April 28, 2011
Massachusetts

Bourne turbine bylaw revision: All? Or nothing?

Bourne Courier, www.wickedlocal.com 28 April 2011Bourne Courier, www.wickedlocal.com 28 April 2011

Bourne selectmen are praising efforts by Concerned Citizens for Responsible Energy to amend the zoning bylaw that governs municipal review of turbine projects.

The board has accommodated the citizen group by calling a May 9 Special Town Meeting to make sure voters have a say in any bylaw change. But doubt remains as to whether the amendment article would ban – anywhere in town – industrial-grade turbines similar to those proposed by New Generation Wind off Scenic Highway and Route 25.

If such structures could not be situated anywhere in Bourne, the bylaw amendment would serve to create a de facto moratorium on the taller turbines. James Potter of the citizen group says this is not its intent.

Selectmen Chairman John Ford, however, wants a report by Town Planner Coreen Moore prior to May 9.

“I’d like to hear her position on this,” Ford said. On what could be built (if the bylaw amendment passes with voters) or what cannot be built. I don’t think it’s all-or-nothing.”

Ford said industrial grade turbines – such as those proposed by Tudor Ingersoll and Sam Lorusso of New Generation Wind – would dominate the Bourne landscape. “These turbines make the Bourne Bridge look small,” he told his cable television audience.

The citizen-petition amendment to the turbine bylaw was tabled by the planning board. So it will be indefinitely postponed at the May 2 annual meeting. But the planning board meets again May 6 to reconsider the amendment now that selectmen have forced the issue with a May 9 special session.

Town Administrator Thomas Guerino suggests there may have been “a technical flaw” in the planning board’s vote to table amendment consideration. The planners, however, said they did not have enough time to read and digest revisions to the amendment article.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/04/28/bourne-turbine-bylaw-revision-all-or-nothing/