WILTON – On Thursday night the Wilton Planning Board voted to approve the New England Clean Energy Connect LLC site plan for the segment for the 145-mile energy corridor that will pass through Wilton; the five poles will stretch across a two-mile portion of land from McCrillis Corner Road to Route 156.
At the Feb. 18 meeting the planning board voted that the application was complete, but put off the finding of the fact until after a scheduled public comment session for March 4.
During public comment the board heard from community person and selectboard member, Tom Saviello.
Saviello suggested that permit only be granted and valid if all state and federal permits are also in place. If one of those permits becomes in valid or is not acquired then the permit in Wilton will become invalid.
The planning board discussed this idea and added it to the finding of the fact.
Since the corridor will be crossing the Canadian border the project requires a presidential permit, which was granted to the NECEC on Jan. 14, 2021. U.S. Representative Jared Golden, recently wrote to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm requesting a review of the presidential permit.
Saviello, recalling his time working for the state board of pesticides control, also suggested that when CMP sprays pesticides, as they plan to do every 4 years, that signs be posted to alert people who may be crossing through the land.
The Planning Board approved of this idea well, as well as requiring a two months notification from CMP when they plan to spray the area.
Another condition of the permit is that the noise generated by the lines must be under 30 decibels once the project is completed. If the sound exceeds this limit it would be grounds to bring CMP back to the planning board.
The vote to approve the application was unanimous except for Lisa small, who abstained.
In other business, the Planning board unanimously voted to approve Brooke Averill’s application to operate a daycare center called Wiggles & Giggles Daycare. The daycare will be located at 15 School St. in Wilton and will have a capacity of ten children.
