NEW SHARON – Residents overwhelmingly approved a six-month moratorium on transmission line projects at a special town meeting Saturday morning, becoming the third town along the route of the proposed New England Clean Energy Connect to enact such a moratorium.
According to Town Clerk Pamela Adams, 101 registered voters attended the meeting. A single resident voted against the moratorium; the rest of the body was in favor.
The Elective Electrical Transmission Corridor Moratorium will prohibit any permitting or other approval processes relating to the corridors, including Central Maine Power’s NECEC project. The moratorium will retroactively extend back to Jan. 7 – when the selectboard began discussing the issue – and remain in effect until either the Site Plan Review Ordinance is amended or until July 23. That 180-day period could be renewed by the selectboard, following a public hearing, if more time is necessary to amend the ordinance.
Modifications to the Site Plan Review Ordinance could address issues relating to visual impact, noise, environmental and public health among others relating to the installation of transmission lines, per the wording of the town meeting article.
Previously, the towns of Wilton and Caratunk voted to enact similar moratoriums. New Sharon voted last year to oppose the NECEC project.
CMP has previously said that it intends to complete permitting processes and begin construction in 2020.
Ordinances concerning high powered transmission lines are something all towns along the path of the NECEC should consider.
Each town should have a say on the visual impact, the height of the structures being introduced, and safety issues that come along with such a high powered line that benefits others, such as Spain,Quebec, and Massachusetts, and not Maine.
Thanks to New Sharon and the other towns that have considered the negative impacts of such a line and taking a stance.
Hopefully other towns will follow suit.
Does anyone know the reason that one person voted “no”?
Because it was a person not a sheep and because the person could…
“Does anyone know the reason that one person voted “no”?”
Yes, one person probably does know
Rodney: If you knew what wood you do?
I talked to him after the vote and he said he voted “for,” which is actually a yes. It seemed he was slow taking down his card , which was still halfway up when they called for the No vote. So it was counted as a No vote.
That’s my take on it at least.
It is no one’s business why this one person voted in the way he/she did.
Apparently only one sensible person attended. Everyone else had something better to do.