LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]


Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Hawk Rock Holdings sues town of Newark over amended town plan 

Credit:  Reposted from The Caledonian Record via Energize Vermont ~~

NEWARK – Hawk Rock Holdings, LLC – the owner of the about 2,600 acres of land, much of which is being leased by Seneca Mountain Wind (SMW), LLC, for that company’s hoped-for eventual wind project here – has sued the town of Newark, claiming the amended town plan is unconstitutional to property owners and should be invalidated.

In a statement released through the attorneys who brought the suit, Stackpole & French of Stowe, they stated, “Hawk Rock Holdings, LLC is a family-owned real estate holding company that owns approximately 2,600 acres of land in Newark, Vermont, much of which is subject to conservation restrictions and managed in accordance with a Forest Management Plan.”

“Between April and June of 2012 the Newark Planning Commission set out to develop amendments to its Town Plan for the sole purpose of preventing Seneca Mountain Wind, LLC from installing a temporary meteorological tower on land leased to that company by Hawk Rock Holdings, LLC,” the press release notes.

“The tower is one of four proposed in three towns in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom to measure wind energy potential. Newark’s amendments to its Town Plan specifically target the land of Hawk Rock Holdings, LLC and their impacts extend well beyond restricting the development of wind power.”

“The litigation initiated by Hawk Rock Holdings, LLC is not intended to be a referendum on the merits of wind power, but is intended to ensure that as Newark and other communities around Vermont debate, discuss, and react to controversial projects, private property rights and the municipal planning process are not trampled in a rush to act, as we believe occurred here,” the Hawk Rock Holdings press release stated.

The owners of Hawk Rock Holdings, according to the suit, are Barbara and Steven Watson, and the company has no full-time employees. HRH leased a portion of its lands to SMW in March of this year, and shortly after, SMW filed its application with the Public Service Board (PSB) for a Certificate of Public Good (CPG).

“Upon receiving notice of SMW’s application to the PSB, the Town of Newark Planning Commission (Planning Commission) took steps to oppose the proposal, first by moving to intervene in the PSB proceeding on behalf of the Town of Newark without authority to do so, and then by amending the Newark Town Plan in specific response to the pending application,” the suit states.

“The efforts of the Planning Commission to amend the Newark Town Plan culminated on Sept. 17, 2012, when it presented a series of proposed amendments to the Town of Newark Selectboard (Selectboard), which voted to approve the adoption of the amendments to the Town Plan.”

“The record of the Planning Commission’s activities and deliberations reveals a pervasive bias against SMW’s project, troubling conflicts of interests, and a plethora of failures to comply with requirements of State statute which set forth the process for amending a Town Plan,” the lawsuit alleges.

“Prior to filing its letter with the Public Service Board opposing SMW’s MET Tower Application the Planning Commission did not conduct any type of polling or attempt to hold any town-wide referendum on SWM’s proposal; instead, it relied upon NNU’s representation that over half of Newark’s registered voters signed a petition opposing SMW’s project in Newark,” states the suit.

The lawsuit, starting at page 10 of the 24-page document, and going to page 13, notes parts of the amended town plan and is critical of changes.

The lawsuit seeks to invalidate the town plan, “because the Newark Planning Commission violated (state statute) by failing to base its 2012 amendments to the Town Plan on a comprehensive planning process,” it claims.

“Planning, by definition, is forward looking and anticipatory, not reactive or responsive,” it cautions. “The Planning Commission did not engage in ‘planning;’ it engaged in activism at the behest of and in solidarity with a special interest group, co-opting the Commission for personal use, and undermining the Town’s long-range comprehensive planning process.”

It states in count six in the suit, “The 2012 Newark Town Plan should be invalidated because the Newark Planning Commission has effectively implemented zoning for the town by amending its town plan, rather than adopting zoning bylaws.”

The Plaintiff seeks declaratory judgment against the town, declaring that the 2012 Newark Town Plan is “invalid, void, and unenforceable; and such other relief as the Court deems just and proper.”

Michael Channon, the chairman of Newark’s Select Board, said Monday he could not comment on the lawsuit, and said it has been forwarded to the town’s insurance handler, who will be representing the town in the suit.

Source:  Reposted from The Caledonian Record via Energize Vermont

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon