Wind farm scales back
Toolbox
By Gordon Dritschilo Staff Writer - Published: June 19, 2009
MIDDLETOWN SPRINGS — A developer told residents Thursday he doesn't plan to put any wind towers in their town.
Vermont Community Wind Farm spokesman Jeff Wennberg said all potential sites in Middletown and Tinmouth, along with several in Ira, have been dropped from the company's plan to build an 80-megawatt wind farm in the southeastern part of the county.
Wennberg also apologized for instances of trespassing that took place during studies for the project and said that VCWF expects to announce a new financial partner within the next few weeks. He addressed an audience of about 60 at a community forum in Middletown Springs on Thursday night.
Owner Per White-Hansen initially identified 60 potential sites for towers. He said early on how many of those sites he would seek to develop would depend on a number of factors, but that he did not expect to develop all of them.
The change announced Thursday eliminates 15 potential sites, 11 on Traynor Brook Ridge and four on the southern end of Suzie's Peak. This included all the potential sites in Tinmouth, and several of the ones in Ira and Middletown Springs. It also eliminated the need for two transmission lines.
Wennberg said the company got a lot of negative comments from people in Ira about one of the lines, and engineers determined that towers on Suzie's Peak could be served by a transmission line in Clarendon.
"One of the things we've heard is the project is too big," he said in an interview before the meeting. "You're not going to be able to look anywhere and not see turbines. This would eliminate one of the ridgelines and mitigate the visual impact."
Wennberg also said some of the houses on Traynor Brook Ridge made it hard to site towers with appropriate buffer zones. White-Hansen also said the roads in the area were a factor and that at least two landowners there did not want to sign on.
"The thing we want to emphasize here is we've said from the beginning that even though there were specific dots on the map, we were anxious to hear from people and make project revisions," Wennberg said. "We're not done with that revision process."
Toward the end of the meeting, resident Earl Parker held up a box used to study bat populations and asked why he found it on his land. Wennberg said it was placed there by accident.
"It's the project's responsibility to make sure consultants are honoring property lines," Wennberg said, adding that he was having consultants double check the locations of all equipment. "If it can happen once, it can happen more than once."
It has happened more than once — a landowner in Ira complained to the Select Board there after finding equipment on his land. Wennberg said the company is learning that its maps are not entirely accurate.
"If anyone suspects or has knowledge of (other such incidents), please tell us," he said.
gordon.dritschilo@rutlandherald.com
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