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Farmington windpower ordinance set for hearing

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FARMINGTON – An ordinance targeting commercial and residential wind power systems was briefly reviewed by selectmen Tuesday. The next step would be a hearing to gather public input on the plan.

The ordinance is not aimed at industrial-level wind farms, projects like the ones installed at Mars Hill and Kibby Mountain which feature the largest wind turbines at 410 feet tall. Code Enforcement Officer Steve Kaiser doesn’t believe those projects are feasible in Farmington, due to the terrain and lack of strong wind. However, a smaller, commercial project was presented to the planning board members at their Oct. 17 meeting as a possibility off Bailey Hill Road.

That proposal is to install four, 293-foot-tall wind turbines off Davis Road near the Bailey Hill Road intersection. At the meeting, Brian Kuhn, a principal of Associated Wind Developers from Plymouth, Mass., which develops wind power projects and Aeronautica Windpower, which manufactures 750 kilowatt, “queen-sized” or smaller turbines for more populated areas, described the proposed project in Farmington in its infancy.

The conceptual plan for four wind turbines to be installed off Davis Road. North, at the top of the photo, Bailey Hill Road intersects with Davis Road.

The new ordinance was approved by the planning board on Nov. 14. Selectmen will hold a public hearing on the ordinance, likely near the end of December, and would need to approve the ordinance to allow it to appear on the spring town meeting warrant.

The ordinance sets in place a permitting procedure for wind projects, regulating setbacks, sound emissions and making provisions for radio signal disturbance, lighting and shadow flicker. As the ordinance currently reads, turbines would be required to not exceed a sound pressure level of 60 decibels, with the reading taken from the nearest property line.

The ordinance also mandates the construction of fences at the base of towers, and that non-operative turbines be removed. A projection of a prospective project’s potential for shadow flicker, caused by the blades casting shadows on the ground or other background to create rapid shifts in light intensity, would also be required.

Fees of $50, for a residential turbine, and $500, for each turbine in a commercial project, would be required to submit an application.

The ordinance exempts wind power systems used to pump water or operate equipment.

Official notification from the town about the date and time of the public hearing will be made available when known.

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20 Comments

  1. Waste this wind project,,, We dont need it here…

    THIS is TOO CLOSE TO TOWN..

    GO OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE WITH THESE THINGS.

  2. NO WIND MILLS FARMINGTON IS ONLY TRYING TO MAKE IT A CITY NOT A TOWN . JUST LIKE SMART MEATERS LOST POWER MORE THAN EVER.THESE WIND MILLS WILL NEVER FEED OUT WHAT IT WILL COST ONLY CERTAIN ONES WILL GET IT ANY EVERYONE WILL PAY THE PRICE OF MANY VIBERATIONS ,TURBUlENSES,AND GOD ONLY KNOWS WHAT ELSE.

  3. So Tirzah is volunteeriing HIS yard as the next location for wind turbines?
    Maybe we could build a dam there also?
    How ’bout rows of solar panels?
    Maybe a big ol CMP Station?

    Lets make DAMN sure we ALL know what’s going on here before we get all Giddy about ALTERNATIVE POWER SOURCES….

    I have nothing against Wind Power,,,
    Lets make sure the Money Making INVESTMENT Groups from MASSACHUSETTS are on the Up and Up here.

    They’ll say anything NOW but then DO WHAT THEY WANT after they get approved.

    We just need to make sure it’s appropriately sized for the area.
    We need to make sure IT REALLY IS WHAT THEY SAY IT IS..

    THAT”S MY WAY of being OPEN…
    ASK QUESTIONS NOW,,,
    GET INFORMED…
    THIS IS OUR TOWN,,WE “LIVE” HERE (They Dont).

    Maybe it’s ok,,,dunno YET (DO YOU?)

    Dont let em run us over.
    Is all I’m Saying..

  4. The town wants to TAX the home owner who wants to put up a residential turbine on his own property? Once you pay your $50 they still don’t have to let you install a turbine. Do you get your “Fee” back if your application is refused? I am all for alternative energy, but enough with the “fees” already. It appears that this ordinance exempts farms, why not private residences?

  5. Angry- I am confused with your comment and want to know more about your opinion on this. What exactly are you trying to say? I don’t quite understand why you blame smart meters as to why you have lost power? I’m pretty sure that you losing power has absolutely NOTHING to do with smart meters, but that’s why I am wondering why you say this? What do you mean? How are the smart meters making you lose power? Please explain. Thank you :) “THESE WIND MILLS WILL NEVER FEED OUT WHAT IT WILL COST ONLY CERTAIN ONES WILL GET IT ANY EVERYONE WILL PAY THE PRICE OF MANY VIBERATIONS ,TURBUlENSES,AND GOD ONLY KNOWS WHAT ELSE.” <— What in the world does this mean?!?!?! I'm just trying to get a better understanding as I am interested in what your point is. Can you help me out please?

