To the editor:

This letter is in response to Ted North’s negative letter last week regarding the Energy Management Committee’s effort to bring energy efficiency and green power to Marion. His letter was filled with disinformation intended to confuse and mislead Marion’s residents. The Energy Management Committee’s objective is to respond to climate change and high energy costs with measures that will conserve energy and deliver clean renewable power while preserving the character of our community.

The two bylaws that appear on the warrant for this year’s Town Meeting have been drafted by the Energy Management Committee in response to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 40A, Section 3, which provides that “No zoning ordinance or by-law shall prohibit or unreasonably regulate the installation of solar energy systems or the building of structures that facilitate the collection of solar energy, except where necessary to protect the public health, safety or welfare.”

This law encourages solar installations and also limits the ability of communities like Marion to prohibit them. The Energy Management Committee has drafted zoning bylaws to regulate solar facilities with requirements that are justified, and very carefully crafted to protect the public health, safety, and welfare of town residents. Even if the town wished to prohibit these facilities, it would not be permitted to do so. That is why the bylaws focus on property sizes, setbacks, screening and the size of solar arrays.

Article 30 on the Town Meeting Warrant provides guidance to installers and sets easily enforced limits that will protect the town’s character.

Many residential lots in town have roofs that are too small, that face in the wrong direction to collect solar energy or are shaded by trees that would cast shadows on any solar collectors. Yet many of us would like to generate our own solar power if there were only a good way. That is why we are proposing in Article 31 a small Municipal Solar Overlay District on municipal land that includes the landfill. With the passage of this article, the town can lease the 2.4 acres on top of the landfill to a private developer for use as a community solar garden. In this model, the developer bears all the construction costs and financial risk, and would be required to have insurance.

Homeowners and small businesses will be able, through the mechanism of remote net-metering, to reduce their electric bills by becoming subscribers to the solar garden. This is not a device for the wealthy - rather it would benefit those who do not wish or are unable to make the lump-sum investment for a system on their own property. It is an idea that has been proven with great success in many other Massachusetts communities that believe in the need for renewable, clean, decentralized power. For example, you can read about the solar garden in nearby Brewster: http://www.brewstercommunitysolargarden.com/.

Finally, I would like to report that my own small, roof-mounted solar PV system in Marion Village is furnishing more than 70 percent of the power my home uses, and my system has a payback time on the order of four years. The advantages of these systems are so obvious! What is this issue with allowing solar power to grow in Marion?

Bill Saltonstall

Marion