Selectboard backs data center moratorium letter

Select Board · Meeting of October 5, 2026

SHELBURNE — The Shelburne Selectboard voted to recommend a one-year moratorium on data center construction and conditionally backed an $85,146 energy grant. Chair Andrew Baker and member Rodney McBride, meeting without absent member Richard LaPierre, voted 2-0 to send a letter asking the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals to consider moratorium language for this year's annual town meeting, following a request from resident Rita Jaros. The board also conditionally authorized a Green Communities grant application covering roughly $11,000 in Eversource incentives and $74,000 in state funds for insulation work at the police station, town hall and visitor center, contingent on McBride's review by Wednesday.

Baker called the police station's aging theater HVAC system "operating by the grace of God." The board adopted a one-year renewable memorandum of understanding with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office for a no-cost behavioral health co-response program, appointed Karen Moore to the Council on Aging, and appointed two part-time clerical assistants at $20 an hour, but tabled a police department cell phone policy pending further review.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
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Source: the Select Board meeting of October 5, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.