Rehoboth Planning Board Eyes October Deadline on State Clean Energy Permitting Portal

REHOBOTH -- April 1, 2026, Rehoboth Planning Board releases a stalled solar bond and hears warnings about a looming state clean energy permitting deadline. The board voted unanimously to release the construction bond on a 2018-approved but unbuilt solar project at 297 Winthrop Street after the original company exited, and voted to recommend the town not exercise its right of first refusal on four Haas family parcels on Providence Street, each roughly an acre and a half at full market value, after the Community Preservation Committee and Agricultural and Natural Resources Committee found acquisition financially out of reach. A board member returning from the Citizen Planner Training Collaborative annual meeting warned the board it must formally accept the state's new consolidated clean energy permitting portal by October 1, 2026, a system that will impose a 12-month permitting clock on solar and wind applications, while also flagging that the town's existing solar bylaw is already out of compliance with a state law now in effect, with a corrective bylaw unlikely before a fall special town meeting. The board identified Connor Rockett of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources' Contact, Siting, and Permitting Division as a regional coordinator to invite for a local briefing.