To the editor:

In a letter to the editor appearing in your April 3 edition, Dale and Laura Briggs claimed that I made “untrue and offensive” remarks when I stated that, “the Briggs have taken the Planning Board to task for years” at a meeting on March 3. Not only have the Briggs taken the Planning Board to task for the past two years, but they have also taken the Town of Marion to court.

On May 11, 2012 the Briggs submitted a "Form A – Request for Planning Board Determination" to construct a commercial solar farm in a residential area off County Road. The Planning Board subsequently denied the request because the project was not a permitted use within the residential zoning district in which it was to be located. In other words, the town’s zoning bylaws prevented such an installation.

On June 4, 2012 I wrote the Briggs informing them of the Planning Board decision and told them we were in the process of developing new solar bylaws for approval at a future Town Meeting and that we could take no further action on their request until the bylaws were revised. It is here that the Briggs decided to take the town to task.

Rather than wait for new solar bylaws, the Briggs hired an attorney to fight the Planning Board’s decision, now bringing the Zoning Board of Appeals to court. After a year and half legal battle, costing the Town of Marion more than $6,000 to date, a judge ruled in favor of the Zoning Board of Appeals. The suit is still pending.

I rest my case.

Jay Ryder,

Marion