Planning Board – 190 Ridge Road

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 discussed them at the continued hearing on January 8, 2026. We expect the answers to be revised and to discuss those on February 11. We are also in the process of hiring an engineering firm to assist with a Technical Review of the proposal. It is likely that review will not be ready for February 11, so discussion of it is likely to occur at a later session of the hearing, but that remains to be seen.

Submittals

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.

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: