ASHFIELD — The Planning Board has much to consider after hearing resident concerns regarding the timing of proposed amendments to the town’s large-scale industrial and commercial facilities bylaw on Wednesday.

The large-scale industrial and commercial facilities bylaw was adopted by Town Meeting voters in 2018 in response to a citizen’s petition concerning the potential installation of a natural gas pipeline in town. A bylaw was drafted with help from the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG), modeled after a bylaw passed in Conway, Shelburne and Windsor. At the time, the Planning Board did not recommend adopting the bylaw as members felt it did not provide enough protection, given the town’s needs and concerns, but voters approved it anyway.

Now, seven years later, the Planning Board has revisited the bylaw and is proposing a few changes that members feel better address concerns pertaining to large industrial projects and offer potential applicants a clearer picture of what they need to do to get their project approved.

“Everything’s been tweaked a little bit,” Planning Board Clerk Alan Rice said. “There are two real key changes we made to the existing bylaw.”

Rice explained the board reorganized the document and reworded some sections for clarity, but the big changes came from adding a new section on criteria for projects, and new sections on pre, post and construction phases. The new sections list requirements for pre-project environmental condition studies, construction plans, traffic impact plans, road protection and runoff plans, and more.

“We want to make it clear to any potential applicant what they have to do,” Rice said.

Ashfield residents who attended Wednesday’s Planning Board meeting said they appreciated the time and effort the board put into the revisions, but now is not the time to bring any bylaws regarding industrial facilities to the Attorney General’s Office.

Resident Ron Coler said the AG’s office may see the bylaw as an “attack” on Chapter 239, which was signed into law by Gov. Maura Healey in November. Chapter 239, also known as “An Act Promoting a Clean Energy Grid, Advancing Equity and Protecting Ratepayers,” seeks to incentivize the construction of clean energy projects throughout the state and expedite local permitting processes.

“I wish your timing was better,” Coler said. “I suggest you abandon this effort.”

Coler said that had the revisions to the large-scale industrial and commercial facilities bylaw been proposed a few years ago, they may have been approved by the AG’s office, but lately, the office has been rejecting bylaws that seek to regulate construction of clean energy generating or storage facilities, and this particular bylaw may fall under that category and be tossed out. Shutesbury, Wendell and Northfield are among the local towns that have had their bylaws rejected by the state.

Ashfield’s current large-scale industrial and commercial facilities bylaw is not perfect, Coler continued, but it is better than nothing, and if the town sends the bylaw to the AG’s office, it risks losing the bylaw’s current protections.

“It seems like you’re opening a can of worms for no reason,” Ashfield resident Andrew Wells said.

Members of the public added that if the board does proceed with amending the bylaw, a few changes should be made. Wells said the “one-size-fits-all” approach to regulating large-scale industrial facilities leaves gaps that could impact the town and its residents. For example, Wells said the bylaw states a project cannot include more than 5 acres of impervious surface or 25 acres of land clearing, which is a good regulation to prevent large-scale forest clearing and installation of solar fields, but several wind turbines could be put up with less than 5 acres of impervious surface.

In addition to proposed amendments to the large-scale industrial and commercial facilities bylaw, the Planning Board is proposing other amendments to the town’s zoning bylaws. These revisions include adding language to encourage applicants to have a pre-application conference with the board to ask questions and give guidance before formal permitting procedures begin, and changing language in the flood hazard district section to allow floodplain maps to be updated over time.

After listening to residents’ feedback, Planning Board members said attendees made good points they will need to consider. The board will reconvene in two weeks at its next regularly scheduled meeting to discuss how to incorporate the feedback into the bylaw, and if it is worth the risk to pass a revised bylaw that would need to be sent to the AG’s office for approval.

The full language of the proposed bylaw amendments, as well as proposed changes to definitions and flood maps, can be found at ashfield.org/DocumentCenter/Index/1084.

Reach Madison Schofield at 413-930-4579 or mschofield@recorder.com.