Cities, towns urged to standardize wind rules

Credit:  By Chris Barrett, PBN Staff Writer , Providence Business News, www.pbn.com 8 March 2010

Rhode Island is letting a potential new industry slip away because the mishmash of local regulations surrounding wind turbines discourages installers, say two executives in the industry.

When the R.I. Economic Development Corporation unveiled its “Roadmap for Advancing the Green Economy” in early February, one of the chief crafters of the plan noted a particularly troubling roadblock. Eric Offenberg, chief technical officer at Middletown’s rTerra Renewable Energy Partners and a partner at wind turbine installation firm SGE, said that the state’s 39 cities and towns all have different ways of treating onshore wind turbine applications. That leads to confusion in the marketplace, which deters companies specializing in the installation and maintenance of the turbines from locating in Rhode Island.

Offenberg called on the state to draft a model ordinance so that the process of installing a turbine would be largely the same from community to community. The thought captured the attention of Bob Chew, wind-business president of Wilton, Conn.-based Alteris Renewables, who has long found the tangle of regulations an inhibitor to growing his business in Rhode Island.

“If somebody calls up I can tell them in five minutes whether it’s a good site for wind, but then we have to get in the car, drive down and sit down with the building or zoning official and see if we can put one in that town,” Chew said.

That costs time and money and often marks just the start of a potentially months-long process involving multiple committees, filing fees and staff reviews. And there is no guarantee at the end of the process that the municipality will sign off on the turbine.

Chew said over the years he has helped property owners secure more than 150 zoning variances for renewable energy systems. Still, the often dense zoning codes force him to learn new rules on a case-by-case basis. Chew pointed to Portsmouth, a typically “wind-friendly” town that itself erected a wind turbine. But a provision tucked deep in the zoning ordinances provided special rules for wind turbines in the downtown area where Clements’ Marketplace wanted to install a turbine.

A provision treating that area of town differently than other parts made erecting a turbine at Clements’ Marketplace difficult and the applicant dropped the idea. That cost Chew a business opportunity and ultimately, Chew said, hurt the state.

“We as a company have to go where we have the best opportunity to sell our products and a lot of times that, unfortunately, is not Rhode Island,” said Chew, who works in the firm’s Bristol office.

Chew called for the General Assembly to adopt universal rules regulating wind turbines or force municipalities to adopt their own – within certain parameters – in a reasonable time frame.

University of Rhode Island College of Business Administration Dean Mark Higgins, who helped draft the EDC road map, said that could assist companies like Alteris, which could visit one place to see all the rules.

“People want to do one-stop shopping,” he said.

More streamlined regulations, Higgins said, could also lower prices for homeowners or businesses looking to install turbines because installers would need to spend less time and money learning multiple rules.

But Higgins, local planners and even Chew acknowledge that pushing through statewide regulations would be a challenge in a state where communities zealously guard their independence.

“This is really an entirely new area, and while cities and towns don’t want to be obstructionists, they have to be concerned about local zoning [and] public opinions,” said Daniel Beardsley Jr., executive director of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns. “There are a lot of factors that go into the siting of anything, be it a billboard or be it a subdivision.”

Kevin Flynn, associate director of the R.I. Division of Planning, said the last time the state ordered municipalities to adopt uniform land-use regulations on a broad scale was more than three decades ago. At the time, the state was embarking on a mission to move patients at state mental-health facilities into group homes but met resistance from communities that restricted the placement of group homes. The General Assembly passed a law ordering communities to allow group homes anywhere they would allow single-family homes.

Flynn said he does not see the legislature duplicating those efforts to fit wind turbines because height restrictions are a touchy subject for local communities and one the state would also likely shy away from. Instead, at least three state agencies have tried to offer guidance.

The Division of Planning hopes to incorporate guidance in its new state energy plan due out in the coming months, Flynn said. And the R.I Office of Energy Resources is working with the Division of Planning on the plan, said its administrator, Kenneth Payne.

Two years ago, the Division of Planning and R.I. Department of Environmental Management teamed up to craft suggested criteria for the placement of wind turbines.

DEM Director Michael Sullivan said his agency decided to take the lead on developing the suggestions, released in January 2009.

“Frankly, no one else was doing it, and to me it’s important the agency have a continuity” in how it handles projects, Sullivan said.

Sullivan said it was unclear if any communities used the report as a basis for ordinances. What is clear is that many communities are taking a second look at their zoning ordinances with wind turbines in mind.

After having it on the books for just 18 months or so, the North Kingstown Planning Commission is revisiting the town’s never-used wind turbine ordinance at the request of a local developer. On Feb. 8, the Tiverton Town Council put a moratorium on wind turbines, after the Planning Board said it needed more time to study the issue. And on Feb. 16, after more than two years of discussion, the Middletown Town Council passed its first wind ordinance.

Middletown decided to look at wind turbine regulations after people started knocking on the door of the building department and asking about how to erect a turbine. Town Planner Ronald Wolanski said officials were stumped and initially denied them across the board. The Town Council later allowed applicants to file a request for a special-use permit as an interim measure while it developed the ordinance, but put a moratorium on them after a local company secured a permit and erected a turbine, Wolanski said. And even with the February passage, Wolanski said it is likely people will continue to request tweaks to the regulations.

South Kingstown is giving its regulations a second look due to increased interest, said Ray Nickerson, a town principal planner.

Caroline Wells, director of planning and community development in Warren, said the town is crafting its first wind turbine ordinance after hearing scuttlebutt that some farmers were considering putting them up. And Flynn is fielding a lot of calls lately seeking advice.

Municipalities “are starting to deal with it because they’ve had to, or they hear about [potential projects] out there,” Flynn said.

Tags: Wind power, Wind energy

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