ANTRIM - A proposal to place a meteorological tower on Antrim's Tuttle Hill to study whether the spot is ideal for wind turbines to generate electricity has ruffled some feathers.

The debate in Antrim is just one example of the controversy blowing across the country over the placement of wind farms as the focus on renewable energy sources grows.

Last month, the Antrim zoning board gave Antrim Wind Energy LLC permission to place a temporary 196-foot tower on privately owned property off Route 9.

The company needed a variance because the tower required for the study would be nearly 50 feet taller than town ordinances allow for such structures.

Opponents have raised several concerns about the tower, including the possible detrimental effect on property values if potential buyers know that a wind farm may someday move in next door. They have until Nov. 12 to appeal the decision, and at least one resident said he plans to do so.

But officials from the wind energy company, which is owned by Portsmouth-based Eolian Renewable Energy LLC, said the tower will be erected only temporarily to study weather conditions, and opponents are really trying to undermine the potential for wind turbines by stopping the study.

The study would provide the company with information including wind speeds and direction that would be put into a complex calculation to determine the possible number and placement of turbines, according to John M. Soininen, vice president of development for Eolian Renewable.

Company officials believe the Tuttle Hill ridge line could handle up to eight turbines, but the wind study and interest from property owners along the ridge would determine whether the project is even feasible, Soininen said.

So far, only one landowner - Michael Ott, who owns about 300 acres on the hillside - has signed on, allowing the company to put the meteorological tower on his land.

Ott's land is ideal for the project because it is close to electrical transmission lines that would transport electricity generated, and near Route 9, where the large, cumbersome materials for wind turbines could be transported, Soininen said.

Antrim resident Richard Block lives across Route 9 from the proposed tower site and plans to file an appeal with the zoning board, which he said should have required the company to file for a second variance, known as a use variance.

"The only thing in Antrim's zoning that addresses wind power is for small wind systems," Block said. "What they've proposed is not for personal use.

"It would be a commercial wind farm."

This point has been considered by the zoning board, which asked the town attorney and the Local Government Center for guidance on whether the company needed to apply for a use variance. Both told the board that the proposed tower fell under the small wind energy ordinance.

During the board's deliberation at its October meeting, Chairman John Kendall again questioned whether the tower was a permitted use and suggested the board continue deliberation until the town attorney looked at the matter again. Kendall was the sole vote against the variance, according to minutes of the meeting.

He declined to comment on his vote.

Soininen said company officials followed the procedures town officials laid out when they applied for the variance and the outcome of the study will determine the size of the project.

"It might mean a small wind project, it might mean a commercial wind project on that landowner's (Ott's) property, it might mean multiple commercial wind projects should other property owners become interested," Soininen said. "But at this point, to say this is an industrial project is not accurate."

The debate over the project fits into a larger national debate over renewable sources of energy that, in some cases, has pitted environmentalists against one another.

Large wind farms on the vast, open prairies of the Midwest are one thing, but nestling them into the mountainous terrain of eastern states is another, some opponents say.

Many activists fighting the growth of wind farms say they kill birds, are noisy and inefficient and aren't able to produce enough energy to make them worthwhile.

Block, who said he began studying wind energy generation after he heard that Tuttle Hill was being considered, supports renewable energy sources but says wind farms aren't the way to go.

"My wife and I have always been very pro-alternative energy and wind farms," he said. "But we've discovered that they're unreliable, expensive and inefficient."

Block toured a wind farm recently built in Lempster and said he's concerned about the environmental as well as possible economic effects of filling the Granite State's ridge lines with wind turbines.

"To destroy all our ridge tops seems to me completely crazy," he said. "Especially for a state with such a large tourist industry based on our scenery."

But Soininen and other supporters of wind energy say the damage to the environment done by the use of fossil fuels is a bigger price to pay.

"People don't like change and they don't like to think about where electricity comes from," Soininen said. "They like to plug into the wall and pay their bill.

"But they're not looking at where it's coming from. It gets into a much bigger issue that people just don't want to address and they want to enjoy their view and not have their neighbors develop their property."

While Soininen said company officials hope to have the meteorological tower up on Tuttle Hill before winter sets in, the matter could be tied up in proceedings for some time.

If Block files his appeal as planned, the zoning board would then have to decide whether to grant a rehearing.

If a rehearing is granted, the wind energy company could appeal to Superior Court and if a rehearing is denied, opponents could also appeal to Superior Court.