2026-05-11 - Planning Board

I didn't have it written >> Tony, the board should approve the minutes with the change that Fran seconded all the motions. Okay, we ready? Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the May 11th,

2026 Planning Board meeting. And with that, I'd like to do the Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge of Allegiance >> to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one

nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Good evening, everyone. My name is Tony No. Tonight's meeting is a hybrid meeting. You may participate in person or remotely by on

your computer by going to zoom.us, entering access code 873-8207-8535, or by calling in at 301-715- 8592. If calling in, you can use star six to mute or unmute your phone line, and star nine to raise

or lower your hand. We ask all speakers to please identify yourselves at the podium or online each time you speak by stating your name, address, and town of residence for the record. We ask

participants in person to use the microphone. Please address all comments and questions through the chair. This is a public meeting and is being broadcast on local access and is being recorded by

Millbury Public Access Cable Television, available live on public access channels Charter 191 and Verizon 26. >> Okay. Uh, first on our docket is the Planning Board reorganization. >> Um, so if I can

jump in. >> Yes, please. >> Uh, currently the chair of the board is Bruce, the vice chair is Paul, and the clerk is Tony. Um, I believe that every year the board has a discussion and a vote to uh,

reassign or keep those roles for the next year. So, um, now that we've had an election and we are welcoming a new board member, Melody Belliveau. Um, we're going to have a discussion and vote to uh,

assign the chair, vice chair, and clerk for the next year. Um, you can all have a discussion amongst yourself on who you think those positions should go to. And then whenever you're ready or anyone's

ready, anyone on the board can make a motion to designate someone as the chair and then motion to designate someone as the vice chair and then motion to designate someone as the clerk. >> I'll make a

motion to appoint Bruce as the uh, chair. >> Second. >> Okay. >> And >> I'll accept. >> Now you would vote. >> Okay, got a motion that's been seconded. Uh all in favor? >> Aye. Fran, are you here? I

see I see you. >> Muted. Oh, there you go. >> Yeah, I'm here. >> Okay. >> Aye. >> Okay, thank you. Um and I would also like to nominate um Paul as the vice. >> Second. >> I'll accept. >> And uh Tony

as the secretary if everybody agrees. >> Clerk. >> Right. >> Oh, clerk. Sorry. >> Second. >> How do you feel about that, Fran? >> Nothing's changing, so I didn't expect anything. >> Okay. Okay, so um

we got a motion that's been seconded. Uh all in favor? >> Aye. And Fran? >> Aye. >> Okay. Uh that's unanimous. Okay. Um >> Did we vote for vice chair and clerk? >> I kind of mixed them into the >> I

thought it was a motion for both at once, which is acceptable. That's fine. >> Okay. Um Oh. Riverland Street is continued, it looks like. >> Okay, I'll make a motion to continue the public hearing

till Monday, June 8th for 100 Riverland Street at 7:00. >> Second. >> Okay, got a motion that's It's All in favor? >> Aye. >> Friend. >> Yeah. >> Thank you, Friend. >> Aye. >> Okay, other business. We

have an A&R for 45 Rayburn Drive. Is there anybody to speak on this or >> Um so, the applicant for this is the town itself, the town of Melbury. >> Yeah. >> Um I uh I don't think that there's anyone

from DPW to present this, so I'll just um explain what is being proposed. Um and then the board can discuss and um endorse the plan. Um so, the town owns a small parcel of land at the corner of

Rayburn Drive and Danielle Drive um for the purpose of a sewer pump station. Um and the town is looking to upgrade that sewer pump station. Um but more modern sewer pumps require more land and

currently the town does not own sufficient land at that corner uh for a more modern installation. Um so, the town is looking to purchase a very small parcel land from the abutting property owner,

private property owner. Um and to do that uh the planning board first needs to endorse a division of land um to essentially carve off a small parcel from that property owner, so that then it can be

conveyed to the town. Um the parcel that's being carved off from the private property owner is designated on the A&R plan as a non-buildable parcel. Um so, the plan is endorsable by the planning

board. Um and then the intent is to convey that small parcel of land, uh which by the way is designated as partial A on the plan, um to convey that parcel uh to the town, combine it with the existing

corner parcel, and thereby uh provide the town with enough land to update that that sewer pump station. >> Doesn't that mean the town would be building on it if they're creating a bigger sewer plant?

