Wareham MA is ground zero for solar gone wrong in Massachusetts. With 19 existing ground-mounted projects, many of which were preceded by industrial strip mining to “prepare” the site, 1,400 acres are threatened as of August 2021.
ADM/Borrego Solar Projects: Completed
ADM/Borrego Solar Projects: Proposed
Fact Sheet here for more information: wareham-fact-sheet
Call to Action For Wareham MA
Show up to meetings, speak up, and encourage our town officials to make decisions for the benefit of the community!
Planning Board: Town of Wareham website, “Planning Board Projects.”
Meets on the 2d and 4th Monday of the month. Meeting agendas are posted on the website.
- Ken Buckland, Town Planner: kbuckland@wareham.ma.us
- Richard Swenson, Chair: sraposo@wareham.ma.us
Meets on the 1st and 3d Wednesday of the month. Meeting agendas are posted on the website.
- Sandy Slavin, Chair Conservation Commission: asslavin@aim.com
On June 10, 2021, Wareham voted to change the Town’s zoning bylaw (Town Meeting Article 17) to limit land based solar to 10 acres or less and only on land that has not been cleared in the last 5 years. When the Town mysteriously postponed Town Meeting delaying a vote on the new bylaw, developers rushed to Town Hall with subdivision plans in an attempt to sidestep the will of the voters. Plans for 1,400 acres of solar are are proposed. 85% of this is AD Makepeace Co. land.
BREAKING: June 12, 2021 On Saturday June 12, 2021 at 11AM at the Decas School, Wareham Town Meeting and Special Town Meeting passed a new solar development bylaw, Article 17! After 5 hours of deliberating, the body voted unanimously to adopt the solar bylaw amendment, which amends the Town of Wareham Zoning Bylaws to limit industrial solar to a lot of 10 acres or less and on land that has already been cleared for 5 years! In Wareham alone, nine new solar projects have been proposed and will threaten 1,400 acres of land and millions of trees. The new amendment of the Zoning Bylaws is a start to placing restrictions on industrial solar companies that often try to take advantage of state subsidies by leading massive deforestation projects to support their ground-mounted solar! This amendment is a great win for preserving the Pine Barrens ecoregion and the 220 unique plants and animals found no where else on earth, but the fight is not over.
Neighbors are fighting mad about the Fearing Hill proposed destruction of forest!
