Planning Board Approves Battery Storage Moratorium
The Brookfield Planning Board voted 4-0 to forward a temporary moratorium on battery energy storage systems to the town's annual town meeting.
Planning Board · Meeting of April 8, 2026
BROOKFIELD — The Brookfield Planning Board voted 4-0 to forward a temporary moratorium on battery energy storage systems to the town's annual town meeting. The measure would prohibit new standalone or co-located battery storage installations of 250 kilowatt-hours or more in any zoning district through November 30, 2026, giving the board time to draft a permanent bylaw under the state's 2024 Climate Act. Resident Owen Kramer warned the moratorium risks the same fate as "four or five separate moratoriums struck down" by the attorney general's office in recent months.
Ron Barron, CMRPC's manager of land use and zoning, told the board installations below 25 megawatts of generation or 100 megawatt-hours of storage remain under local jurisdiction, with a new state permitting clock starting July 1. The board also reimbursed $5.46 in postage and $105 in conference fees, and set a May 6 hearing on an accessory dwelling unit bylaw.
In the full story:
- The Full Story
- Why It Matters
- Key Motions & Votes
- Source
- Brookfield's community access TV: Planning Board meeting, April 8, 2026
- The complete report: 1,015 words
Source: the Planning Board meeting of April 8, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.
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