  6. i appreciate what they are trying to do but cant they put these things somewhere else? i cant imagine how this will affect the value of the surrounding property.

  7. I am definitely an advocate of finding alternative sources of power as the amount of energy that goes into extracting fossil fuels surpasses the energy it can provide. However, I also believe that “there is a time and a PLACE for everything,” and a peaceful field in a residential area on Davis Road is NOT the place for these windmills.

    This specific plan is going to dramatically decrease the quality of life for people living on the Davis Road…particularly my parents, who live directly across the road from the field where these windmills would be.

    The sound of the windmills churning would replace the sound of cows grazing and mooing. The view of the field would be marred by these 293-foot-tall mills. Worse, the value of their house would decrease dramatically (the quiet, rural setting being a large part of its appeal) so they would be effectively trapped in the house forever. My father works usually about 60 hours a week trying to keep our family afloat, and my parents haven’t taken a vacation since I was in fourth grade. All they have is their house. They consider it a home, but also an investment, so that IF my father were ever able to retire, they could sell that house and the land, and move somewhere humbler but warmer (the warmth being especially important to my mother, who suffers from severe rheumatoid arthritis). But with these windmills in place, it’s like all of my parents’ hard work to keep their house will have been for naught, because who would pay premium for a house directly across the street from a field of windmills? If these windmills are allowed to be erected, they will not only be destroying my parents’ current quality of life- they will also be effectively ruining their retirement dreams and forcing them to spend their twilight years listening to the windmills churn day after day after day.

    Please consider that there are real people whose lives will be adversely affected by this windmill project. To anyone who loves their home, the rural appeal of Maine living, and their neighbors, I implore you to attend the town hall meeting about this and let it be known that a neighborhood is no place to put a wind farm.*

    *I know the article states that this project will be much smaller than others in Maine, such as “industrial-level wind farms, projects like the ones installed at Mars Hill and Kibby Mountain which feature the largest wind turbines at 410 feet tall.” However, four 293-foot tall wind turbines directly across from someone’s house would still have a damaging effect on the quality of life for nearby residents.

  8. Firt of all, Tirzah is a woman, and an intelligent one at that. And yes, I am looking into having my own personal wind turbines. I guess being born in a generation where one actually cares about what happens to this earth brings about ideas like using renewable energy. A time and a place- as long as the place is away from me, and I am not inconvenienced at all- what a lovely way to live.

  9. To Tirzah and anyone else who is an advocate of aleternative energy (like me), here is another perpective. These wind turbines are not the answer. Below you’ll find the letter I posted before the first meeting about these turbines.
    __________________________________________________________________________
    When I read about the proposed turbines, I asked my sister-in-law who has done a lot of research on the subject, for her opinions on it. I also consider myself to be in the “for alternative energy and for jobs” camps. Here is the letter she sent me. She lives in Maine (Franklin County) for 6 months of the year (the winter part) and in Alaska the other six months.
    ____________________________________________________________________________________

    Hi Sister-in-law, I thought I’d tell you about my evolution in the energy world. Four or five years ago there was a proposal to bring electricity to my part of the world (which we opposed on grounds of the development that would follow). It came, of course, and one day as I was sitting at one of the endless construction roadblocks it suddenly dawned on me that all the CONSTRUCTION vehicles had the APT logo (Alaska Power and Telephone). I thought, this is really wierd, why is this? and I started asking around. Turns out that nowadays power companies have two sides (at least), construction and operation. This matters.

    Suppose your little town decided to build a school. You would get bonds and grants and the whole deal, and give the construction grant to the lowest bidder and in the end you would take ownership of a nice new school, the operation of which which would be up to you (and the state, of course), right? Power companies on the other hand pick out a place, say Farmington, where they can quietly assess their chances of persuading people that a power project would be nice (that would be that petition you signed). They schmooze with the mayor, etc, and go on about big Federal bucks and jobs and so on. They find a farmer with cashflow problems who maybe would like to retire, and persuade him what a great thing this would be for everybody. And then eventually they get to the point of the trial balloon- that’s the presentation to the local planning board. Where they go on about the “clean power of wind” and forget to mention anything else. All of this comes out of the company’s pocket, but hey, you gotta spend money to make money, right?

    At this point they really get going. They slip a tentacle into the US treasury and start sucking up the funds. We (the US taxpayer) are still paying to build the entire facility, just like that school, but in the end we don’t own the thing, the power company does. Their construction side makes the huge bucks on construction, and then their operation wing makes the huge bucks on selling us the power. Cute. And there is a LOT of money in it, which is why so many people are racing to the trough. Understanding how this works makes it possible to explain how they can afford to build these things so far from the point of sale, which is Boston: that only costs us. To the company, the further it is the better, they don’t pay to build their own facilities, they are PAID to build. (Incidentally, pretending that they want to sell the power locally “at or below cost” is a common ploy, and who knows what “cost” might mean). Oh and there’s none of that old-fashioned crap about lowest bidders- in this game the guy who got in there first with his proposal wins, and he gets to charge whatever he likes, pretty much.

