Permits for Solar Energy Facilities are to be Judged on Site-Specific Factors

In Sunpin Energy Services, LLC v.  Zoning Board of Appeals of Petersham, No. SJC-13860 (July 14, 2026), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) once again opined on the extent of the G.L. c. 40A, §3, “Dover Amendment” protections for solar energy systems. In Sunpin, the SJC has both affirmed the right generally of a municipality to deny a permit for a solar energy system but remanded the denial in this instance, while laying out a standard for determining the narrow set of circumstances in which denials would be appropriate. 

The Town of Petersham is ninety-seven percent forested and entirely zoned residential-agricultural. Much of the instant dispute centered on whether the cutting of 14.3 acres of forest for the siting of a solar energy system was a detrimental consequence of the project to the present or future character of the neighborhood or community such that the required special permit could be denied. The SJC accepted that there may be cases in which tree removal to facilitate solar energy systems may be detrimental to public health, safety, or welfare. In this case, however, the SJC identified three defects with the Zoning Board of Appeals’ (ZBA) decision. The ZBA cannot deny the facility because it did not provide “clear community benefits,” nor because there were hypothetical concerns about future development. Finally, in a town as heavily forested as Petersham, reliance on generalized deforestation concerns was in effect a prohibition of all solar facilities, at odds with the protections afforded by the Dover Amendment.

The SJC indicated that a site-specific analysis of the location of a proposed solar energy system is required to “inform whether the denial of the special permit is necessary to protect the public health, safety, or welfare at this particular location as provided by [the Dover Amendment] or reflective of a general prohibition or unreasonable regulation of solar energy systems that is precluded by the [the Dover Amendment].” The SJC directed the Petersham ZBA to perform a site-specific analysis “including whether avoiding deforestation at this particular site is necessary to protect the public health, safety, or welfare, and if so, how this site differs from others in the town where large solar energy systems may be sited.”