The Committee and the Committee of the Whole agenda for tonight will be the Wind Energy Conversion Ordinance.
The format for the meeting will be as follows:
*there will be a signup sheet for public comment
*speakers will be taken in order with a time limit on each speaker
*speakers should state the specific change(s) they are proposing to the ordinance or that they support leaving the ordinance as is. Speakers should give the reasoning behind their request
*comments will be directed to the chair, not to other participants
written comments will also be accepted
*an additional meeting will be scheduled if necessary
Thank you,
Councillor Ed Cameron
It's clearly a good idea that this is getting a public airing again, but I have to admit. I still haven't heard a compelling reason to change the ordinance. I accept that the neighors across Route 1 don't appreciate the shadows being cast or the so-called flicker created by spin of the turbine's rotors.
Check out the videos presented on the Back Bay wind blog , particularly those showing the shadows being cast by the spinning rotors. (I'm eager to hear how long this flicker affect lasts. I assume it only occurs while the sun sets, but perhaps I'm wrong.) I still haven't heard much of a peep out of the turbine so I can't see noise really being an issue.
I know my fellow bloggers have had much to say. The barely anonymous P. Preservationist is gravely concerned about how a field of turbines would decrease the aesthetic value of the common pasture and presumably the entire community. He's got every right to his opinion, but I'll counter that the existing turbine hasn't lessened the city's charm one iota. In fact, I think it adds another interesting element. He will disagree. I will disagree, and so the dance begins.
Meanwhile, Mary Baker Eaton --who thankfully has never been afraid to assign her name to her beliefs--asks the city to slow down and wait for new technologies to emerge, with her hope being the new turbines would be far less intrusive than the current 292-foot gorilla standing off Parker Road. This is certainly a reasonable position. But I question how close we are to seeing those technologies, and can we afford to wait. Certainly worth consideration.
I do have to agree that the city can't handle 22 of these monsters in the industrial park. That's the number of eligible sites identified by the city, but I'm not sure if protections in the bylaw would permit a complete build out of every eligible site. Here's a Daily News article.
Perhaps the setbacks and buffers need to be tweaked to bring the total number down a bit, but I hope the city council doesn't toss out the new regs entirely. Is that really what the majority of residents would like to see?
4 comments:
there is a reason why people call the turbine, the "hemorrhoid", and it isn't because they want 22 more...
Is this all people? Cuz my people haven't said that. Perhaps I need new people? Newer, cleverer people.
Today I was driving around the industrial park, came to a road and had no idea which way to turn. I looked to my left and there was my beacon - the turbine! So it does serve more than one purpose.
On the other hand, I still think it's way too big and intrusive for the city. Those ones at Cider Hill Farm are so cute ...
Tom, it's easy to see that the 'flickering' will only occur during the latter part of the day AND when the wind is blowing from certain directions (remember, the turbine rotates to face into the wind, which changes the angle of the blades relative to the neighborhood in question).
It's not going to be a specific time of day, either, but dependent (again) on the sun angle. As the days start getting shorter after June 21st that specific angle arrives earlier and earlier until, around October, it arrives *before most people are even home from work* (except for the weekends).
Do people in that neighborhood experience a flickering effect? You betcha. Is it a constant, all day, every day problem? No...it would be physically impossible.
Post a Comment