>> Yeah, but it's not building in the sense of a a a a structure or it's not a Yeah, it's not a residential building or commercial building. Um it's a it's a town use, essentially. >> A utility. >>

Yeah, it's a utility. Yeah. >> Got you. >> I don't see any problems with it. Um >> No, I don't either. >> It looks like it's all in order already. This is a station there already. They just want to

make it better. >> Yeah. >> Which is in the town's favor. >> I have a question. >> I'd like to hear what Terry has to say. >> Oh, hi Terry. >> Hi. Terry Burke, Dawson 20 Sailor Terrace. Does the

taking of the land affect the frontage of the pass the prop the property or the square footage required? Does it affect Does it make any of those properties uh illegal, you know? >> No. Okay, thank

you. >> Anybody online that might have a question? >> Fran? >> No, I'm all set. I know that's what we voted on in Tuesday meeting. >> Yeah. >> So, we knew this was coming. >> Okay. >> All right, I'll

make a motion to endorse the AR plan for 45 Reburn Drive dated March 19th, 2026 and prepared by the Petri Engineering. >> Second. >> Okay, the motion's been seconded. All in favor? >> I. >> Fred? >>

I. >> Thank you. Okay. Next on our agenda, other business. A presentation from the CMRPC to on clean energy infrastructure regulations and potential amendments to the Millbury zoning bylaw. Is there

>> Yes, we have someone here from CMRPC who will present. I'll just tee this up very briefly. Um so, the state in I believe 2024 plat passed the climate act or something along those lines, uh and has

since been writing up regulations um to uh further clarify how municipalities uh should handle what are called clean energy infrastructure facilities. Uh so, generally those include solar fields as

well as uh battery energy storage systems, also known as BES. Um those regulations were um published earlier this year. Um and uh pursuant to those regulations, there's uh a number of changes that

Millbury needs to make to its zoning bylaw. Um but also uh we need to handle um we need to make some decisions as to how we would handle uh a special permitting process the state put into place uh

called the consolidated permit process. Uh and uh CMRPC has been helping us with helping us with that. They'll be helping us sort of update our zoning bylaw, but also in terms of making those

decisions related to the consolidated permitting process. So I want to uh thank Ron Baron from CMRPC who's here who will briefly present on this topic and then we'll continue working on this during

the rest of the spring and the summer leading to the fall town meeting where we'll definitely want to be adopting new regulations for these things. >> Cuz we don't have anything, right? >> Well, we do

have a solar bylaw right now. We don't regulate best in any way better energy storage systems and we definitely want to and then our current solar solar bylaw is also a little out of date in in a

variety of ways and I think Ron may touch on that a little bit in his presentation. >> Come on up, Ron. >> Good evening. Thank you. My name is Ron Baron. I'm the land use and zoning manager at CMRPC.

I just realized I still had my coat on, so if you don't mind, I'm just going to take it off. Thanks for the camera for reminding me of that. So um as Victor said, we we are helping the town with

navigating this new regulatory environment that was passed in 2024. What we have been doing is we have been working with a number of towns including Millbury, Holden, and a whole bunch of other ones

in our region to make sure that you all understand how this is going to impact your zoning and your permitting processes and then if needed, if you decide that you want to make some changes to your

zoning to help you draft some changes to make sure that they're more compliant. Um, the way this is this has been rolled out, I don't know how much you guys know about how this is uh this has been

happening. Um, back in March, final regulations for a new consolidated permitting regime uh were implemented. The basic way that it breaks it down is there's um the state created two new categories of

solar facilities or energy facilities. Um, anything uh less than 25 MW in in rated uh nameplate capacity. So, fairly large sites um is still under local jurisdiction. All the same permitting processes

apply. Um, the only thing that changes is that there's this new consolidated permit option that is going to be coming into effect. And what that does is that requires towns to issue a single decision

instead of having multiple committees. Every committee still does its own review, but it all gets filtered into a consolidated permit application, and there's going to be a new portal that the state's

going to put up. Um, and there's a timeline for how long you have to make a decision. That's what the main change is going to be for that. It goes to it has to be made within 12 months. The other

things that the new law does is anything greater than 25 MW is now solely under the jurisdiction of the state um energy facility siting board. Um, and even though it is under that jurisdiction, that

