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The Planning Board voted 5-0 Tuesday night to approve rezoning that would allow anemometer towers to be erected in most areas of Portland. The decision means that plans for two projects, floated earlier this year, will be able to move forward if the City Council endorses the board's recommendation and the Zoning Board of Appeals grants approval.
Project developers have proposed wind-measurement towers at the East End Community School on Munjoy Hill and at the Trott-Littlejohn Park on Peaks Island.
Those projects will let researchers collect enough wind data to assess whether permanent wind turbines on those sites could generate enough electricity to be feasible.
"This is not changing our zoning to enable construction of a wind turbine," Planning Board member Janice Tevanian pointed out. "It's strictly for research. We need to be able to do the research before we can develop alternative energy sources."
The zoning amendment endorsed by the Planning Board would allow such towers to remain in operation for no more than two years.
Jean Fraser, a city planner, presented a report to the board outlining the scope of the amendment and the effect it would have.
In the report, Fraser says both wind-speed projects are different from permanent energy systems because they are on towers that can be moved, and they do not include large moving rotors or blades.
Fraser said the amendment allows the temporary towers as conditional uses that could exceed the city's 50-foot height limit.
Portland has no regulatory framework to address wind-energy initiatives, Fraser said, but "it is likely that similar proposals will come forward in the near future as wind and other alternative forms of energy generation become better understood and more available."
Fraser acknowledged that there is public opposition to the towers. The city received a petition Tuesday signed by 64 people who are against construction of a wind-meter tower at the East End school. They cite safety concerns and claim that it would be an eyesore.
Jim Zafirson, president of Promenade East Towers, said he is completely opposed to building a tower next to a school.
"Until the city can address the safety issues, I find it hard to believe we can move forward with this proposal," Zafirson told the Planning Board.
However, most of the people who spoke praised the city for taking the first step toward promoting alternative energy.
"There are impacts to installing a wind turbine, but there are also impacts to our using too much oil," said John Mahoney, an Atlantic Street resident who has two children at the East End Community School.
Another resident, Gary Higginbottom, commended the city for exploring wind power.
"The city should be ready for the likelihood that more and more people will want to look at this as a resource," he said.
Staff Writer Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at: dhoey@pressherald.com
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