December 19, 2010
Massachusetts

Turbine moratorium will go into effect when advertised in January

By BRENT RUNYON, Falmouth Enterprise

Falmouth planning Board took another step toward creating a moratorium on wind turbines this week by approving language for a draft bylaw that will be placed on the Town Meeting warrant in April, but will go into effect at the beginning of 2011.

“No building permil or special permit for the construction of a windmill, as defined, shall issue until May l, 2O12, or until this article is repealed by a vote of town meeting, whichever occurs first. The purpose of this article is to provide the time necessary to study noise, vibration, shadow and other issues associated with the location of this use near residential neighborhoods,” the article reads.

The moratorium will go into efect upon the first publication of the Town Meeting warrant, which is expected to be in the first week of January.

There were only four members of the planning board at the Tuesday meeting, the minimum for a quorum, but the members voted unanimously to approve the language of the draft bylaw.

Building Commissioner Eladio R. Gore said he will not issue any new building permits as of the date of first publication of the legal advertisement, but said there were not applications pending that would be affected by the moratorium.

Projects that have already begun the permitting process are exempt from the moratoria. The J.K. Scanlan Company application to build a turbine in the Falmouth Technology Park, which was first heard by the Falmouth Zoning Board of Appeals last week, and continued until January 27, can continue forward.

The second town-owned wind turbine, which is under construction at the wastewater treatment plant off Blacksmith shop Road, will also continue.

A proposal to build two large turbines off Thomas B. Landers Road would be affected by the moratorium, but is already on hold.

David V. Peterson Jr. told the Falmouth Energy Committee this summer that he had plans for two large-scale wind turbines on his property, but decided to take a wait-and-see approach after hearing residents’ concerns about the existing turbines.

He told the committee he considered building as many as six large turbines, but had to cancel four because the Federal aviation Administration determined that they would interfere with flight paths.

Mr. Peterson is also involved with the New Generation Wind LLC project to build seven large-scale turbines in Bournedale, across the Cape Cod Canal, which is currently under review by the Cape Cod Commission.

New Generation Wind is a collaboration between Samual A. Loruso, owner of Cape Cod Aggregates and Tudor G. Ingersoll of Buzzards Bay.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2010/12/19/turbine-moratorium-will-go-into-effect-when-advertised-in-january/