The audience gave the Warwick City Council a standing ovation Monday after it gave second passage to an ordinance restricting large solar developments in residential areas.
The vote marks the end to a process that began over the summer when the Council was one vote away from approving a previous drafted ordinance.
One of the biggest differences between the ordinance approved on Monday and the one proposed over the summer is that it doesn’t allow for large scale solar development in residential areas.
Bob Oberg, who helped to rally his neighbors to protest a possible solar project at the Valley Country Club, said that he walked on the golf course over the weekend onto Barton Farm.
“My feet have been hurting and it has been months since I have been able to enjoy this simple pleasure. As I approached a tall oak at the end of a long gradual downhill, it hit me—I had no idea how much I missed this walk. I thought, also, about how close we came to losing it,” said Oberg. “ People are waking up all across Warwick into a city whose farms, forests, and open spaces are safer than they were just one day ago, and much, much safer than they were seven months ago.”
Oberg in an email to other activists who were part of the process said, “we did this with unanimous votes at every turn in a long, complicated process.”
“I am so happy for so many of us for all the different reasons these spaces matter. I am happy they mattered enough for us to fight for them,” said Oberg. “I am grateful to each of you for your help. I am also grateful to the mayor, planning director, planning board, and city council for listening to us and for responding in a thoughtful, strategic, and respectful manner. I hope you are able to find a fitting way to celebrate this hard-earned victory.”
Read the entire story at: cranstononline.com/stories/solar-ordinance-passes
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