SOUTHWICK – Despite some reservations by members of the Planning Board, it unanimously approved requesting the Select Board to allow it to schedule the required public hearings needed to add a moratorium on renewable energy systems to the town’s bylaws. The hope is to have the request appear as a warrant article at the Special Town Meeting on Jan. 13.

“I think there [are] some concerns with how we’re going to put it out, when it starts, how far it’s going to spread,” said board member Jason Grunwald, referring to what might happen if a battery energy storage system were to catch fire.

When the Planning Board met on Tuesday, its chair, Jessica Thornton, said the Select Board informally requested the Planning Board to formally request the Select Board to allow it to schedule public hearings on establishing a moratorium on the construction of large-scale solar arrays and the installation of battery energy storage systems, also known as a BESS.

There have been concerns regionally about the siting of large-scale solar array fields and that they are becoming a blight on the landscape, while at the same time, questions on how to find a suitable area to install a BESS have drawn national attention for the difficulty of putting out the fires that occur when it malfunctions.

Recently, Blandford adopted a moratorium for BESS systems and large solar fields.

And while there isn’t a definitive count of the number of fires, there have been at least 26 since 2019, according to published reports.

A proposal to site a BESS in Westfield was withdrawn after there was significant pushback from the community. The proposal was that it would be located over the Barnes Aquifer, which Grunwald referred to during its meeting on Tuesday.

“[What] if it leeches…if it goes into groundwater [and the] chemicals that are associated with those materials. How far it should or should not be away from water sources, ponds, different things like that,” Grunwald said.

Board member David Spina said the board has some experience with BESS systems, noting that a small one is associated with the Goose Farm solar farm.

“My impression was that the Fire Department is still figuring out how the batteries work, what the technology is, and what safety implications there may be. Me, personally, I rely almost 100% on those experts when it comes time to making the right decisions, or right recommendations, or conditions on a special permit for a battery or solar field,” he said.

He, like board member Diane Juzab, was in favor of granting the Select Board’s request.

“I want to hear from everybody, so it makes sense to me to vote in favor of a public hearing,” Juzba said.

Board member Marcus Phelps supported approving the request and drafted some language that can be used as a framework for a warrant article.

“We need to send [the Select Board] some kind of a draft article, which could be as straightforward as a moratorium on the expansion of existing or the development of new battery energy storage systems until June 30th, 2027,” Phelps said.

Thornton agreed with Phelps on the end date of the moratorium because of the ongoing update on the town’s zoning bylaws.

Phelps warned that moving too fast may give “the impression that we’re rushing something if we try to get it on the Special Town Meeting.”

Thornton said if the Planning Board “slapdashed something together,” the Select Board could decide not to include it on a warrant, and that it may not even be ready for the Special Town Meeting in January.

“When we have our public hearing and have our discussion, we may end up with a different article to actually present,” she said.

Thornton said the public hearings, which could begin next week, could generate a “ton of input and we may be overwhelmed…and not be able to turn it around in time for it to be ready to go at the Special Town Meeting.”

“But we can start the process and with an eye towards the Annual Town Meeting,” she said.

Before that, Thornton said she wanted to clarify one thing.

“Asking to hold this public hearing is not a method of stopping solar in the town of Southwick. That is not the goal. The goal is to make sure that we actually have battery energy storage systems listed and identified, and defined within our bylaws, as well as make sure that all the new information and guidelines that are coming down from the state can be incorporated into the bylaws.

“And that we give our fire and safety officials the proper time to have their input and develop the guidance that we will follow down the road as they advise us on these applications.”