still has to comply with your current zoning regulations. So, your your zoning still is in effect. It doesn't mean that your zoning gets thrown out. It doesn't mean that it gets overruled. It's now

just how um it just means that the person who issues the permit for those larger facilities is now the state board rather than the local board. Does anyone have any questions about that? Okay. >> Not

yet. >> Right, but there will be. >> I'm sure. Um So, what we, as I said, have been doing is we've been looking at every all of the towns that are participating in this program, we've been looking at

their zoning and trying to see if there is anything that is stands out to us that could become a problem. Um the way that the zoning the way that the the law currently works is that there doesn't

technically have to be a change to your zoning bylaw. It has the all of the uh the permits do have to still comply with local zoning even if it's the large ones that are under the state jurisdiction.

However, appeals are now going directly to this the uh energy facility siting board rather than through the courts. And because of that, we are recommending to all towns that if there's anything in

your bylaw that may not be that's outdated or may not be consistent with recent amendments, we highly recommend that you consider making changes uh because it's going to be there's going to be more

scrutiny on it. If there's any appeals, it's going to go to the state level. And the way that the law is written, if it goes to the board for appeal, it's not like it when it goes into courts where

they take into consideration all of the other things. It when it goes to the board for appeal, they start from zero. So, they're going to look at every at the zoning immediately from scratch as if

it's a brand new hearing. Essentially, what the upshot of all that is that if there are any uh provisions in your bylaw that are outdated or not necessarily consistent with current law, it's likely to

get flagged. So, we highly recommend that all towns have that review and consider making changes. In addition, um as Victor said that the um the battery storage is now a considered a protected use

under mass general law, so it is really important that uh towns have provisions for that um because they will take into account any conditions that you have, any kind of uh setback regulations, any

kind of reasonable regulations that are there, they're going to take that into consideration. Uh but towns are not able to um to uh deny the use of battery storage on these parcels. So, that was one

of the changes in the law. So, when you don't have the regulations, we highly recommend that you get something in there. The good thing is that the state has produced or is in the process of producing

a model bylaw. There is a draft that was put out in October. We're waiting for the final version still. They're They're hoping to be out before uh the end of the fiscal year. And we will be able to

use that to provide recommended language that is consistent with state law, and that's one of the things that we're providing. This is all uh funded under uh district local technical assistance grant

um that we get every year from the state, and there's also additional money that we have um through our municipal vulnerability preparedness program uh where we're able to do this at no cost to the

towns. So, this is a a free service that we're doing for for many different communities. Uh we are also doing a series of regional roundtables. We have two that are coming up that if you want to get

more information on this, uh we're going to be hosting it in addition with the DOER uh regional representative. He's going to be there to speak about it. Uh the first one is going to be uh May 27th at

6:30p.m. And then there's going to be another one on June 4th that'll take place at noon. And these are going to be virtual webinars. Anybody who wants to sign up can sign up. Um I believe I

forwarded you I did forward a uh an invite to town, but if anybody wants it, just let me know. I can definitely forward the invite to you and we can if you want to register for that. >> I do. >> Okay,

great. So, any questions on any of that or >> Fred? I think he's sleeping. Oh, man. All right. We'll We'll try him again after. >> Okay. So, um the other thing that we have done uh in uh prior to

coming to this meeting, so I want to let you know, we did do a preliminary review of your zoning bylaw. Uh there were a few things that we do recommend you consider looking at and changing and we're

happy to uh go ahead and uh write up those what our recommendations are. Um for instance, we're recommending that um you know, clarifying the special permit uh role. Um there's no uh there's nothing

legally inconsistent with having a special permit for all solar fields. Um however, they do recommend to avoid getting into um any conflicts with current uh limitations of Mass General Law, they do

recommend that it that's uh solar be allowed by right somewhere. Um so, there are That's one thing to consider for the town. Um also, there's we're recommending uh expanding and clarifying the

conditions and permits that are currently in the law just to limit some of the subjectivity. There's a few standards that could be interpreted as being dependent on uh individuals' opinion, the

reviewers' opinions. Um and we would recommend changing the uh updating that language to make it stronger. There's also some language that is in the model bylaw and in the regulations themselves that

we feel could make the bylaw stronger. It's not necessary. It's not vital that it gets put in there, but I think it would make the the standards a lot stronger. So, these are the types of things that

