The 74.5-acre parcel at 54 South Street in Morris was used for crop production, with open fields, woodlands and wetlands. By the end of September 2026, solar module installation and fencing had started on about 23.6 acres of it. The Town of Morris never filed a comment on the project. The decision belonged to the Connecticut Siting Council, and the town's role was limited to commenting and, for some kinds of facilities, issuing location orders that the Council can override.
For buyers looking at country homes and small farms in Morris, this matters. The town zoning map doesn't show what a neighboring open field can become. In 2026, the largest physical changes to Morris farmland went through the Connecticut Siting Council. At the same time, the town's Planning and Zoning Commission used its own authority on two uses that no one has yet proposed here.
Two fields on South Street, one state process
Two solar projects on the same road got state approval within two months of each other. Here they are side by side:
| Petition 1686 | Petition 1695 | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 54 South Street | 166 South Street |
| Capacity | 4.99 MW AC | 4.05 MW AC |
| Project area | About 23.6 acres of a 74.5-acre parcel | 19.9 acres of a 37.3-acre parcel |
| Prior use | Crop production | Corn, in three fields with woods |
| Council approval | February 5, 2026 | April 2, 2026 |
| Status | Construction began May 11, 2026 | Contracted in-service date of December 9, 2027 |
| Current holder | CF Morris South LLC, by transfer acknowledged September 15, 2026 | LSE Phobos LLC |
Greenskies Clean Energy filed the first project, and its approval later moved to CF Morris South LLC. The new holder is still bound by the original conditions. Lodestar Energy filed the second. The Lodestar layout uses the two western fields and a wooded area. It leaves the eastern field along South Street free of panels. Someone driving past 166 South Street could see an open field from the road and never guess what is planned behind it.
Together the two projects cover 43.52 acres, according to CT Insider. For scale, the town's Plan of Conservation and Development counted 1,690 actively farmed acres in Morris as of 2021, about 13.8 percent of the town's area. Another 1,346 acres were protected from development by state or local agencies. When the town polled residents for that plan, the top reason they gave for choosing Morris was its "rural character," and they specifically mentioned farmland.
Why the town's zoning didn't decide either project
Both developers asked the Siting Council for a declaratory ruling. The Council has jurisdiction over utility-scale solar by law. A 2020 report from the legislature's Office of Legislative Research summarizes how this works. The Council's jurisdiction generally covers renewable generating facilities over 1 MW. Distributed-resource projects up to 65 MW usually go through the declaratory-ruling route when they meet the statute's conditions. The decision on 54 South Street spells out the standard. The Council "shall" approve such a facility "unless the Council finds a substantial adverse environmental effect."
That standard shapes how local participation works. On the Greenskies petition, the Council wrote to the town in August 2025 and invited comments by September 11, 2025. None came in. On the Lodestar petition, the developer consulted Morris officials and presented its plan to the Board of Selectmen. Neither Morris nor neighboring Bethlehem filed comments with the Council.
Town Zoning Officer Tony Adili explained the town's view to CT Insider. "Not everyone's a big fan of the Siting Council, but with solar farms they have to go through a rigorous review process, and we're not really sure with data centers how protected we are," he said. "We can't control that, that's all state jurisdiction. This is something we can control."
Where Morris used the authority it has
The town's response focused on battery energy storage systems and data centers. The Planning and Zoning Commission adopted a moratorium that took effect June 10, 2026 and runs for twenty-four months. The moratorium text covers grid-scale and commercial battery storage, including systems paired with renewable energy or substations. It also covers hyperscale, colocation and enterprise data centers. It exempts residential battery storage that is clearly subordinate to the home, ordinary backup power that isn't meant for grid services, and projects that already had every zoning approval in hand.
No data center had been proposed in Morris. CT Insider also reported that no one attended the advertised public hearing. The town isn't stopping at a pause, though. An August 31, 2026 memo from Town Planner Janell Mullen proposes language listing both uses as "specifically prohibited in all districts." At its August 19 meeting, the commission voted unanimously to direct the planner not to allow these uses as permitted uses. As of this writing, we couldn't confirm from town records whether the permanent prohibition has been heard or adopted.
