Posted January 28, 2020
We know there is a lot of talk going on around town about the two major projects being proposed during zoom planning board meetings and wanted to take a moment to highlight these:
One conversation surrounds the proposed special Town Meeting article to rezone a very large portion of East Wareham (north of Route 25) as a hospitality, recreation, and entertainment district. This project would cause great stress on the environment including a negative impact on the drinking water supply for Wareham and Onset. This project would also impact our globally rare pine barrens ecosystems and countless species that call these forests home. The next Planning Board public meeting to discuss these changes is being held on Monday, February 1 at 6pm on zoom (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89866227408). We encourage everyone able to attend to do so – your voice matters!
The second project is for another solar farm to be put in town, this one being on Tihonet Road. For reference, this array of ground mounted solar panels (proposed 76 acres) would be significantly larger than the array near Wareham Crossing (16 acres). This project would involve clear cutting approximately 66 acres of our globally rare pine barrens and therefore also displacing all the animals that call those forests home. The next meeting to discuss this project will be over zoom on Monday, February 8. Please check the town Planning Board website for zoom link once agenda is posted (usually sometime the week before the meeting).
Both of these projects have serious potential to stress our valuable ecosystems. More information about both these projects is available on the Town’s website under Planning Board. The WLT is supportive of alternative ‘greener’ energy projects and understand development is an important part of any town’s economy, but we only support projects that are sustainable and where due diligence on environmental impact has been completed.