we were looking at um in order to to help uh develop some recommendations for you guys to move forward. >> Okay. Fran, your hand is up. >> Yes, I um So, are you telling me that the state has

incorporated these battery storage systems in and actually turned them into a utility? >> Uh I don't know that I would interpret it like that. Um there is >> I understood it. >> So, there the way that

they incorporated it into the climate act uh is that there are under Mass General Law Section 3, there's a section of of the law that puts limits on what zoning can regulate. And solar facilities are

considered a use that uh has very strict limits on what zoning can regulate on it. And it was it was in interpreted by the courts that battery storage is part of a solar facility. So, they are now the

state is now interpreting it that those limits that applied to solar in Section 3 do apply to battery storage as well. So, any There's They're looking at it as a whole package of solar plus battery is

now part of the what they're counting They're defining as solar facilities. >> If I can just jump in just to add um Fran, I think um the takeaway there is that we have to allow these uses somewhere in

town, probably by right. Um but that can we can limit it pretty significantly. >> Go ahead. >> Um I mean, it can't be a tiny pocket in the corner of town. We probably have to designate, you know, one

of our maybe our our highest intensity industrial district and allow solar invest in those by right. Uh and then we can talk about maybe even allowing them in special by special permit elsewhere. But

the takeaway from state law as I understand it is you can't just flat out um prohibit them everywhere. >> Well, these things are not safe. They've been proven unsafe. There's a lot of towns fighting

these things. I don't like them. I don't want to see them in a residential neighborhood. Like we had one tried to put there. >> Yeah. >> Mhm. >> Over there on one >> Friend, my understanding is that

the one that was proposed, I think at 55 Sycamore, um a year ago or so, that was in a residential district because at the time and still currently the town had no regulations uh on battery energy

storage systems. So, that particular proposal was uh interpreted as being a utility, which we do allow by right in all zoning districts. And that's why it was allowed to go in a residential district.

I think one of the objectives we're going to have for this fall is to draft regulations on best facilities, uh define them specifically in our bylaw, and then limit their uh where they're allowed to I

mean, certainly not residential districts, but we can even talk about which industrial or or commercial districts we want to allow them in. >> Well, I believe legally they have not been deemed a

utility as of yet. I know there are still a lot of uh cases going on, and uh the gentleman from CMACP, if he has has a case number that he could share with us, I'd like to look up said case. And like

to see the verbage in it. I don't like the state telling us what to do. We might as well not be a town. That's what it's coming to. So, we got to straighten this out. This is ridiculous. Holden's

fighting again. Maybe we need to fight, too. Maybe we all need to fight. >> That's what we're working on, friend. >> I hope so, Bruce, because I'm sick of this state mandate stuff. >> Especially if it

has safety issues to them. And the the one from 55 Sycamore, that was a really big issue. And it seemed like we were being stonewalled with it. And we had standing room only of people here saying,

"No, don't do it, please." So, we have to make those regulations and bylaws where we're not letting it go in a place where it's dangerous for our neighbors. >> And >> Well, but I wasn't fooled by it.

I knew what it was. I wasn't fooled by it. I did a lot of research on that, as did a lot of the neighbors. I had a lot of documentation I read at that meeting, and yet it passed anyway, much to my

dismay. I was not a vote for that. I will never be a vote for them anywhere in town. They're dangerous. They're unable They You cannot control. Once it blows up, that's it. It's done. We need to

really do something big to here with these bylaws so that we got to put them out in the woods somewhere. >> Okay, friend. Let's Let's let them move on cuz that's what we're working on, making

regulations and bylaws for this issue that we have in front of us. >> Yeah, and I was just going to add that >> passionate. That's all. >> And I was just going to add that that is something that we

want to look at. We know this is a huge issue for all of our communities, particularly the rural communities. We got a lot of vulnerable lands. Um there are some uh guidelines and protections that are

included in the regulations, but we want to make sure that they're actually going to work for everybody because you know, one size does not fit all. And we want to make sure that what we are able to

recommend to you is going to definitely protect the lands that you are most concerned about. Um you know, where we want to make sure that we're helping you navigate the new environment that has been

produced by the state um as best we can and make sure that you're as protected as possible. That's our main concern. So. Um but what we are going to be doing um going forward, like I said, we have