One question remains open. State statute keeps a local siting role for storage facilities that fall under Council jurisdiction. Town zoning and wetlands bodies can issue location orders within 65 days of a Council application, and those orders can be appealed to the Council. We found no official source that says whether a town-wide ban like the one Morris has proposed would bind a battery facility in a Council proceeding. Data centers on their own don't appear among the Council's facility categories. That helps explain why the town feels freer to regulate them.
What the state record shows before construction starts
A Council docket shows far more than a zoning map does, and it is public. The Greenskies petition moved through these steps:
- March 20, 2025. The developer began consulting town officials.
- On or about August 6, 2025. Notice went to town officials, state agencies and abutting property owners.
- September 18, 2025. The Council set February 8, 2026 as its decision deadline.
- January 2026. The Council sent written questions to the developer. The answers included photos that served as a "virtual" field review.
- February 5, 2026. The Council approved the petition with conditions.
Two abutting owners raised concerns about electromagnetic fields, privacy fencing, water runoff and horse safety. A community meeting planned for December 15, 2025 was canceled and was to be rescheduled. A later developer filing listed a longer set of neighbor questions. They covered setbacks, vegetative buffers, wells, wildlife, fire safety, traffic, property values and decommissioning.
The approval conditions answer some of those questions on paper. At 54 South Street, the Council required a final landscape and screening plan, wildlife protections, emergency-response planning and post-construction noise monitoring. At 166 South Street, the conditions included a decommissioning and prime-farmland restoration bond, seasonal limits on tree clearing and an annual vegetation plan. Lodestar's petition also listed local Morris building and electrical permits it planned to get closer to construction. So the town still has a role in the build, even though the Council made the siting decision.
The state rulebook has gotten stricter over time, but the basic route hasn't changed. Since 2017, Public Act 17-218 has required written sign-off from the Department of Agriculture for solar of 2 MW or more on prime farmland. In 2023, Public Act 23-163 added a decommissioning and farmland-restoration bond requirement for a narrower category of solar projects on prime farmland or forestland. In 2024, P.A. 24-144 added noise evaluation and a 200-foot separation between inverters or transformers and property lines. In 2026, P.A. 26-127 added incident reporting, effective October 1, 2026. It also told DEEP to study whether the 2017 farmland rules are working.
Reading a Morris parcel with both rulebooks open
For a buyer weighing a Morris property next to open land, the town and the state each answer different questions. Town zoning governs most of what a neighbor could build. As of June 2026, it also pauses battery storage and data centers. For solar at the scale built on South Street, the record to read is at the state.
The Council keeps a facility list for Morris. As of this month it shows both South Street solar approvals. It also shows an AT&T notice to modify existing equipment at 310 Watertown Road, which is a modification and not a new tower. The Council's pending matters page showed no Morris petitions when we checked. The Council warns that this database isn't required to be kept current, so an empty result is a starting point and not proof that nothing is pending.
Timing matters too. The Greenskies project went from first town consultation to state approval in about ten and a half months. Abutters received formal notice six months before the vote. Anyone who buys next to a farm field after that notice goes out won't have received the letter. The Greenskies docket still holds the notice date, the comment deadline, the abutter concerns and the conditions.
A few questions buyers ask
Can Morris zoning stop a solar farm of this size? Not through ordinary zoning. Solar over 1 MW generally falls under the Siting Council. According to the OLR report, town zoning and wetlands bodies may issue location-related orders on some facilities, and the Council can affirm, modify or revoke them. On South Street, town officials took part through consultation and the comment window, and neither project drew town comments.
Does the moratorium affect a home battery? The moratorium text exempts residential battery storage that is clearly subordinate to the home, and backup power that isn't intended for commercial storage or grid services.
Are other towns doing the same thing? CT Insider reported that Morris was partly following Groton's example. Groton adopted a one-year moratorium in 2022 and later banned data centers over 12,500 square feet.
If you're considering a Morris property next to open farmland, or selling one near South Street, E.J. Murphy Realty can go through the town records and the Siting Council docket with you before you make a decision. When you're ready, we'll also prepare a free home valuation that accounts for what's happening on the land around you.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
