March 17, 2015
Massachusetts

Falmouth will appeal Wind Turbine 1 ruling

Carrie L. Gentile | The Enterprise | March 17, 2015 | www.capenews.net

Falmouth Board of Selectmen voted on Monday, March 16, to appeal a recent court ruling stating the town erected Wind Turbine 1 in error.

The board met in executive session on Monday, March 16, to weigh its options, and reached a unanimous decision to file an appeal due Wednesday, March 18, with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Selectman Rebecca Moffitt was not present.

When asked the basis of the appeal, town counsel Frank A Duffy Jr. said the information will be made available later this week after the petition is filed.

The appeal is in response to a state appellate court ruling on February 26 that Falmouth was required to obtain a special permit before it put up Wind 1, one of two turbines at the wastewater facility off Blacksmith Shop Road. It was put up in 2009, and since then, many neighbors have complained of mental distress and poor health caused by the turbine’s sound pressures and noise.

The appeals court’s eight-page decision in favor of the nine abutters listed as plaintiffs found that Falmouth’s building commissioner, Eladio S. Gore, erroneously interpreted a bylaw that automatically allows all “community service uses,” such as water towers and town offices, to be built on town land.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/03/17/falmouth-will-appeal-wind-turbine-1-ruling/