those two meetings and I highly recommend if anybody is concerned with any of these things, please come to the meetings, raise these questions at uh at this meeting. Um we are going to continue

working uh with you all on uh producing some draft language for you to consider. Um obviously you don't have to adopt anything we recommend, but we we're we'll give you our our best uh guess on what

we think will work given uh the conditions that that we're working with here, you know. So. >> So are you planning on um uh coming here and reviewing regulations that we currently have, what kind of

changes we have to make? Are you going to be standing with us beside us to discuss this and and see where we're going to land? >> Yeah, absolutely. Um what I can do what I'll do is I will uh continue

working um to uh put together some of those recommendations. And then in a future meeting, I'll be happy to come back here and review them with you and walk you through what we're what we're

suggesting. >> And have us ready for the fall meeting. >> Yeah, that's the that's the objective. Mhm. >> Okay. >> Good. >> That sounds good. >> Great. >> All right, unless there's nothing else. Oh. >>

Um could you please tell us how do you get into that meeting? You gave us the dates but how? Do you have a telephone number or web address or how how do you register for that? >> So it's it's a

webinar. Um we can >> I I can include Terry on the invitation. >> Okay, that would be great. Thank you. >> Terry, I will Terry, I will send you the invitation to the webinar. >> There are people

listening now that may want to um >> True. Ron, do you want to give more information? >> Yeah, I was going to say that uh I believe that the invitation is going to be on the CMRPC website. Um and I

will send out once that's posted, I'll send that out to the town so that they can share that. >> Do you have a telephone number though or also or >> It's not I don't know that there's a telephone call

to come in. It's a Zoom It's going to be a Zoom meeting. So it's going to be through the computer. So it's that kind of a webinar. >> Right. >> If somebody wanted to follow up with a phone call to

talk to you, how would they call? >> Um you can call our office and you can talk to me about it. I can definitely give you information if you're if you wanted to. I don't have a card on me but I can

give you my phone number as soon as we're done here. >> Do you have it now? >> Um I have to look it up to be honest with you. >> Just look it up. >> Uh okay. >> lot of people you know that are

listening um Give them everything you've got right now just so that they can contact you. I'm sure there are people who are very interested. >> I would just say I I think hopefully you can find the

link on the CMRPC website but for anybody listening, if you do want to join that webinar and you're having trouble finding it, you can just email me at the Millbury Planning Department and I can

provide the link. >> Awesome. >> Yeah. I'm sorry, I don't actually have my phone number here with me but I can send that out to I can make sure that Victor has it so they can >> How are you going to

do a sick call then? >> I'm sorry? >> It's a few of them, you know. Go ahead. >> I'm just >> Okay, I'm just teasing with you. Okay, go ahead. Okay. >> Okay, anybody else have any comments? Okay. Thank

you for your time. >> for your time. Thank you. >> Okay, uh next is approval of minutes from April 13th, 2026. >> I'll make a motion to approve the minutes of April 13th, 2026. >> Do I mention that >>

Jump in before people vote. Yeah. >> Oh, oh, okay. Do you already have that updated? >> I did. >> Okay. So, um we'll we'll approve it, but I think there has to be a change on there. I was not present

at that previous meeting, so um it's just a clerical error on um the name. So, Fran I think was seconding all of the motions, and then mistakenly my name was put in there. So, with that change, um I

think we'll be able to vote to approve them. >> Now, do I abstain from this one because I was not part of the board? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Okay, it's been seconded. Yes. >> I think so. >> Tommy seconded

it. >> Okay, second. >> Okay, I got a motion's been seconded for the minutes. Uh all in favor? I. >> I. >> Okay. That's the four of us. Um Melody is a newcomer. Um mail and staff updates. I give the

mic to Victor. >> Thanks. Um so, the first thing I wanted to talk about is just a quick update on town meeting, which was last week on Tuesday. Um so, there were six zoning articles in front of town

meeting. Three of them uh sponsored by the planning board and three of them citizen petitions. I'm just going to run through them very quickly and then um if board members want to discuss or debrief

about any of them, we can do that. Um, so article 15, which was sponsored by the planning board, proposed changes to the Bramanville Village District um by increasing the lot size requirements and the

front yard setback requirements. That passed. Then article 16 uh proposed was also sponsored by the planning board proposed to eliminate the allowance for new developments to provide parking uh off

site. Um, that failed at town meeting, so that did not pass. Um, article 17 was a zoning map amendment proposed by the planning board at West Main Street and Harris Avenue. Um, that did pass. Uh

article 18 uh was a citizens citizen petition uh related to the water body protection. Um, that was not moved at town meeting because it was still subject to a two-year moratorium. So, I think that's

going to come back in roughly a year. Um, maybe not in the exact form that it was proposed. Then article 19 was a zoning map amendment uh again a citizens petition a zoning map amendment at North

