Exelon PILOT breezes by Town Meeting

MEDWAY - Without much discussion regarding a hotly-debated topic among residents and town officials for the better part of a year, residents at Annual Town Meeting passed a $75.2 million tax agreement for Exelon’s proposed power plant expansion.

The agreement, a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT), has Exelon, which is proposing a 200-megawatt, two-turbine expansion at its Summer Street power plant, paying the town that amount over a 20-year period.

Annual payments begin at just more than $3.8 million and drop to just under $3.5 million by year 20 of the agreement, according to the PILOT.

The article and agreement had no bearing on if the plant is constructed, as that decision lies only with the state Energy Facilities Siting Board, which conducted a series of hearings on the matter over the winter. A decision is expected later this spring.

Town Moderator Mark Cerel restricted discussion to the agreement and not environmental issues about the expansion, which will run on natural gas and oil as a backup.

If Exelon were to pay taxes based on the company’s $160 million valuation, payments would begin at just more than $2.9 million and decrease to $2.6 million.

Cerel said that upon an annual review by an assessor that specializes in such facilities, Exelon could appeal to an appellate tax board, resulting in increased cost to the town.

Resident Brian Adams, a staunch opponent to the plant, said he supports the PILOT, but offered an amendment to the article stating that approval of the agreement is not a vote of support for the project.

“As a taxpayer, I want to see the best for Medway,” he said. “Seeing the PILOT approved … is acceptable, but I don’t want the vote to be construed at the state level as approval of the project.”

The town was very active in distributing information about the agreement and the pros and cons of passing the article, including newspaper inserts and documents on the town’s website.

Residents also passed a general bylaw article that restricts the parking of vehicles with a Class 5 gross vehicle weight rating or higher on public or private streets and property setback areas for the respective zoning district. Class 5 vehicles have a gross vehicle weight rating of 16,001 pounds to 19,500, according to the Federal Highway Administration. Any vehicles that are included or exceed that weight range would be subject to the limitations in the proposed article.

Such vehicles will only be allowed to park on the street for up to six hours unless it is being used for “loading, unloading or providing a service to one or more adjacent properties,” such as landscaping, construction and paving.

Parking in a setback area is allowed only if the property’s paved driveway is located in the setback area.

Residents passed 30 other articles, including a $48.3 million budget and authorization for selectmen to engage in contract negotiations for municipal energy aggregation.

An article seeking the approval of the $450,000 for design and engineering costs for a proposed project to renovate town parks and playgrounds was moved over, as the article will be taken up at Special Town Meeting on June 9, which will also decide the fate of a resident petition to impose a moratorium on using crumb rubber on athletic fields.

Zachary Comeau can be reached at 508-634-7556 and zcomeau@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @ZComeau_MDN.