Male will be at the Moretown Energy Group meeting on July 12 at 6 p.m.
at the Moretown Town Hall. According to energy group member Karen Horn,
Male will talk to members about the proposal for wind towers on the
Northfield Ridge in Waitsfield and possibly also Moretown.
"This is a very preliminary conversation just to get a feel for what
their proposal might entail in Moretown," Horn noted in an email to
energy group members.
Male said that he would be present at the Moretown meeting at the
request of the energy committee and said that the company was now
considering expanding the length/range of the project into Moretown - as
opposed to stopping at the town line.
When Male presented the proposal in Waitsfield, he asked that the
planning commission and town consider changing the Town Plan to allow
commercial wind farming on the Northfield Ridge. The Waitsfield Town
Plan currently prohibits wind farming above 1,700 feet on the ridge and
the town is engaged in its regular five-year review and rewrite of the
Town Plan.
At a June meeting of the Waitsfield Planning Commission, residents
packed the room to voice concerns about wind farming on the ridge and
the commission decided to make no changes to the Town Plan regarding
wind farming for the time being.
Male said that he did not perceive the Waitsfield Planning Commission's
decision not to amend the Waitsfield Town Plan to allow wind farming on
the Northfield Ridge as a definitive answer from the entire town.
Male said that the company's focus had originally been on the area
between Moretown and Warren, but that there had been interest from
Moretown residents and the town to bring the project into Moretown.
When he presented his proposal in Waitsfield in May, he identified the
ridge from Moretown to Warren as ideal for wind farming because it could
be accessed along the top, could feed energy into the grid and produced
desirable winds.
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