WORTHINGTON — Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office has notified the town that all three of its moratorium-related articles on large-scale solar arrays do not meet the requirements of state law, according to a June 8 letter. The letter cites a lack of specificity about the timeframe and scope of the moratoriums as the reason for the decision.

“I’m not surprised,” Select Board Chair Charley Rose after receiving the letter.  “We took a shot… but the state is just making this impossible.”

Worthington joins a growing number of communities whose voter-approved temporary moratoriums on large-scale solar arrays have been rejected by the AG’s office.

Residents voted in three different solar moratoriums during a special Town Meeting in February, with the intent of curbing applications so town officials could prepare more robust zoning requirements to protect natural resources.

Article 6, a citizen’s petition signed by 258 residents, called for large-scale solar array applications to be halted until June 30, 2027 to allow officials more time to develop more robust limits on such developments in town.

Article 7 called for a moratorium through June 30, 2027 to restrict large-scale, ground-mounted arrays within the town’s water supply district and flood plain, the Westfield River watershed, and other habitat areas. Article 7 also called for the creation of a solar overlay district, indicating areas in town that meet the criteria to develop large-scale arrays.

Article 8 would have placed a moratorium specifically on Battery Energy Storage, or BESS systems that often contain lithium-ion batteries, within the areas identified in Article 7.

The articles were spurred by an application filed in the fall by BlueWave Energy of Boston, which calls for 7,462 ground-mounted agrivoltaic panels in an open field at 190 Ridge Road, with the panels elevated to allow farming underneath. The project awaits a special permit, and the project is still under review by the Planning Board.

Concerning Article 6, the AG’s office concluded that, “the proposed moratorium lacks any specific articulated public health, safety, or welfare justification sufficient to justify the prohibition.”

Meanwhile the AG’s office articulated that Article 7 and 8 are not limited in scope or time, and therefore conflict with state law.

“The moratoriums provide that they will remain in effect through June 30, 2027 or until the town adopts zoning amendments, without making it clear which of these two events will result in the expiration of the moratorium and without making it clear when the Town must adopt zoning amendments,” the letter reads. “Therefore, as written, the by-law would authorize the Town to decide when to end the moratorium by choosing between either the stated date (June 30, 2027) or the stated occurrence (adoption of zoning amendments), with the stated occurrence being something that may not happen.”

The letter goes on to clarify what is lacking in scope, saying that, “Not only is it not clear what is prohibited during the moratorium periods, but the vagueness of the moratoriums’ scope leads to potential arbitrary or discretionary enforcement by the Town.”

Blandford, Northfield and Carver have all advanced voter-approved moratoriums to the AG’s office and all of them have been denied. Becket still waits for an answer from the attorney general.

While the Worthington moratoriums were rejected, the AG’s office did approve a zoning change that was brought forward in Article 9 of the special Town Meeting. The article establishes a 90-day decision timeline following a public hearing, requiring hearings to open within 65 days of filing while enacting new abutter notification guidelines.

Helen Sharron Pollard, the citizen who spearheaded Article 6, and Planning Board Chair Bart Niswonger could not be reached for comment.