Providence Road and Rice Road um to rezone uh several properties there uh from the business district from a business district to a residential district. That passed. And then finally article 20 was

again a zoning map amendment along uh Route 146 citizen petition and that sought to uh rezone uh four properties that were in a business district uh and in the Route 146 uh overlay district um to

rezone those two residential districts and that also passed. Um so that's a quick overview of what happened at town meeting for those who missed it. And if the board wants to discuss any of those uh

outcomes, the floor is open. >> I I do uh I was I was disappointed to see that the parking what was that? 16 or 17? >> Uh 16. >> Article 16 had failed. Uh It could have been due to verbage. Um now we

have to wait. Right? >> Yep. >> And we'll we'll have to figure out a way to make it uh the language has to be better on it. So the people uh more comfortable. So I think the people that live in the

center of town were were affected by the way the verbage was because of um we'll call it grandfathered. And it certainly wouldn't have been a problem um cuz if they would have accepted the bylaw, we

could have tweaked it after the fact and made it better. Um >> That should have been said. >> Yeah. >> Well, I think uh so I was at town meeting. I I I >> So when you when they asked about the

grandfathering, the wording was it should be yes. And the word should had people thinking it may not be even though it should be grandfathered, it may not be. The word should made everybody

apprehensive and that's why they wanted more um >> So we'll have to uh >> to it. >> We'll have to uh tune it up a little bit, make it better. >> Do we have to wait 2 years? >> Yeah. >> I don't I I

really see any way to get around that. Even if you were to change say so right now it says you can put parking on another site within 500 ft. If we were to change that to say 100 ft, that would still

be too similar to 500 ft, but >> I thought we did change that. >> I thought we did, too, but I guess it never got >> And we got it down at 250, so it never got changed in the book? >> Yeah, I got to

check that. Um I I think the language of the article was fine in terms of like the the change that was being proposed. >> Mhm. >> I think the discussion at town meeting uh there there was a good

amount of misunderstanding there. >> Yeah. >> Um so just maybe messaging clearer in the future. Friend? >> Yeah, I you know, I didn't talk much Well, I talked a little bit at town meeting about, but

it's sad that we got to wait 2 years. I'm sure we can find some way to put this on in the fall meeting one way or another. It needs to happen. It needs to happen, and I don't understand why people

don't understand what grandfather means. You can't change a lot bec- It It's there. It's grandfather. I don't understand it. It's very simple. I get You know, I I don't understand how people don't

understand these things. >> Okay. Now, anybody else? >> No. >> Okay. Okay, moving on to uh the next item to discuss possible zoning bylaw amendments for the next town meeting. >> Yeah, so I just want

to flag two specific bylaw changes that I think the board should work on during the spring and the summer and early fall leading to the fall town meeting. Um and then just also open the floor if any

board members had ideas that they want to try and address. Obviously, the first one is the clean energy infrastructure facilities regulations. We just talked about those. So, there those are certainly

a high priority um because the state is implementing that consolidated local permit process um starting October 1st. Um and that process, we didn't get into it in too much detail, but it really just

says that anyone who wants to propose a clean energy infrastructure facility in town can submit just one application to the town saying this is what we want to do at this location and then it's the

responsibility of a single point person in town, which will likely end up being me, uh to manage all the permitting with in the town that would relate to that particular application. So, I would I

would have to work with the building inspector, with DPW, with fire, etc. to make sure that all the permitting is happening at a sufficient pace and that would include planning board or zoning board

permitting. And then we deliver a consolidated decision on that proposal within the required 12-month time period. So, that's what the consolidated local permitting process involves and that's what

the state is requiring the towns uh sort of allow to happen. Um but it doesn't mean that these proposals get to skip any of our permitting process. Um so, with that it also behooves us to update our

