April 1, 2011
Letters, Massachusetts

Brewster selectmen doing an end run on democracy

Cape Cod Times, www.capecodonline.com 1 April 2011Cape Cod Times, www.capecodonline.com 1 April 2011

Now the Brewster Board of Selectmen is considering adding a warrant item to the May town meeting stating that municipal wind turbines, regardless of size, shall be permitted “by right” on town-owned property in any industrial district!

This is a trick to avoid the permitting process altogether and eliminate the democratically designed process in place to review and modify plans. This process is a safeguard for all of us in every town. How can they interpret a lack of approval from the planning board as their “right” to find a way around the formal legal government approval?

I cannot envision a lesser form of democracy at work than this proposal. The planning board process is part of our checks and balances within a system of elected officials.

The wind turbine project in Brewster failed to gain the necessary approval of the planning board. The town selectmen now appear prepared to propose elimination of the democratic process governing our local elected officials.

Joyce McConnell

Brewster


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/04/01/brewster-selectmen-doing-an-end-run-on-democracy/