May 19, 2017
Vermont

New date proposed for Dairy Air Wind hearing; Holland site visit, hearing could be week of June 5

Robin Smith | Caledonian Record | May 16, 2017 | www.caledonianrecord.com

HOLLAND – The postponed site visit and public hearing for the Dairy Air Wind Project could be held the first full week in June.

The developer’s attorney has worked with the town of Holland and regional and state agencies to find a new date for state utility regulators to see the site for the 499-foot-tall wind turbine proposed for Dairy Air Farm and hear from area residents about the project.

It would take more than a year for the Vermont Public Service Board to review the project under the new schedule, with technical hearings potentially held in May 2018.

Developer David Blittersdorf filed a permit application for the turbine late last year. A site visit and hearing was set for April, but they were postponed when citizens found problems with notification to neighbors and advertising about the site of the hearing.

The group called Citizens for Responsible Electricity in Holland (CREH) complained that the hearing site was advertised as being at the Holland Elementary School in Derby Line, when the school is actually located in the town of Holland.

The 2.2-megawatt wind turbine would be located on School Road, about a mile from the Holland school. Blittersdorf is also planning to put up two large wind turbines on his Kidder Hill property in Irasburg or Lowell, or one in both towns.

The proposed schedule would have a site visit and public hearing sometime during the first week in June. The developer has promised to put up a weather balloon to mark the site of the wind turbine on Dairy Air Farm.

The proposed schedule includes a deadline of June 23 for people to file applications to intervene in the review of the project.

The PSB’s hearing officer must approve the schedule.

The Town of Holland, state agencies and the Northeastern Vermont Development Association, along with neighboring towns, are statutory intervenors. The town of Coaticook, Quebec, has sought to intervene.

The citizens’ group and some neighbors have applied to intervene.

The schedule includes deadlines for interviewing the developer’s experts, prefiled testimony and other matters.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2017/05/19/new-date-proposed-for-dairy-air-wind-hearing-holland-site-visit-hearing-could-be-week-of-june-5/