GREENFIELD — Planning Director Ella Wise will have a full plate over the next few months as she leads the Planning Board through changes in permitting for clean energy facilities, as well as carrying out plans to create zoning ordinances regulating battery energy storage systems and data centers in Greenfield.
She told the board on Thursday that her work pertaining to changing regulations in technology will start with training city staff on new Massachusetts laws for consolidated permitting for clean energy projects.
In 2024, the state Legislature signed a new climate law to speed up permitting for clean energy infrastructure, including solar, wind, anaerobic digestion and battery energy storage facilities. Wise said the law took effect on Oct. 1, allowing developers to opt into a new permitting process in which all departments review projects for approval at the same time, rather than the previous system in which applicants filed with each department individually.
“They need to conduct a certain amount of public outreach and meet with city staff, and if all those conditions are met, they have 12 months for us to give them a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ on their permit,” Wise said. “And that ‘yes’ or ‘no’ has to include the Planning Board and [the Zoning Board of Appeals’] decision, as well as the Conservation Commission’s decision and the Board of Health.”
She added that municipalities also have the option of having the state’s Energy Facilities Siting Board assist with or oversee the review. Wise said the city does not need to change any of its zoning codes and regulations because of the state change, but she recommended that the Planning Board review the codes for clean energy facilities.
Throughout the rest of the year, Wise said she plans to work with the Franklin Regional Council of Governments on a battery energy storage system ordinance, and come 2027, she will turn her attention to developing data center regulations before City Council’s one-year moratorium expires. The council adopted the moratorium in September.
Battery energy storage systems
While Greenfield has regulations in place for solar systems and other energy production facilities, Wise told the Planning Board that the city does not have any for battery energy storage systems, and it would be prudent to develop some.
“We do have solar zoning. You don’t have any zoning for batteries,” Wise said. “So I think we need to start that process.”
Wise said she has drafted an ordinance for battery energy storage systems based on a model state bylaw, and she plans to spend the next few months revising it, with technical assistance from FRCOG. She hopes that by February 2027, the draft will be ready for Planning Board and City Council approval.
The draft, which was included in the board’s packet, defines a battery energy storage system as “a system consisting of one or more battery modules for storing electrical energy, any equipment needed to support the safe and proper function or usage of the battery modules, and one or more physical containers providing secondary containment to any of the above. It may be a primary or accessory use to a solar generating facility, power generation facility or other similar uses.”
The draft ordinance states that small Tier 1 facilities would be allowed by right in all districts. Larger Tier 2 and 3 facilities would be allowed by right in the General Industrial (GI) and Planned Industry (PI) zoning districts, but would require special permits in the Rural Residential (RC), Suburban Residential (RB), General Commercial (GC) and Office (O) zoning districts. Battery energy storage systems would be prohibited in all other districts.
Wise said that while her draft does outline examples of what the different size tiers could be and where they could be allowed, ultimately, the Planning Board would need to make policy decisions on whether battery energy storage systems should be allowed by right or by special permit, what the setback requirements should be and if there should be any required mitigation of environmental impacts.
Data centers
Wise said she expects a model data center bylaw to be published by the state next month, which would provide the Planning Board with a jumping-off point from which to start drafting its own regulations.
“I don’t think I can work on a BESS bylaw while working on a data center one,” Wise said. “It just feels like so much to juggle. … So what I’m proposing is to focus our energy on BESS over the next few months, trying to get it done at the end of winter so that we have spring and summer to really have a robust process around data centers.”
She expects that throughout the first few months of 2027, the Planning Board will research best practices and review other municipalities’ regulations. From March to May, the board will deliberate on what Greenfield’s version should look like and conduct public outreach, finalizing the ordinance in June or July.
The city’s one-year moratorium on the construction of data centers is set to expire in September 2027.
Planning Board member Thomas Bledsoe said he attended some trainings on data centers recently, and that noise was one of the largest concerns among the potential impacts, which the board should look to address with its regulations.
“I really do think noise is a key issue here, and since it’s a 24-hour service, when we have to think hard about it, I would love to have some specific noise parameters in our code,” Bledsoe said.
As the board moves forward, he said it should plan to work with other departments, particularly the Board of Health, and other communities.
