That is where Waitsfield is at - the planning commission and its
consultant, with significant public input, are rewriting the Town Plan.
Meanwhile, the town select board re-adopted the old plan at its July 26
hearing.
The re-adopted plan includes a specific prohibition on commercial wind
farming above 1,700 feet in elevation on the Northfield Ridge. That
re-adopted plan now stays in place until the revisions of the new plan
are finalized and put forth for approval.
The planning commission has twice stated publicly, at well-attended
hearings, that the new Town Plan will not soften that prohibition on
commercial wind farming above 1,700 feet on the Northfield Ridge.
The new plan, when it is complete, will be subject to a public hearing
process at the planning commission level, then approved by the planning
commission before it is sent to the select board. The select board will
review the new Town Plan, warn and hold a public hearing and adopt or
reject or amend the new document. If the amendments are significant, the
public review process is triggered again.
The process does not take place in the dark.
But it is interesting to note that in 2009 correspondence between the
town and the Vermont Land Trust regarding covenants that govern the
town-owned Scrag Mountain forest on the Northfield Ridge, the town asked
the Land Trust to include language that might - in the future - allow
wind turbines.
That is not to say that wind turbines could be constructed there because
the Town Plan still trumps any easements/covenants on that parcel of
land. That July 2009 letter from the town, though, does set the stage
for the important community dialogue that has to take place about wind
power in The Valley.
The re-adopted Town Plan and the new Town Plan prohibit commercial wind
farming on the ridge, but only until they expire. The dialogue that has
begun is critical and must go further.
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