    So what’s wrong with it? Well, does Farmington have a tourism economy? Everybody hates looking at these things. You’ll see them from all over town- they’ll be clearing the whole hilltop and of course a 300 or 400′ tower is a lot taller than anything around. If you are enjoying your rural lifestyle, living next to an industrial site will be a bit different. If you thought you were building equity in your property, bear in mind that nobody will buy it if you ever need to sell, but your taxes won’t go down to compensate. The elec company has power of eminent domain, they can put their huge high-tension power lines whereever they want, a nd of course your little rural road isn’t going to stay little. In fact Farmington has a lot of streets and roads that will need to be “improved” to allow this construction (and do you think they’ll stop at three towers?).

    I listened to a presentation last year from a construction engineer who builds these things in places like ND, who urged people in Maine to fight them to the last breath, basically. He said, “You can’t live next to these things”. So get on the Internet, look at how other towns in Maine are fighting them or what life there is like now they’re built. Look at Friends of the Highland Mountains and the other sites. Print out everything you can find, go to meetings, hand out information. At least go down fighting. love, Sally

  10. ” as long as the place is away from me, and I am not inconvenienced at all- what a lovely way to live.” I would just like to point out that that is exactly what the person putting up the turbines is doing. She/He is not a resident of our neighborhood- they just own a plot of uninhabited land. I would like to see how they would feel if a stranger decided to do this in the land across from their home, and see how they would feel about the dramatic reduction in their home’s equity.

  11. Better make sure this is what the town REALLY wants, people! Once they’re here, you can’t go back. The benefits do NOT outweigh the destruction these things wreak. The habitat is destroyed up-front upon installation. Migratory birds, and bats, are destroyed by wind towers in operation. They don’t put out the power they are touted as delivering. They block public access to the woods they occupy (hunters, birdwatchers, etc). They are a permanent EYESORE.
    There ARE negative externalities to alternative power generation – please learn more, look into them before you allow the Town to approve blowing the tops off of MORE mountains in Maine! Kaiser has JUST STATED here that there is insufficient wind in Farmington, and that the terrain is not right…these are almost the same as the larger ones, though.
    These are only 100′ lower than Kibby, people….they will put them ANYWHERE. I believe they are highly exploitative.

    —-Follow The Money ——

  12. Don’t you need WIND to power a windmill?? I may be a bit undereducated in windmill technology, but i was under the impression that these windmills usually go on top of hills or mountains where it is much windier than flat terrain. What will happen if these get built, and then they fail to deliver??

    The taxpayers cover the cost to build these monstrosities, but what benefit will come of it?? Reduced electricity bills? If so, by how much?

  13. Tirzah,,,

    What you are missing here is that THESE turbines are MUCH BIGGER than your little personnal turbine,,,

    But since you seem to support this project,,, May I Interest YOU in putting on of THESE BIGGER ONES IN YOUR YARD instead,,,
    I’m sure you wouldn’t mind the inconvenience,,,right?
    Just think how you could save the earth you care about then…

    I’m just wondering if this caring generation you mentioned you were born in cares about other peoples quality of life??

    Wind Power can be good but GET THE FACTS HERE!!! GET INFORMED!!!

  14. “…and that non-operative turbines be removed. ” Better get the cash up front to fund the removal and put in escrow. I can hear that phone call now- “Ah yeah…., we’ll be right up to take care of that. Just stand outside and wait for us.” Click.

  15. Nimbism at it’s finist here folks.

    I love how people yell and scream about proctecting THEIR rights but when it comes to their neighbors rights to do with their land as they please, FORGET about it.

  16. Windmills are great in their respective places, which are not in neighborhoods or close to neighborhoods. I live next door to a home that put in a windmill. It is supposed to be one of those “quiet” windmills. My only option to stop the noise created by this “quiet” windmill to to sue them in civil court since the Town of Farmington dropped the ball on this issue years ago. I have not been able to enjoy my yard or deck on even a slightly windy day during ANY season since my neighbor moved here, built a house and stuck up a windmill. The constant drone of the spinning blades is irritating! The sad part of this story is that I live in a subdivision where the houses are close together! As much as we all like alternative energy, it shouldn’t come at the expense of enjoying the outdoors in our own yard!

  17. I could care less what people put on their own property; windmills are a beautful piece of engineering art to some. What matters is, they don’t pay for themselves!!! Not in any way without taxpayer support. Why is basic math and economics so tough for you people?

  18. Hey Bruce,,,,

    If I own a GUN,,,,do I have the RIGHT to use it any way I please??

    Just cause someone owns land,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
    You CAN post it no trespassing,,
    You CANNOT put up a big tree stand and illegally shoot deer,,,,,

    So the answer is ,,,NO you cant do whatever you please just because you own something…

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