For Town Meeting, Marion’s Energy Management Committee is proposing two bylaws to outline where solar panels can be placed in the town and establish a municipal solar overlay district.

Getting the Planning Board’s blessing, however, will be no easy task.

The board held a public meeting that was standing room only on Tuesday evening to discuss the first solar bylaw.

“State law 40A says that towns cannot deny the construction of solar energy facilities except to ‘protect the public health, safety, or welfare,’” said EMC member Jennifer Francis.

The broad law, said Francis, is the reason the town needs a bylaw to provide “oversight and abutter protection without onerous demands on the applicant.”

While the board agreed that the town needs a solar bylaw, Chair Jay Ryder said they wanted to take time to craft one themselves. “This procedure takes longer than the EMC is giving it.”

The committee’s bylaw states that roof-mounted panels conform to the size and contour of the roof and be no higher than 12 inches above the roof’s surface. For ground-mounted systems of 600 square feet or less, a minor site plan review is required as well as a lot of at least one acre. Electricity production cannot exceed 120 percent of the owner’s annual usage. The panels must also be screened to limit visibility.

A system with panels over 600 square feet would require a more in-depth site plan review.

Only projects outside of the bylaw’s restrictions would require a special permit, a sticking point for the Planning Board.

“Requiring a special permit to construct ground -mounted solar collection systems is a very key issue,” said Ryder. “Without that we can’t support your proposed bylaw.”

Bill Saltonstall of the EMC responded, “I have a problem with the special permit process.  I’d far rather be working under a set of bylaws that say what you can do and what you can’t do in plain language.”

The board expressed concern over the size of ground systems and the visibility for abutters. Saltonstall responded that the 120 percent power limitation would keep most panels under the 600 square foot limit.

“If you had enough solar panels to serve the needs of an average sized home, you probably wouldn’t have to exceed 325 square feet,” he said.

On several points, the board and the committee seemed to cross wires.

The board disagreed with the one-acre limit. “Clearly that does not allow for a number of residents to have ground mounted solar collection systems,” said North.

Francis rebutted. “I’m a little surprised to hear you say that. After one of our recent meetings, our feeling was that you were concerned with how the ground-mounted systems would look in someone’s backyard.”

Residents were mixed.

“It’s time for Marion to move ahead. We’ve been stuck here,” said Margie Baldwin. “I urge you to really think about this. It just seems like you’re picking at very small points here.”

But Jan Keeler said, “This will not help anyone’s property values, I don’t believe. I think we should take time to talk about this.”

Francis asked if adding a special permit to the bylaw would win the board’s support.

“If you’re willing to give it to us, maybe there are some other compromises that would allow a unanimous decision to back this bylaw. It’s worth pursuing,” said North.

The hearing ended before the second bylaw could be discussed. Additional hearings are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday night.