A favorable wind for bylaw

Written by Justin Graeber
Duxbury Clipper
Wednesday, 13 January 2010 12:47

A municipal turbine is one step closer to becoming a reality, as the Planning Board signed off Monday on a Town Meeting article that would allow the town to tap into wind power.

The Alternative Energy Committee, which has worked to develop the guidelines after a more expansive proposal was postponed indefinitely at Town Meeting last year, said that they have been working for two to three years on the bylaw.

“We’ve tried to balance the needs of the town ... with developing a platform that will eventually save the town money,” said Alternative Energy Committee Chairman Frank Duggan.

He said the committee has tried to refine last year’s bylaw, taking out any references to commercial or personal turbines and focusing on the town.

“The bylaw is geared to and directed at protecting property values while helping the town and taxpayers save money on municipal energy costs,” he said.

Planning Board members seemed content with the changes and there was little discussion from the board.

“I know you’ve worked hard on this,” said Chairwoman Amy MacNab. “We’re all getting on the same page.”

The proposed bylaw, the fate of which will be decided by voters at Town Meeting, would allow turbines only in the town’s Publicly Owned Land Overlay District, excluding the Dunes Protection and Wetlands Protection districts. The bylaw wouldn’t instantly create a windmill, but would rather give the Zoning Board of Appeals the power to issue a special permit.

The maximum height of a municipal turbine would be 250 feet, and any turbine would have to be set back a little more than twice its own height from any surrounding property. A community-scale wind facility would also not be allowed to add more than 10 decibels to the ambient sound level, in accordance with an existing state regulation.

Duggan said some in of the land being considered is a large plot off Mayflower Street, one site close to the DPW yard and another near the North Hill Golf Course.

Audience members said they were supportive of wind power in general, but had some speficic concerns based on turbines in other towns. Wayne Clough of Boxwood Lane said he was concerned about the windmill blades throwing ice after a storm. Duggan said the blades are programmed to stop automatically in case of ice build up or severe weather, and the self-heating blades wouldn’t start again until the ice was fully melted.

John Murdock, a member of the Alternative Energy Committee and a former manager of the wind facility in Hull, said that town’s turbine has prompted few complaints about noise or vibration since its installation. He said there has been an occasionally problem with “flickering,” when the sun hits the blades at a certain angle and creates a strobe-like shadow effect, but that can be solved by powering down the turbine.

Another committee member, Geoff Wilkinson, said he was on the board at Mass. Maritime Academy when they built their windmill.

“There is no effect whatsoever,” he said.

Planning Board member John Bear asked why the bylaw set the maximum height at 250 feet. Duggan said that was an optimum height for municipal use –– a commercial or private windmill might be higher in order to maximize profit.

“Let’s see how the public adjusts to something,” he said. “There’s probably no need to go higher than that.”

MacNab agreed with the approach of tackling town-owned turbines before delving into the more complicated issue of private towers.

“I think your approach is a wise one,” she said. “Everything in baby steps, let the town do it first.”

A Bridge to a Cleaner Future