INDUSTRY – Residents gathered at the town hall recently to review an ordinance designed to regulate the use of wind turbines in town.
The proposed ordinance was designed by the planning board and a Wind Ordinance Committee over the past 6 months, following the enactment of a temporary moratorium earlier this year. The ordinance attempts to balance the interests of the town and maintaining public safety with the rights of property owners.
By law, any development which results in the disturbance of three or more acres requires a permit from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. In the case of wind turbines, state-issued permits set standards regarding allowable noise levels, special treatments for wetlands, shore-lands, access roads and vegetation management.
Industry’s proposed ordinance would add requirements for DEP-permitted turbines. These would include a setback of 7,000 feet from surrounding property lines, the Industry Town line and any structure or wind turbine that is not part of the wind project, a $3 million insurance policy with the town as the beneficiary, a site plan prepared by a Maine licensed surveyor or engineer, a copy of the DEP permit including any conditions, and certification that the noise level is 90 decibels or less within fifty feet of the turbine’s support tower. Also required is a letter of agreement from any utility that has accepted the connection to the power grid, a $1,000 application fee and $50,000 in annual administrative fees.
For wind turbines not requiring a DEP permit, the proposed ordinance includes the following standards: proof of liability insurance, a $100 application fee, a 5,000 feet setback for turbines 200-300 feet high, 2,000 feet for turbines 100-199 feet high, and 1,000 feet for turbines less than 100′ feet high. Small rooftop turbines less than 500 watts and less than 30 decibels, require a setback one and one-half times the turbine height.
All applicants wishing to install turbines of any size must follow a Town of Industry application procedure which includes a map showing setbacks and property lines, a list identifying abutting property owners, documented rights to the land the turbine will be built upon, a project description including turbine specifics, and a pre-application meeting with the Industry Planning Board.
The proposed ordinance also gives the town the ability to respond to and eliminate blight, as determined by declining property values within five miles of any turbine project approved by the DEP.
During the discussion, attendees raised several issues concerning the protection of views and the natural state, the impact of a commercial wind farm on local taxes, how turbines could benefit Industry, how many Maine towns currently have wind turbines, requested maps showing potential turbine locations and distances to areas within town, and asked how turbine noise is addressed by the ordinance.
The noise limitations in the proposed ordinance are aimed at protecting the health of residents and the future use and value of surrounding properties. While DEP-permitted turbines must comply with the DEP standards for noise, communities have experienced problems when relying solely on DEP sound monitoring. Sound monitoring is only useful after turbines are installed and running. A pre-determined setback distance is intended to avoid problems rather than deal with problems after large amounts of money have been invested.
Based upon the experiences of communities hosting commercial wind turbines, the 90 decibel limit at the tower base combined with the 7,000 feet (1.3 mile) setback, plus DEP noise limits, should provide the intended result of not subjecting surrounding properties to harmful noise.
Computer-based maps will be prepared showing the most likely location of turbines in Industry, although since no applications have been submitted, this is speculative information.
The board and committee will review and refine the proposed ordinance and respond to the issues raised during the review. A second information and open discussion meeting will be held before the ordinance is voted on at the March 2013 town meeting.
Make these cussed things so I cant see or hear them,,,Period.
Otherwise,,,,,,,,Ban Them Completely.
Thanks for all the hard work to those who have researched this issue.
Seems inevitable these lovely things are going to be ours to “enjoy”.
Sounds like NIMBY. I don’t have any problems with wind turbines. They seem pretty quiet and look no worse than cell phone towers.
As long as they lower taxes, they could put one in my back yard for all I care.
Looks like Industry folks did their homework. That sounds like a pretty solid ordinance. And they are not appropriate on Maine’s ridgelines. They look like crap and for those with homes in the wrong direction, the noise is awful. One thing that really bugs me is that when a town does allow them, there is no benefit to neighboring towns. What will the benefit be to the people in Wilton who are near the wind turbines that may go up in Carthage.? Nothing. None of us will see our rates go down, that’s for sure. Our CMP bill is bigger than ever.
Why dont we ask ANGUS KING what the benefit of wind power is,,,
Besides filling HIS WALLET,,I mean.
If no wind turbines, then what is the solution? Where do you expect your energy to come from??
Farmingtonian, why are you seeking a “solution”? We have no problem with generating more electricity in Maine than we use, about 40% more. What we don’t need is to sacrifice Maine’s mountains for the sake of an ideology-driven, taxpayer-subsidized form of electricity generation that produces, at best, 25% of its capacity. Wind power is an environmentally destructive scam. If greater Boston & Connecticut need more electricity, let them build generation there, which avoids the cost of new transmission lines. Did you notice the increase in your CMP bill as the first installment to pay for the $1.4 billion transmission expansion project known as MPRP, the sole purpose of which is to tie wind power projects in remote areas to the grid. It is asinine!
That’s exactly what the windbags are doing,,,
Creating the problem by convincing us there is one,,
Then making millions selling us the solution.
Commonly called a SCAM.
Wake up.
It seems like a protective ordinance, but why worry about the “rights” of property owners? These INDUSTRIAL turbines are not like the color of one’s house, how many cars can be in one’s yard, how tall one’s grass gets etc. These are HUGE !! To group windsprawl in with the “property rights” issue is misleading and an attempt by the wind lawyers to get people on their side . All “property rights” are not the same, civilized people have rules and regs we live by. Did Haynes have “property rights ” to grow pot plants? Hey, it is their property, you can’t tell people what to do…WRONG!!! Industrial wind turbines should illegal in Maine. Peru is putting people first, not flatlander developers out to make some quick bucks at taxpayer expense.
If the government subsidizes, taxes would go up.
Here is some info on wind power: http://www.kompulsa.com/index.php/factors-affecting-wind-turbine-performance/
Look carefully at cost of generating and how much government subsidizes.
The ONLY (I repeat ONLY) reason these things are popping up is because of opportunists that see they can get FREE GOV MONEY to help them make millions installing these beauties.
(correction,,that free money comes from US).
If the likes on ANGUS and his crowd weren’t subsidizing the dickens out of these installations,,,the opportunists wouldn’t be the least bit interested in wind “things”.
I really cant blame them,,,they are going where the FREE MONEY IS being HANDED OUT.
THERE IS NO SHORTAGE OF ELECTRICITY.
Hello.