DIXMONT -- Residents got a chance to ask a panel of experts about what wind development, and passing the ordinance would mean for them.

It was clear from the number of cards being filled out, people in Dixmont had a lot of questions about wind power development in their town, which currently has a moratorium on wind power development. That measure was put in place to give the town time to draft an ordinance to regulate development. The planning board has completed the first draft of that ordinance, and Monday, residents got a chance to anonymously ask a panel of experts about it. Among the panelists was selectman Ron Price from Freedom, where three turbines have already been developed. He says overall, there haven't been many complaints from those living closest to the turbines.

"Some of them have admitted to me privately that the things that they thought were going to affect them didn't affect them," Price said. "What they have been affected by is increased traffic, people coming up to look at them, those kind of things."

Many questions were directed at Andrew Price from Mt. Harris Wind, LLC, the company that wants to develop wind energy in town. He says the current draft of the ordinance would be the most restrictive one in the state.

"For a single turbine you need two thousand acres of land, three square miles of land around this turbine without any structures," Price told the crowd. "Three square miles, two thousand acres, that's an enormous amount of land to acquire for a single turbine."

The ordinance allows property owners to waive the setbacks by signing a mitigation waiver agreement. Unity College Professor Mick Womersley says large developers may not be willing to make that investment.

"Are they going to make the investment in figuring out who's willing to sign a mitigation waiver so they can have their turbines, or are they just going to go to the next town?" Womersley asked.

People asked Andrew Price if their energy bills would go down as a result of wind development in their town.

"Any new generator that locates in Maine reduces the price in Maine and the price in Massachusetts actually goes up a little bit," Price said. "It's because we don't have perfect transmission, there's some congestion points."

Dixmont First Selectperson Judy Dann hopes the meeting will help residents make a decision about whether they want to pass the ordinance.

"I think there are a lot of people who are undecided because it's such a complex and controversial issue," Dann told NEWS CENTER. "So we hope to meet those people who are in the middle ground still trying to decide."

The moratorium on wind power development will run out in mid-November. The planning board is still in the process of revising the ordinance.