Residents should decide our fate
Monadnock Ledger-Transcript | Monday, March 3, 2014 | (Published in print: Tuesday, March 11, 2014) | www.ledgertranscript.com
Monadnock Ledger-Transcript | Monday, March 3, 2014 | (Published in print: Tuesday, March 11, 2014) | www.ledgertranscript.com
Today, we go to the polls to determine whether residents or non-resident corporate interests will decide where Antrim is headed. A zoning ordinance written by a non-resident corporation would open the wild land in our town to industrial development. The Antrim Planning Board voted against endorsing this amendment.
The people who are for this may think they stand to gain from such development, but I wonder if they have looked into the results for other small communities? Last night, I walked to the lake where the night sky is as free of light pollution as anywhere in this part of the state. In summer, the Milky Way fills the dome between two hills and is reflected on the water. You will not see blinking lights, you will not hear a continuous pulse, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. If you think it was annoying to read that, live next to it for the rest of your life.
Zoning ordinance 5 is written to allow an industrial-sized wind installation. The energy generated will be sent far away to be sold. We won’t have the use of it, our electric bills will not decrease and we will have lost a valuable resource – wild land.
This amendment precludes the building of a more localized and personal sized alternative wind generator, the thin edge of the wedge in preventing households from establishing their independence from the grid. Suppose the people of Antrim vote this amendment into being, and suppose for some reason the wind company decides to move on. The zoning would be in place for industrial development. Easier for some other carpetbagger to come in and muscle their project through, stifling debate, removing signage they disagree with and playing the system to their advantage.
Please vote No on amendment 5 on March 11 in Antrim.
Katharine Sullivan
Antrim
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/03/11/residents-should-decide-our-fate/