Hampden Planning Board Advances Two Zoning Fixes
Planning Commission · Meeting of September 9, 2026
Hampden Planning Board sends two zoning fixes to the fall Town Meeting. Chair Patrick Coyne and members unanimously recommended deleting a contradictory 25-foot setback provision from the special-permit rules the Zoning Board of Appeals applies to nonconforming structures. The board also closed out months of work on the town's solar energy bylaw, replacing ambiguous "remainder of the land" language with "an equal amount of the land" after Town Counsel Dave Martell warned it could force a farm hosting a 30-acre array to leave 370 acres permanently undeveloped.
A resident named Russ pressed members on whether farmland doubling as solar acreage would count twice toward the bylaw's 50 percent surface-area cap; the board concluded it would count once, tied to the solar footprint. Both measures head to the October 28 Town Meeting, then to the Massachusetts attorney general's office for review.
In the full story:
- Who Was There
- Organizations And Documents Referenced
- The complete report — 2,881 words
Source: the Planning Commission meeting of September 9, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
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