That discussion started this week at a well-attended public hearing in
Waitsfield. Although it is much too early for either the developers
interested in a wind farm on the Northfield Ridge or those who would
review such a project to render an opinion on it, it is already
abundantly clear that people of like minds may disagree on this subject.
Any wind project on the Northfield Ridge would require modifying the
Town Plan to include that use. Rewriting/updating Town Plans every five
years is required by Vermont law. It involves planning commissions
proposing draft language and holding public hearings to take input on
the proposed changes. A planning commission, after public input and any
necessary rewriting, passes the Town Plan on to the town select board.
The select board will hold its own public hearings, taking public
comment and making amendments to the document accordingly. Vermont law
gives the select board or municipal body the authority to adopt the Town
Plan.
But the law also gives voters the right to petition the select board for
a townwide vote, by Australian ballot, on the Town Plan and that is
what should happen with this revision of the Waitsfield Town Plan.
The issue of the future of the Northfield Ridge is too important to be
made without the input of all voters. And while public input during the
designated public hearings is important and planners and select board
members will take it into consideration, this decision is too important
to be made by a group of five elected officials.
It took three votes and one revote of the residents of Waitsfield to
pass the zoning that protects the ridge from residential development
today. Any move to change the type and level of protection should also
be made by all the voters in the town. When the time comes to adopt this
new version of the Town Plan, it is important that voters petition for a
townwide vote.
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