July 17, 2013
Alabama

Baldwin County board member resigns after voting against wind farm ban

By Thyrie Bland | July 16, 2013 | al.com

A Baldwin County planning board member has resigned less than a week after voting against an ordinance that will ban large wind turbines and wind farms in the county.

Richard Thompson of Fairhope was appointed to the Baldwin County Planning and Zoning Commission after he was recommended by Commissioner Frank Burt Jr.

Burt said he is not sure why Thompson, who began his service on the planning board earlier this month, decided to resign over the weekend.

Burt read an email that he received from Thompson on Saturday at today’s Baldwin County Commission meeting. Thompson mentioned Thursday’s planning board meeting in the email, but he didn’t say in the email why he was resigning.

“He would not give me a reason,” Burt said. “I asked him specifically, and he didn’t share much about the meeting the other night or anything. I don’t know that he received any flack from anybody.”

The county crafted the ordinance as a result of a plan by APEX Wind Energy to put a wind farm with about 40 turbines in south Baldwin County.

The Charlottesville, Va., company has talked about using turbines that are 520 to 590 feet tall from the tower’s base to the tip of a blade at the 12 o’clock position.

The planning board voted 5 to 1 last week to recommend approval of the ordinance to the Baldwin County Commission, which will vote on the ordinance at a later date.

AL.com contacted Thompson about his resignation, but he said he did not want to discuss it.

“Sir, that is all I have to say on these matters,” Thompson wrote in an email.

In Thompson’s email, he wrote that he still would not recommend the approval of the ordinance to the County Commission.

He wrote the ordinance was not in order and “therefore not quite ready for prime time… (tv).”

Thompson did not write in the email what he was referring to, but there were some corrections to the ordinance that were discussed at Thursday’s meeting.

He also wrote that he did not know Burt’s stance on the wind farm issue.

Thompson wrote anything to the contrary is “Bleep! Bleep!”

Thompson sent Burt a second note Monday. It read: “I quit.”

Arthur Hosey Jr. of Daphne will replace Thompson on the planning board.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/07/17/baldwin-county-board-member-resigns-after-voting-against-wind-farm-ban/