March 4, 2011
Massachusetts

Dennis gets ‘seat at the table’ in turbine dispute

By Cynthia Mccormick, Cape Cod Times, www.capecodonline.com/ 4 March 2011

DENNIS – The town now has legal standing to side with a shellfish farm’s attempt to put a wind turbine on its beachfront property.

On Tuesday, the town was granted intervenor status in the Aquaculture Research Corp.’s case against an historic district that rejected the shellfish company’s proposal to put a 164-foot turbine near Chapin Memorial Beach, Selectman Wayne Bergeron said.

The town will have its attorney submit a brief siding with the shellfish company in Orleans District Court, Bergeron said.

He said the town is not a co-plaintiff but has been given a “seat at the table.”

Company officials say the turbine is necessary to reduce their energy costs.

The appeals board of the Old King’s Highway Regional Historic District voted against the project Sept. 28. The decision reversed an earlier approval by the Dennis Old King’s Highway Historic District Commission.

Regional appeals board members decided that the local board had made an “error in judgment,” Peter Lomenzo, chairman of the Old King’s Highway Regional Historic District, said in the fall.

Bergeron said the next hearing on the case is expected to be held in mid-May.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/03/04/dennis-gets-seat-at-the-table-in-turbine-dispute/