Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005. |
Conservation Commission OK’s wind turbine
Credit: By Sarah Favot, Town Correspondent, www.boston.com 10 March 2011 ~~
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
The Milton Conservation Commission has given the town the go-ahead to build its proposed wind turbine on public property near the Granite Links Golf Club.
But despite the green light from the panel following its final hearing on the proposal Tuesday night, town planners say they still need to overcome further hurdles before construction can begin.
“We’d like construction to start Oct. 1 of this year, but that is contingent on the appeal process,” Planning Director William Clark said in an interview.
Quarry Hills Associates, which owns the Granite Links Golf Club, has sued the town in Norfolk Superior Court to stop the project, saying that the power-generating turbine would interfere with the club’s operations and that the plan to take a dirt road on its property by eminent domain for access to the turbine site would violate its lease agreement.
The turbine would be built about 80 feet from the golf course.
Quarry Hills has a 50-year lease with Quincy and Milton to use the publicly owned land.
On Tuesday night, the Conservation Commission gave the project its approval and issued an order of conditions. The final stage in the process is getting a building permit, which would be filed after the design of the foundation for the turbine is completed.
“Now that we have the order of conditions, we can put full effort into the design,” said Clark.
The commision’s order spelled out special conditions dealing with the protection and monitoring of the adjacent funnel pool; it requires an acoustic study on noise levels, as well as an avian study on the effects of the turbine on birds, said Clark.
The town hired D & C Construction, of Rockland, for the construction.
Once construction begins, Clark said he estimates that the project would be completed in four or five months. But getting the construction started may be a problem because of the lawsuit filed by Quarry Hills and any other action the company might take.
“We anticipate that they’ll appeal the order of conditions,” said Clark
Meanwhile, the Quincy City Council has also come out against the project.
The councilors resolved late last month to send a message to Milton Board of Selectmen chairwoman Marion McEttrick expressing that they believe the turbine would negatively affect the golf course and nearby residents with noise, vibration, shadow effects from the blades, and flicker effect from the sun.
Quincy City Councilor Brian Palmucci said Milton did not consult with the City Council about the project.
Clark said that the original plans for the project would not be changed, but that there would be more monitoring and making sure that the turbine would have the least possible impact on nearby wetlands.
“Now we’ll address the appeal and we’re looking forward to the completed design, and at that point we’ll order the turbine and continue moving ahead,” said Clark.
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 |
(via Paypal) |
(via Stripe) |
Share: