Large Scale Solar proposed for 190 Ridge Road
The Planning Board has received an application for Site Plan Review regarding a Large Scale Ground Mounted Solar Photovoltaic Installation at 190 Ridge Road. Because the project overlaps the Water Supply Protection District, the Planning Board has also received an application for a Special Permit for the same project, in accordance with section 9.2 of Worthington’s zoning bylaws (ZBL).
The Planning Board held a Public Hearing on Thursday, November 20, 2025 at 6:30pm to hear feedback on the proposed project, specifically the Special Permit. The hearing was in Town Hall, and was recorded via GoToMeeting. That recording can be found here. The hearing was continued to January 8 at 6:30pm. The recording for that session can be found here.
The Public Hearing has been continued to February 11 at 6:30pm, in the RH Conwell School cafeteria.
The application for Site Plan Review was deemed complete at a public meeting of the Planning Board on December 16, 2025. This is an administrative determination, not an approval or denial of the application. At the same meeting we accepted an agreement with the applicant, BlueWave, “so the date for decision on the Site Plan Review Application coincides with the date for decision on the Special Permit Application pursuant to G.L. c. 40A, § 9.” This agreement is on file with the Town Clerk, and is linked below. Recordings of that meeting can be found here.
According to this agreement, the Site Plan Review of this project will occur within the same hearing as the Special Permit review, and the hearing will be continued while further evidence and testimony needs to be collected. Once that phase is complete, the Planning Board will close the hearing and begin to deliberate. By G.L. c. 40A, § 9 the Planning Board has 90 days to issue a decision once the hearing is closed.
Given the complexity of this project, we expect the hearing will be continued at least a couple times.
While we have deemed the application for Site Plan Review complete, it is not static, nor is it approved. Additional documents will be submitted, and the plans may change. We will continue to make all documents submitted by the applicant available on this webpage, and we will do our best to guide people to the most current version.
The Planning Board presented a series of questions to the applicant on November 19, 2025 (linked below). We received the applicant’s response January 2, 2026 and expect to discuss them at the continued hearing on January 8, 2026.
All hardcopy submittals, including full scale plans, can be reviewed at the Worthington Town Hall, 160 Huntington Road, Worthington, between 10am and 2pm on Monday through Friday. Please contact Katrin Kaminsky at (413) 238-5577 x110 or townclerk@worthington-ma.us for more information about reviewing the application. This webpage will include submittals that we received digitally.
We have included all submitted documents below. Please note that the initial submission have been revised. The most current plan set is at the top of the list.
Documents relating to this project
Complete Plan Set for 190 Ridge Road, as received January 2, 2026. This is the current plan set.
Introduction to the project, extracted from Site Plan Review Application received September 24, 2025.
Special Permit Application, as received September 24, 2025. Note, the plan set included in this document is no longer current.
Materials from a presentation to the Planning Board by BlueWave Solar on August 25, 2025. This document describes the dual-use (agricultural and solar) nature of this project, and a second proposed project at 105 Old Post Road in Worthington. The Planning Board has not received an application for Site Plan Review for the project on Old Post Road.
The Site Plan Review Application has been deemed complete, in accordance with ZBL § 2.6.4. Below is the application as originally submitted September 24, 2025, as well as additional documents submitted in response to questions from the Planning Board.
- Site Plan Review application, as received September 24, 2025. Note, the plan set included in this document is no longer current.
- Initial questions, sent to the applicant October 17, 2025
- Response to Planning Board, as received October 21, 2025. Note, the plan set included in this document is no longer current
- Additional questions, sent to the applicant November 19, 2025
- Response received January 2, 2026
- Appendix to response, also received January 2, 2026. This includes the current plan set.
- Additional documents received December 11, 2025 and December 15, 2025
- Agreement with BlueWave, as filed with the Town Clerk December 15, 2025
Feedback from other Departments and Board in Worthington
Part of the review process is to seek comments from other departments and boards in town. ZBL § 2.5(E) requires the Board of Health and Conservation Commission to receive a copy of all Special Permit applications, which they were sent October 3, 2025. Additionally, ZBL § 2.6.7(B) requires that when an application for Site Plan Review is deemed complete, the Fire Department, Police Department, Conservation Commission, Board of Health, Building Inspector and Highway Superintendent, Zoning Board of Appeals and Selectboard receive a copy. The Planning Board has a policy of including the Board of Assessors in that notification. That notification was sent to all listed departments December 22, 2025.
ZBL § 2.5(E) and ZBL § 2.6.7(B) allow all departments 35 days to respond, after which the Planning Board may assume the departments have no comments. In this case it is our hope to hear from all departments and boards, and we expect to allow them the time they need to review the project even if that exceeds 35 days.
Below is a list of documents we have received from other departments and boards:
The Planning Board meets at 6:30pm on the fourth Thursday of every month in the Town Hall
Due to increased meeting frequency in response to the Large Scale Solar project proposed for 190 Ridge Road, we may or may not be sticking to our regularly scheduled meetings. Please be in touch if you would like to be added to the agenda for an upcoming meeting.
Questions? Contact Bart Niswonger, Chair at planning@worthington-ma.us
Minutes
Minutes for (most of) our meetings can be found here. Recordings are also available for some meetings. If you would like copies of specific meeting minutes which are missing, please write planning@worthington-ma.us.
| General Zoning Documents |
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| Accessory Dwelling Units |
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| As of February 3, 2025, Massachusetts has put into effect 760 CMR 71.00: PROTECTED USE ACCESSORY DWELLING UNITS. These laws supersede Worthington’s current ADU bylaws. The Planning Board is working to review and modify our laws accordingly. The Planning Board is happy to discuss any questions or plans you may have. Worthington passed an amendment (section 8.7) to our zoning bylaws allowing Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in 2022. Under that bylaw, ADUs are allowed under the Site Plan Review process outlined in section 2.6 of the bylaws. There are various conditions which must be met in order for an ADU to be allowed. Those conditions are listed in section 8.7, but include that the ADU must be less than 900 sqft, and that at least one of the dwelling units is occupied by an owner of the property. This second condition requires filing a Declaration of Covenants with the Registry of Deeds prior to an occupancy permit being granted. |
| Site Plan Review Application – This is used to apply for an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) |
| Declaration of Covenants – This template can be recorded with the Registry of Deeds to satisfy the filing requirements for an ADU prior to getting an occupancy permit. |
| The Site Plan Review process has several steps. In order to ensure that the Planning Board is consistent in our review of application, we developed the following documents. They are presented here to give a sense of the process, but the Planning Board reserves the right to modify its procedure at any time. |
| Site Plan Review Application Process – We encourage interested parties to reach out to the Planning Board before submitting an application. However, once an application is ready to be submitted, this is the outline of the process that we will use to review it. |
| Site Plan Review Application Checklist – This is a document we use to determine that we have considered all the elements required by the bylaws when reviewing a Site Plan Review application. It is a distillation of sections 8.7 and 2.6 of the zoning bylaws. It is here for informational purposes, and may change as we gain experience with the Site Plan Review application process. |
| Notice of Site Plan Review Decision – This form is used by the Planning Board to communicate their decision on a Site Plan Review Application. |
| Members | Title | Term Expires |
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Kate Bavelock
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Member
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2026
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Bart Niswonger
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Chair
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2027
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Nestor Matthews
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Member
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2028
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Anna Maunz
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Member
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2029
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Kathy Ford
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Member
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2025
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Survey Results (from Fall 2022)
The survey results can be found in this document.
It has been edited slightly to protect privacy. We removed question #2, which mapped “Response ID” to street name, and #11, in which people provided their email addresses. We also removed question #4, which was a question left over from a draft version of the survey, and which was not asked.Past Zoning Bylaw Amendments
2024
The Planning Board proposed two amendments to the Protective Zoning By-Laws of the Town of Worthington for consideration by the residents at the Annual Town Meeting on May 4, 2024. Both passed. The Attorney General’s office approved the amendments July 31, 2024.
The new bylaws are now in effect and can be found here.
The first adopted amendment replaces several existing uses allowed under Special Permit (section 4.4(A)) with a more generic term “Outdoor Recreation”, and provides a definition. After feedback during the Public Hearing, we changed the definition to reference “sporting clubs” and “snowmobiling”.
Outdoor Recreation Bylaw Amendment, including summary
The second adopted amendment allows the Selectboard to issue Temporary Event Permits for a range of uses not otherwise allowed by the bylaws. The proposed language was changed after the Public Hearing to reduce the number of discrete events allowed (to 3 per year), and to move the language to section 4.3 which better reflects the idea that these Temporary Events would be allowed without the need to apply for a Special Permit.
Event Permit Bylaw Amendment, with summary
The Town of Northfield’s Event Permit Application provides a model for what the Planning Board recommends for the Town of Worthington.
A Public Hearing addressing these amendments was held April 18 @ 6:30pm at Town Hall.
Click here for a recording of the April 18,2024 Public Hearing
2023
The Planning Board proposed several amendments to the Protective Zoning By-Laws of the Town of Worthington for consideration by the residents at the Annual Town Meeting on May 6, 2023. All three passed. The Attorney General’s office approved the amendments on August 9, 2023.
The new bylaws are now in effect and can be found here.
The amendments fall into three basic categories:
- To see if the town is interested in adding Seasonal Food Trucks and Food Trailers to the list of uses allowed by Special Permit in section 4.4;
- To ask the town to consider adjusting the location requirement for marijuana establishments to bring them in line with our understanding of the intent of that by-law, and to consider adding language particularly addressing outdoor cultivation of marijuana;
- And to ask the town to make a series of editorial changes with the intent of making the by-laws more accurate.
Each of these categories were presented at Town Meeting as separate warrant articles. The documents below provide summaries and the proposed changes to the zoning by-laws.
A Public Hearing addressing these amendments was held April 10 @ 7pm at Town Hall. All three amendments were approved at Annual Town Meeting on May 6, 2023.