Coming up before the Wednesday, August 10 Town Council meeting is a brand-new ordinance on wind power in Charlestown.
Here's what the new ordinance says:
"No Wind Energy Facility or Wind Turbine of any sort or nature is permitted in any zoning district located in the Town. Such uses are prohibited uses in all zoning areas."
Virtually all the language of the prior ordinance is struck out. The only remaining language is the definitions. Those remain the same and define wind energy facilities as "all equipment, machinery, and structures utilized in the conversion of wind to electricity."
The stated purpose of the ordinance is "to prohibit the construction and operation of wind energy facilities."
All the conditions based on the size of the wind generator have been deleted. It does not matter whether you are talking about Larry LeBlanc's 400-foot turbines or a 5-KW rooftop residential vertical axis generator or a kid's science fair project.
If it converts wind into electricity, this ordinance bans it in Charlestown.
How did this happen? On July 27, the Planning Commission started off by debating the draft ordinance I described in yesterday's report. They could not agree on any of the key points—except one. The town is in no hurry to adopt rules on wind turbines until it is completely, totally in agreement on all the rules. Now, how such consensus would ever happen given the broad range of opinions on wind energy is a mystery.
And in the meantime, the Planning Commission doesn't want any wind energy devices allowed in town until it somehow can find the Holy Grail of town consensus on this issue.
Town Solicitor Peter Ruggiero suggested the idea that the Town Council ditch the existing ordinance and insert in its place a total ban on all wind generators of any size or type and in any location.
He presented this as a safer legal strategy than continuing to apply a moratorium.
Ruggiero argued that an ordinance banning ALL wind generators allows the town to develop comprehensive rules at its leisure. Planning Commissioner Kathryn O'Connor said Amen to that idea, stating that she favored a complete and total ban on all wind generators, period. No commercial, no residential, no nothing. Several other commission members muttered assent.
Planning Commission chair Ruth Platner expressed concerns about how this action would look politically. She wanted to make sure that they got the message out that they weren't REALLY planning to ban all turbines, but that they wanted to pretty much start over with the ordinance process.
But Ms. Platner's public relations concerns aside, what now comes before the Town Council is perhaps the most radical, anti-environmental position on wind energy of any community in the state.
Take that, North Kingstown. There is a new, undisputed NIMBY champ.
Author: Will Collette