Selectmen approve first step toward potential annexation
CARRABASSETT VALLEY — Selectmen approved further consideration of a plan to annex nearby land in the unorganized territories to accommodate a wind power project Monday night, sending the issue to the state Legislature.
More than 50 people attended an informational meeting which preceded the unanimous vote by selectmen. A private company, Endless Energy Corp., wants to have the town annex roughly 10,000 acres in northern Redington Township. Those acres encompass a proposed 90 megawatt project, consisting of 30 turbines and associated roads and lines.
The board’s approval is the first step toward asking the Legislature to pass a Private and Special Law, which would authorize the transfer of land. The residents of Carrabassett Valley, and theoretically the nonexistent residents of the area itself, would vote on the annexation if the Legislature passed the law.
Endless Energy hopes that the annexation, if approved by the Legislature and town of Carrabassett Valley, would breathe new life into a project that has had a rocky history with the state’s Land Use Regulation Commission. The LURC committee came down against Endless Energy and its president, Harley Lee in February 2007. They ordered their staff, who had recommended the project be approved, draft a new recommendation opposing the rezoning of Redington wind power project area.
Lee then altered his proposal, instead asking LURC to consider a 18-turbine project on Black Nubble only. That proposal also included a conservation plan for the Redington Pond Range, which was generally considered more environmentally-sensitive than Black Nubble, due to its lower elevation, reduced visibility, and distance from the Appalachian Trail.
LURC eventually killed this proposal as well, at a meeting held in January 2008. At that time, Lee said that he saw potential in the soon-to-be released findings of the governor’s Wind Power Task Force. However, that report did not include Black Nubble within its “expedited review” area. Projects developed within an expedited review area would face less consideration for their scenic impact, a major stumbling block for Lee’s project with the LURC committee.
However, LURC’s rulings would have no authority in an organized town such as Carrabassett Valley. Lee is offering a number of benefits for residents, should his project finally be built.
“People will save on their property taxes, save on their power bill and save the planet,” Lee said in his brief presentation at the meeting.
The $180 million project would represent a major impact on the town’s tax base, which Lee estimated at $480 million currently. Lee said that calculations suggested that the project could make the town’s tax rate decrease by 21 percent, down from 6.2 mils to 4.9 mils in the first year.
Residents of the town could potentially save money on their electrical bills as well. Lee is proposing a system where residents pay $5,000 up front to his company when the wind farm is operational. In exchange, the Redington project would provide discounted power, at roughly half the current price, for 15 years. Seasonal residents could purchase discounted power at a price which would scale with their usage.
“You’re buying a slice of the project’s power output,” Lee explained. He noted that negotiations between Endless Energy and Boyne, the owner of Sugarloaf/USA and Sunday River, were ongoing as well.
About an hour of questions and comments from the public followed Lee’s presentation. Several were veterans of the several LURC hearings held on the Redington project, including members of the Friends of the Boundary Mountains, a group that has been highly critical of the project.
“The second time LURC rejected the project,” said Dain Trafton of Phillips, “they characterized the plan as sloppy, as inadequate and as unworthy, considering the grounds of the project.”
Trafton, and others, asked selectmen to not approve further consideration of the plan in the Legislature until at least a public hearing was held. Others, including Lee, pointed to the Jan. 15 deadline for the introduction of new legislation, saying that the debate would have to wait until next year if the selectmen didn’t move quickly.
Former Rep. John Farris noted that the legislative process to pass a bill allowing the annexation itself would require extensive public debate in Augusta.
“We wouldn’t be sitting in this nice, new building,” Farris said in the local Outdoor Center, “if we’d dragged our feet.”
Selectman Chair Robert Luce noted that the public input part of the process was just beginning.
“We are going to provide due process for everyone,” Luce said.
The four selectmen present were unanimous in their approval to move forward with the annexation process in the Legislature. Selectman Lloyd Cuttler was absent from the meeting. If and when the Legislature approves the annexation, the town would then hold its own public hearings in preparation to a town-wide vote on whether to annex part of Redington Township or not.
The project would then fall under the jurisdiction of the town’s planning board and the comprehensive plan.
By Ben Hanstein
5 January 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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