a new Section 4605 to Dighton's zoning bylaws, a temporary moratorium on using land or structures for large-scale ground-mounted solar electric installations and energy storage installations, commonly called battery energy storage systems or BESS. It would not have applied to accessory roof-mounted solar or to small-scale ground-mounted solar, which the bylaws handle in separate sections. The moratorium would have been in effect through June 2028.
During that time, the draft said, the town would study what changes to its solar and energy storage rules, Section 4600 of the bylaws, are "needed or desirable to allow for and regulate such use consistent with applicable law while protecting the Town's ecological resources and furthering its planning goals."
Why the draft said the town needed time
Dighton has nine approved large-scale solar installations, the first started as early as 2015, according to the draft's background section. Six are fully running and three are still under construction. Two of the nine share their sites with battery storage.
The draft also said the town faces a Dec. 1, 2026, deadline to adopt solar and battery storage bylaws consistent with the state's regulations and guidelines, which it lists as the state's model bylaws, its site suitability guidelines, baseline health and safety standards, and pre-filing requirements. The draft said Dighton "needs both time and outside expertise" to meet the state's rules, and that a moratorium "will allow sufficient time to amend the Zoning Bylaws to conform to newly proposed legal requirements." Easterday's email does not address that date.
The agenda gave no date for the annual town meeting. The draft's background referred to a vote at the annual town meeting in June 2026, a date that has passed.
Separately, on Sept. 23 the Board of Selectmen voted 2-0 to accept consolidated local permitting and named Town Administrator Ralph Vitacco the town's local government representative for it, according to the minutes presented for approval Oct. 28. Vitacco told the board the town was looking to comply with the state requirement. Selectmen Peter Caron, acting as chair, and Glen Cabbage voted; Chairman Mark Pacheco was absent.
At the Planning Board's Sept. 16 meeting, member Leonard Hull Jr., giving the Stormwater Committee's update, noted that solar developments are among the leading sources of tax revenue for the town, the minutes say.
The conservation subdivision rewrite goes to June 2027
The conservation subdivision amendment "will be presented at the upcoming June 2027 Annual Town Meeting," Easterday said. The Planning Board intends to ask other town departments and boards to "submit any questions, comments, or concerns regarding the proposed amendment by April 2027," she said, and it anticipates scheduling a public hearing in May 2027. "No formal vote was taken on the conservation subdivision amendment," she said.
Both drafts in the Nov. 4 packet were marked "4/13/2026 Proposed Amendment." The conservation subdivision draft would amend Section 4300, the bylaw that lets a developer cluster homes on part of a property and permanently protect the rest as open space. It covers five or more lots in the Residential Zoning District, by a Planning Board special permit, and could also apply to multifamily projects. Its main limits as drafted:
- No more than 40 homes in a conservation subdivision, or 60 when at least 20% of the units are set aside for affordable or senior housing.
- At least 20% of the parcel kept as permanently protected, connected open space, with at least 25% of that land designed for recreation such as trails or playgrounds unless the board waives it.
- Lots of at least 7,500 square feet with at least 50 feet of frontage and yards of at least 15 feet.
- A 100-foot buffer between wetlands and any home, road, driveway, septic system or stormwater system, unless the Conservation Commission allows it under the Wetlands Protection Act. A special permit cannot reduce the buffer.
- A density bonus of up to 20% for features such as extra open space, farming, public recreation, affordable or senior units, or public infrastructure upgrades, still inside the 40 and 60 home caps.
The base number of homes would be set by what a conventional subdivision could fit on the same land, after subtracting wetlands, floodplains, ponds and vernal pools, land under easements that bar building, public water supply protection zones, half of any land with slopes of 20% or more, and 10% of the rest for roads.
Also on the agenda
The Nov. 4 agenda also listed a Form A plan application from Richard Costa and Amy Saxon for 1290 Pine St. and 1211 Center St. A separate agenda set a closed session at 6:30 p.m. at Old Town Hall, 1111 Somerset Ave., to discuss litigation strategy in Forest Hill Estates v. Town of Dighton.
Jeffrey Carvalho chairs the board. Its other members are Vice Chairman Daniel Higgins, Clerk Christopher Cunha, Joseph Figueiredo and Leonard Hull Jr.
What happens next and how to weigh in
The board's next meeting is Wednesday, Nov. 18, when the Nov. 4 minutes go to the board for review and approval. Minutes are typically posted on the town's website the day after they are approved, Easterday said, and the meeting recording will be on the Town of Dighton Planning and Land Use YouTube channel once the Cable Committee processes and posts it.
Planning Board meetings are held at Town Hall, 979 Somerset Ave., with a Zoom option through the link on the posted agenda, and public input comes near the end of the agenda. The Planning Board office is reached through Easterday at 508-669-6431, ext. 114, or keasterday@dighton-ma.gov.
Dighton voters also meet Monday, Nov. 9, for a special town meeting on a separate warrant. Our story on that warrant covers its articles.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
What the board determined on Nov. 4, as Easterday described it, the moratorium's origin and the June 2027 conservation subdivision timeline come from Planning Board department manager Kerrie Easterday's email to South Coast 360 on Thursday, Nov. 5; the board's Nov. 4 minutes and recording are not out yet. The draft moratorium and conservation subdivision text, the agenda and the closed session come from the Planning Board's Nov. 4 agenda and meeting packet and its executive session agenda. The Sept. 23 consolidated permitting vote comes from the Board of Selectmen's minutes of that meeting, and the remark on solar tax revenue from the Planning Board's Sept. 16 minutes. The office phone and email come from the town's staff directory. We read those on Nov. 4. The Dec. 1 deadline is reported as the town's draft states it. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar. The lead photo is federal aerial imagery of two of the town's large solar arrays.
Corrections
No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.
Sources (6)
- Kerrie Easterday, Department Manager, Dighton Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals: email to South Coast 360Received Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, 10:32 a.m.: the moratorium article, no formal votes, the conservation subdivision timeline, minutes and recording. Link is the town staff directory. Read Nov. 5, 2026.
- Dighton Planning Board agenda and meeting packet, regular meeting and public hearing, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026 (town clerk stamp Oct. 22, 2026)Town of Dighton Planning Board. Time, place, Zoom option, agenda items, next meeting Nov. 18, the draft Section 4605 solar and energy storage moratorium text and the draft Section 4300 conservation subdivision amendment dated April 13, 2026. Read Nov. 4, 2026.
- Dighton Planning Board executive session agenda, Nov. 4, 6:30 p.m., Old Town Hall (town clerk stamp Oct. 29, 2026)Town of Dighton Planning Board. Litigation strategy, Forest Hill Estates vs. Town of Dighton. Read Nov. 4, 2026.
- Dighton Planning Board minutes, Sept. 16, 2026Town of Dighton Planning Board. Stormwater Committee update on solar and tax revenue; where meeting video airs. Read Nov. 4, 2026.
- Dighton Board of Selectmen agenda packet, Oct. 28, 2026, with the minutes of the Sept. 23, 2026, regular meetingTown of Dighton Board of Selectmen. Sept. 23 vote to accept consolidated local permitting and appoint the town administrator as local government representative, roll call. Read Nov. 4, 2026.
- Town of Dighton staff directoryTown of Dighton. Planning Board office manager, phone and email. Read Nov. 4, 2026.