regulations to make sure that when these projects are coming in for these consolidated local permitting applications, we have you know, very up-to-date, very clean, very, you know, efficient

permitting processes that meet the state requirements so that we're not getting bogged down and we're able to quickly and efficiently make sure that these projects are meeting the regulations and and

not having all these negative impacts, etc. So, that's why it's I think it's really important for us to update our bylaws on on these topics. I think a lot of towns are going to be doing that. CMRPC

is going to help us do it. So, that's one thing I certainly suggest we work on this summer. The other thing is updating our flood plain district bylaw. I did bring a draft of that to the planning

board before this spring town meeting. It was fairly last minute cuz I had just started as the planning director. So, I understand that the planning board didn't want to take it on at that time, but

now we have a little time, a little lead up to the fall town meeting. So, I'll be circulating that draft to you again. And we definitely want to update our flood plain district bylaw cuz it is is not

it's not currently meeting state or federal requirements. So, it absolutely does need to be updated. And then and it also needs to be updated in anticipation of soon to come updates to the flood plain

maps for the town which affect the town's eligibility for federal flood insurance. Which is really critical for people who live within flood zones. So, we can get into that a lot more during the

summer. But those are the two big ones that I think we need to work on for the fall. Um And we need to start working on them fairly early because I'm also going to be on parental leave at the end of

the summer since I'm having my first baby. So. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, when you're uh >> How many weeks do you get? >> Uh that's a little bit unclear still, but I think 8 weeks. But

I don't think I'm going to take them all at once. I'm going to spread it out. >> And while you're gone, is there going to be anybody anybody sitting in your place? >> No. >> Okay. >> We're going to

miss you. >> I'll be checking my emails if anything's super >> can still get in touch with you if we have to. >> Yeah. Yeah. I won't disappear off the face of the earth. >> Okay. >> Actually, the

third the third thing I kind of wouldn't mind us working on, but it's not as urgent as the other two, is regulations for data centers. >> For what? >> Data centers. Data. >> Is that a requirement for

a town? >> No, not at all. >> Good. >> But you know AI data centers, those kind of things that are getting built. >> a lot of water. >> Yeah, exactly. Very very detrimental for communities. >> Yeah,

they are. >> Um I think it's something that we're not really seeing happen yet, but >> Nip it in the bud. >> I it's something we probably want to be ahead of instead of too late to the ball, yeah. >>

Something that's going to be coming our way. >> Maybe, or maybe not. Maybe it never happens, but you know, you don't you don't want to be caught with your pants down on something like that. >>

Absolutely. >> All right. >> Through the chair. >> Go ahead, Fran. >> If I understand correctly, these most of these uh AI data centers are going to be supplying their own uh electricity. They're

going to make their own electricity with nuclear. That's what I'm understanding a lot of reading I'm doing about it. Going to be small nuclear power plants for their for themselves, and whatever's

left over they will distribute to the community. That's the way I've understood what I've seen. >> They take a lot of water though. >> It's interesting. >> Well, yeah. But it's water that's recycled

more than anything. It's uh they don't use the water and then spit it out. It recycles. >> And they're really loud. >> Through the system. >> Okay. All right, Terry, you had a question? >> Thank you.

>> Go ahead. >> Terry Burke Dotson, 20 Selwyn Terrace. While we're going to be watching the the Planning Board work on that flood plain bylaw, can we also build up that um Conservation Commission

bylaw at the same time? >> A local wetlands bylaw? >> Wetlands bylaw. Yeah, let's let's build it up because I know other other towns have really improved their uh bylaws and we definitely need it. >>

We don't have a local wetlands bylaw at all. Um so Terry, I think you, me, and Don need to start working on that and mainly uh we need to get the Conservation Commission to support that idea. Um it

would not be a zoning change so the Planning Board wouldn't necessarily be involved. It would be a separate bylaw that the Conservation Commission would um administer. That's usually how it's done in

other communities. >> Right. I'm willing to help, but I think with all I've a bunch of brains. We've got brains in the town. We get together and uh put together something that's going to be

beneficial. >> Yep. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Um Everybody all set? >> I do just want to say so for zoning articles for the fall town meeting, um if planning board members have any thoughts on

