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Temple residents to vote on moratorium, committee eyes ordinance

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TEMPLE – A group of residents and selectmen, motivated by events in surrounding communities and possible interest in local hills, is planning develop a wind power ordinance.

Selectman said they expected to add an article on the March town meeting warrant, which would ask residents if they wanted to place a six-month moratorium on wind power development in Temple. If approved, committee members, meeting for the first time Monday evening, hope to use that time to develop a wind power ordinance.

At a special town meeting last year, residents supported an article empowering selectmen to develop a wind power ordinance. Selectmen noted that tax maps had been purchased for a band of Temple hills, starting with Varnum Mountain and curving north, by a developer in Chicago. There have been no plans, or specific interest, announced by anyone in or out of town regarding wind power development, but residents at Monday evening’s meeting were eager to move the process forward.

“You can’t activate an ordinance afterward,” First Selectman Kathleen Lynch said.

Other local communities have dealt with the issue of wind power ordinances. Phillips, for example, created an extremely technical and comprehensive ordinance which set sight and sound parameters for turbine placement. Carthage, where a 12-turbine development is in the middle of the Department of Environmental Protection permitting process, declined to set a moratorium. Other towns, such as Wilton, decided to use their existing site development protocols to manage wind power projects.

Resident Bob Kimber, acting as the committee’s chair, pointed to both positive and negative impacts of a wind power facility in town.

“We want to give the town control over something that is going to be very visible and have a big impact on the town,” Kimber said.

The committee did not get into specifics, other than the six-month moratorium which will appear on the March 14 town meeting warrant. That period could be extended another six months if more time was needed.

The committee intends to develop a fact sheet, answering commonly asked questions about wind power and moratoriums, to be available to members of the public.

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4 Comments

  1. One fact that seems to come up every time a wind project is contemplated within town boundaries is whether to utilize a TIF, a funding mechanism involving the state, town and developer and lawyers. A TIF presentation is to take place in Dixfield, February 7th at 5pm at the town office. I would recommend that any committee, selectmen or interested citizens facing the questions surrounding industrial wind projects attend .

  2. a fact sheet is good idea. Please make sure every potential receptor (with-in study area from turbine, usually about 2000-4000 feet) is notified of this potential harm. Of course wind industry will try to buy these receptors off first.
    My experience in Carthage when I contacted receptors was “they did know turbines were planned.”
    The selectmen dropped the ball. Very unfair to landowners with-in 2 miles of these generators.

  3. I see these monstrosities going up in Lincoln and they look much larger than in the simulation pictures shown by the industrial developers. In Australia a wind turbine developer is being FORCED by the gov. to purchase properties from people whose lives have been ruined by noise. 11 homes have been bought but the wind co. makes them sign a “gag” clause so they will not talk about it. Zoning means nothing to a wind developer because they will hire lawyers to get around it like in Lincoln. The 400 ft. tall turbines are going up in a rural residential zone with a 40 ft. max height! Zoning only applies to working taxpayers I guess, not big windsprawl developers. Keep big wind out of your area if possible. Why would a developer from the “windy city” (Chicago) want to erect turbines in Maine with only fair to poor wind supply? hint: because there is less resistance from the people living nearby. SOS save our state …from windsprawl

  4. The annual Town Meeting for Temple will be held on March 14, 2011. It’s a particularly late date for “the second Monday in March” but it is indeed when the meeting is scheduled.

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