The committee began looking over the ordinance in April. The City Council had agreed to re-examine the ordinance and possibly make changes after neighbors in the Back Bay neighborhood voiced their opposition to the 292-foot turbine put up by business owner Mark Richey on his woodworking facility site in the industrial park.

On the heels of a highly controversial wind turbine project application-the first under the wind energy conversion facility bylaw-a group of residents feel the bylaw needs revision. In order to revise the bylaw properly, the proponents are proposing a "moratorium" be placed on the bylaw and all its provisions to prevent new applications from being grandfathered in under the current bylaw.

Following on the heels of the Cape Cod Commission, which began an appeal process last week, the town of Barnstable has filed paperwork with the Supreme Judicial Court to challenge the Cape Wind proceedings. In a release issued Monday, the Cape Cod Commission confirmed its plans to appeal the comprehensive permit granted to Cape Wind Associates last month.

As the state moves forward with proposed legislation for siting wind turbines, planning board officials in some hilltowns want a public hearing in western Massachusetts, where the mountains, open space and vast areas of state-owned land could be prime locations for commercial windmills. Last month, the Rowe, Heath and Hawley planning boards all sent letters to legislative co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications expressing concerns that the Wind Energy Siting Reform Act would 'significantly restrict Massachusetts communities' home rule authority.

Boxford officials are investigating whether it makes sense for the town to install a wind turbine that could provide power for all of the town's operations. However, officials must first go through a number of steps to see if the town is eligible for state grant money and if Boxford, with fewer power needs than surrounding communities, would receive a net benefit.

A public hearing on a proposed 331-foot-tall wind turbine for the Berkshire East Ski Resort is scheduled for June 25, but town planners want to make sure the structure will be on town soil before they begin a special permit hearing process. For nearly a century, the Charlemont-Hawley town boundary has been in dispute and since at least 1989, there have been calls to resolve the difference legally.

In line with Governor Deval Patrick's goal to ramp up the state's production of energy from alternative sources, three area communities passed new rules this spring allowing the building of wind turbines - just the start of long and potentially costly journeys to see whether wind power will work at the local level. Now, with approval by residents in hand, officials in Groton, Holliston, and Hopkinton - and in one case a private individual hoping to start a wind farm - are looking for sites to test whether the wind is strong enough to justify construction costs, and trying to figure out how to pay for the turbines.

The Selectmen got more than they bargained for when they sat down with Zoning Board of Appeals alternate Marshall Rosenthal to discuss his re-appointment to the board. Rosenthal got himself put on the Selectmen's agenda when he failed to receive a notice of his re-appointment to the board. Selectmen Chairman Scott Koczela said the Selectmen are reviewing all ZBA appointments after three members abruptly resigned after the board's last public hearing about Minuteman Wind LLC's request to install five, 425-foot wind turbines.

On Thursday, June 25 (a change from the originally scheduled date), Town Meeting will take up two issues. The first is a citizen's petition to sunset the wind turbine bylaw. The second will ask Town Meeting to adjust the amount of needed private funding to move forward with the synthetic turf field project passed at the November 2008 Town Meeting. ...If passed the intent of the article is to disallow any application or consideration of a wind turbine special permit. The article's stipulations would take effect on the date of the first public advertisement of the special town meeting.

The wind turbine waiting game will continue, as Town Meeting referred a proposal that would have set up town regulations for the structures to the Planning Board. There is no bylaw on the books that would allow residents or businesses to harness wind power via turbine in town. A year in the making, the proposal was intended to protect Framingham residents while carving a niche for an emerging technology.

The state's Energy Facilities Siting Board voted unanimously today to approve a bundle of permits for the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm, marking another milestone for the controversial project. ...The board voted 7-0 to approve the so-called "super permit," after three hours of deliberation at Boston's South Station Transportation Center, siting board spokesman Tim Shevlin said this afternoon.

In 2008, Town Meeting voted unanimously to establish a wind energy conversion facility bylaw. Now, in 2009, with one project denied under the bylaw, citizens have come forward to call a Special Town Meeting to consider placing a temporary moratorium on the wind bylaw. More specifics will be coming forward next week when a citizen's petition, an article signed by 100 residents, is expected to be submitted to the Town Clerk.

Town Meeting last night delayed a vote that could have set up guidelines for wind turbines, electing to table the measure. Town Meeting member Tom O'Neil, who served on the committee charged with crafting the bylaw that would set rules for turbines, made the motion to table the proposal. During a break in the proceedings, O'Neil said the bylaw Article 25 on the warrant was not ready to be approved.

There will be no wind turbines erected in Cohasset, at least for the time being. On Wednesday night, the Planning Board effectively denied the project in its entirety when all four voting members failed to reach a consensus. An hour and a half of debate had some board members contemplating the ‘what ifs' of lawsuits and appeals and discussions over how to frame an approval.

The Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously approved height and use variances for 13 wind turbines last night, after the board, American Pro Wind LLC and their respective legal teams reached agreement on the variances. The decision wraps up one of the initial approvals necessary for the project, Douglas Woods Wind.

The Zoning Board of Appeals, American Pro Wind LLC and their legal teams debated the conditions for approval of variances for hours last night, the major sticking point being minimum setback requirements for the 13 wind turbines. Though no formal approval for the height and use variances was taken for Douglas Woods Wind by deadline last night, both sides were haggling over setback requirements.

After months of debate and public discussion, the Cohasset Planning Board has effectively rejected a proposal to build two wind turbines on Route 3A. The board voted 3-1 on Wednesday to allow the proposed 450-foot turbines to be built near Hingham Lumber. But the project needed four affirmative votes to go forward. Board member Stuart Ivimey, who voted "no," said he thought the wind-power bylaw's limits on noise would be exceeded.

The planning board will vote tonight on Cohasset's first wind turbine project, seven months after it began a public hearing and more than a year after a wind bylaw was passed. But the proposal, which calls for two 450-foot turbines, measured from base to blade tip, appears unlikely to get the unanimous support it needs.

Cohasset's first green project under the town's new wind turbine bylaw may soon be dead, after nearly two years of discussion and planning. Planning Board vice chairman Stuart Ivimey said last week he will not vote in favor of a special permit for a pair of commercial wind turbines proposed by a Plymouth company, leaving the project one vote short of approval.