April 11, 2012
Massachusetts

Mass. Land Court may hear two Buzzards Bay wind farm appeals

Bourne Courier, www.wickedlocal.com 11 April 2012

The February decision by the Cape Cod Commission to reject Buzzards Bay wind farm plans of New Generation Wind has been appealed to the Massachusetts Land Court by the project proponent and neighbors who oppose it.

Attorney Diane Tillotson, representing NGW, in late March filed an appeal on behalf of her clients Tudor Ingersoll and Samuel Lorusso, arguing the Commission’s findings that the wind farm plans being “arbitrary and unreasonable” were not supported by law or facts in the agency’s record of project review.

Westborough attorney Christopher Seine, representing homeowners in subdivisions directly abutting the proposed NGW turbines, also filed an appeal last month; saying upcoming court review of the regional land-use planning agency’s scrutiny of the project might yield more perspective on issues that the Commission thought were favorable to the wind farm.

Tillotson wants the court to rule the wind farm proposal does indeed meet the Commission’s standards in regional policy plan review and that the case should be remanded to the agency for reconsideration.

Seine wants the court to reverse Commission findings that the NGW plan are consistent with the RPP and Bourne’s zoning bylaws in effect at the time of the project’s submittal to the town.

The Commission voted against New Generation Wind without prejudice, meaning the proposal can be re-submitted. The only members supporting the green-energy venture were the minority and Barnstable representatives and Barnstable County Commissioner Mary Pat Flynn.

The land court will initially consider the appeals April 24 in Boston. New Generation, meanwhile, has subdivision plans in the review process for the tracts off Scenic Highway where it first proposed turbines.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/04/11/mass-land-court-may-hear-two-buzzards-bay-wind-farm-appeals/