The Select Board and Conservation Commission began previewing two issues likely to return before voters: an expensive design-and-permitting phase for the Douty Road recreation plan, and a new local bylaw governing solar and battery energy storage projects under the state’s accelerated permitting system.
The Conservation Commission approved a one-time change allowing the Cedar Lake Association to treat the new growth on August 11. The treatment is meant to knock back the dense surface growth and reduce its spread; it will not eliminate the plant’s roots. The association plans to follow it with a winter drawdown beginning November 1.
This summary is based on the August 3 Select Board meeting and August 6 Conservation Commission meeting. Official meeting minutes are still pending approval. Links below jump directly to the relevant portions of the official meeting videos.
The biggest takeaways
Town officials expect to seek money for the next phase of the Douty Road recreation project at a future Special Town Meeting. That money would pay for design and permitting not construction.
Sturbridge is also developing solar and battery-storage rules before the state’s accelerated clean-energy permitting process fully takes effect locally.
The Conservation Commission approved a one-time expansion allowing treatment of approximately 11.2 acres of fanwort in Cedar Lake on August 11.
Table of Contents
Douty Road is moving toward an expensive design phase
Town Administrator Robin Grimm thanked residents for the turnout and feedback at the July 29 Douty Road meeting, then repeated the most important next step: the town will need voter approval for design and permitting money before it can turn the recreation concept into a buildable project.
Grimm said design work often costs at least 10% of a project’s construction cost and described the next phase as expensive. The town expects to approach the Community Preservation Committee and may place the request on a Special Town Meeting warrant within the next several months.
As The Town Minute explained in last week’s full breakdown, officials have discussed a preliminary request of at least $1 million. No final amount has been set.
In plain English: the next vote would not build fields, trails, parking or playgrounds. It would pay for the surveying, engineering, environmental review, traffic work, stormwater design, construction documents and permits needed to determine what can actually be built and what each phase would cost.
Sturbridge is writing solar and battery-storage rules
Grimm also said the town is actively developing a battery energy storage bylaw and required solar changes for a future Special Town Meeting.
The purpose, she stressed, is not to invite battery facilities into Sturbridge. It is to establish as much local control as state law allows over location, design, safety and other conditions if proposals are filed.
Under Massachusetts’ new clean-energy siting rules, municipalities must offer a consolidated local permitting process for qualifying smaller projects, while larger facilities move through the state Energy Facilities Siting Board process.
Conservation Agent Lauren Vivier said Sturbridge’s temporary battery-storage moratorium remains in effect unless the Attorney General’s Office rejects it, but the town still needs permanent rules. The Planning Board is beginning its bylaw review, with the goal of bringing a proposal to a Special Town Meeting.
This will be one of the most important policy discussions to watch this fall. The state is limiting how long local review can take, and officials are trying to preserve meaningful local standards before a project arrives.
Cedar Lake’s fanwort outbreak grew quickly
The Cedar Lake Association said its May 5 survey found 13 acres of milfoil and six acres of starry stonewort and pondweed but no fanwort.
The Commission previously allowed the association to exceed its normal 10-acre treatment cap and treat 19 acres. The association reported that treatment was successful.
By late June, however, residents began reporting another weed problem. The lake-management company Solitude identified the new growth as fanwort, and a midsummer survey mapped more than 11 acres.
The association said fanwort can spread through fragments broken loose by boats, rudders and other lake activity. Those fragments can reattach and form new plants. Dense growth had developed across much of the north end and near the beach, creating concern about swimmers becoming entangled.
Treatment is scheduled for August 11
The Commission unanimously approved a one-time change allowing approximately 11.2 acres to be treated with flumioxazin, an aquatic herbicide.
The association had already posted notices on July 28 to satisfy its two-week notice requirement and said the treatment was planned for Tuesday, August 11.
Residents and lake users should follow the posted treatment notices and any temporary use restrictions at the lake.
One deadline to watch this week
MassDOT will hold a virtual public hearing Wednesday, August 12, at 7 p.m. on proposed Route 49 intersection improvements.
The proposal includes replacing the Route 49/Putnam Road intersection with a roundabout, improving sight distance at Walker Pond Road and making safety and multimodal improvements near Route 20.
Other decisions to know
The Select Board approved a new utility pole near Maple Street and Gardner Avenue. The town will follow up on the pole’s setback from the road and on delays removing old jointly used utility poles. Watch the hearing.
What happens next
Residents should watch for:
August 11: Cedar Lake’s planned fanwort treatment
August 12 at 7 p.m.: MassDOT’s virtual Route 49 hearing
August 27: the next Conservation Commission meeting, including continued hearings
This fall: Planning Board review and public hearings on Sturbridge’s solar and battery-storage bylaw
A future Special Town Meeting: possible votes on the energy bylaw and Douty Road design funding
October 1: expected public review of the draft Plimpton Community Forest master plan
November 1: Cedar Lake’s planned winter drawdown begins
Stay informed with The Town Minute
The next several months will determine how Sturbridge handles Cedar Lake, battery storage, solar development and the next phase of the Douty Road plan.
The Town Minute will track the hearings, proposed bylaws, warrant articles and votes so residents do not have to monitor every agenda and sit through every meeting themselves.
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The Town Minute is an independent publication not affiliated with the Town of Sturbridge or any municipal office. While we strive for accuracy, errors or omissions may occur. For official and complete records, please refer to the town’s approved meeting minutes, agendas, documents and official meeting recordings.