something that they think should be uh addressed, any projects related to zoning changes, um just let me know in the coming weeks. Um just so I can start to get the ball rolling on that. >> Okay, I

was going to I was going to bring that up myself. Uh all business not reasonably anticipated. Um you guys remember when we started looking at the rewritten bylaws that uh there were there was a a crew

that got together to with the CMRPC, is that correct? To rewrite our bylaws and straighten them out and get them squared away and nobody could seem to agree and we were we were getting nowhere with

it. Um Brandy, are you here? Yeah. Um >> Yeah, I'm here. >> I want I would like to be able to reapproach that if possible uh cuz we do have a lot of bylaw and regulation issues that don't uh support

one another if I remember correctly. Is that Is that correct? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And I I think it's important that we have the regulations and the bylaws support one another instead of uh one saying

one thing and one saying the other. You agree? >> Yeah. >> A lot of it was just verbage that needed to be changed. >> Yeah, it was a lot of that. It was a lot of verbage being changed around and and

and it gets confusing to read it all, but um I would like to know if you guys are willing to uh bring that back to the table. >> Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, we need the What happened over the years,

Bruce, is you guys know, is that instead of amending a bylaw, they just added a new one on top of the old one. >> Yeah, they just kept adding them. Yeah. >> And it just kept rolling and rolling and

rolling. Now you got to read it, you got to be a Philadelphia lawyer. >> Right. >> Yeah. I mean, you know, there's three bylaws that cover the same thing and they all say something different. >> Yeah,

they're all different. >> Yeah, and none of them support the regulation. So >> Right. >> We we had asked for it away. So I think if you guys are okay with it, I'd like to re-approach it >> Yeah. >>

over the summer. >> Sure. >> Um Terry? >> Yes, Terry Burke-Dotson, 20 Zela Terrace. The problem that that existed before with all of those changes that were being done and and probably with good

intent were not done in open meetings. They were being done behind closed doors and that was the the big opposition to it. You know, and as long as >> Hold on one second. >> So the open meeting part

is what we are working on. What they did was they helped us out by rewriting it. And if we don't agree with one paragraph or something, then we fix it. That's what the open meeting is with us here at

at our meetings. So that we can discuss it and not just argue about it, but come up with a solution on whatever we're working on. And be done. >> That sounds really, really nice. >> That's that's >>

But in truth, what what what had been happening >> Well, let's not do it that >> We won't We won't We won't do it in the past, but you know, keep it open. >> Yeah. >> And uh And uh that's what's

important. >> Right. >> Thank you. >> Um so bylaw recodification is definitely something we want to do. I think a lot of towns in Massachusetts have to do it since the bylaws are all very old and they

get, you know, added on to over decades and decades, which obviously happened with Millbury as well as other towns. Um it's great to know that that's already been worked on. I know that there's a

draft out there and I need to kind of dig it up um for uh already to recodify the bylaw. Um I wouldn't suggest doing that at the fall town meeting at the same time as big changes like the um like the

clean energy infrastructure and the flood plain um bylaw changes. It's just going to really confuse town meeting and that's three very controversial, potentially very controversial articles. >> start

working on it. >> I told Yes. So, that's what I was going to say is I think we should work on it >> Yeah, I don't >> We should work on it during the summer, fall, winter in preparation for the spring.

Um what I can do is I can set up a webpage on the planning department website where I track the draft of the bylaw as we work on it in like a staff working group with CMRPC. That way Terry and any

other citizen can see what changes or language formatting tweaks we're making or proposing to make. >> Yeah. >> And we can check in with the planning board, you know, once a month or once every 2

months uh on, you know, the progress that we're doing on that. So, >> Okay. >> hopefully by the spring everyone will have seen the iterations and um will be in a good place to adopt that. >> Okay. >>

Sounds good. Sounds good. Yeah. Thank you, Victor. >> Mhm. >> Uh anybody else have anything? All right. >> I'll make a motion to adjourn. >> Second. >> We got a motion to adjourn. All in favor? >>

Aye. >> Friend? >> Yeah, aye. >> Oh, okay. I thought you fell asleep up there. >> No, no, I I'm sorry. I got to apologize. I couldn't make it. I would try, but >> That's all right, buddy. You made it.

You're here. >> Yeah, I guess. All right. >> Thank you. >> Goodnight. >> Thank you.