After months of review, the City Council's Planning and Development subcommittee will issue several recommendations for changes to key areas of the wind turbine ordinance, including lengthening the setbacks and strengthening the notification process to abutters when a proposal for a turbine is filed with the city.

After hammering out several conditions under which to grant the permit, the board voted 4-1 in favor of the project. Planning Board member Daniel Miller cast his vote as an abstention because he wanted the ski resort to build a smaller wind turbine, which he said would still meet the ski resort's utility needs but have less visual impact on the rest of the town.

Two utility-scale wind projects on hold in Berkshire County, with a combined 45 megawatts of capacity, would expand wind generated electricity in the state by about 500 percent and power the equivalent of 15,000 homes, according to local and state officials. But both are tied up in litigation filed by local property owners, and one of the projects has been delayed for more than five years. A bill pending in the Legislature might cut the time needed for permitting, eliminating much of the litigation-generated delays.

Mayoral candidates James Shanley and Donna Holaday were open and honest when asked during a debate last week if the city should allow for more wind turbines to go up in Newburyport. "We blew it; we really blew it as a city on this," Holaday said. Saying city officials were "excited" at the chance to move forward and see alternative energy resources in the city when faced with the proposal by Mark Richey Woodworking, Holaday admitted they didn't have the research and data they needed to properly site it.

There are only 14 articles on the warrant for the Oct. 26 Wellfleet Special Town Meeting, but four of them are big ticket items, expected to generate a lot of discussion. Chief among them is article 2, which asks voters to appropriate $290,000 for the permitting and survey of the building site for construction of one wind turbine at Wellfleet-by-the Sea.

The West Roxbury Neighborhood Council supported the placement of a temporary 200-foot meteorological tower at a site on the Roxbury Latin school campus Monday night ...Discussion was heated among residents in attendance, with both supporters and challengers to the proposal voicing their opinions. Ultimately, however, the 6-2 vote in favor of the MET tower left many residents at the meeting feeling their thoughts on the matter were not seriously considered by the board.

Well over 100 people attended the public hearing called to receive feedback on the Oceans Management Plan, billed by the state government as a first-in-the-nation attempt to manage all development in Massachusetts waters. But just one issue dominated proceedings: wind generation. ...Overwhelmingly, the dozens who rose to speak were opposed to the plan, either outright or in part - although most also asserted their support in principle for alternative power generation.

Developers of a proposed 331-foot-tall wind turbine to generate electricity for the Berkshire East Ski Resort answered Planning Board questions regarding the turbine's impact on nearby wildlife and houses.

A proposal for a backyard wind turbine has been rejected, and the property owner will have to wait two years to reapply. Landlord Joe Fantasia was hoping to install a 120-foot turbine at the four-unit apartment building he owns ...But the board of zoning appeals said the spot Fantasia hoped to put the turbine, at 1282 Commercial St., was too small. The board unanimously rejected the proposal Sept. 2, deeming it too close to the property line.

An apartment owner’s application to construct a 44-foot wind turbine to provide power for his six units at 1282 Commercial St. has been unanimously rejected by the board of zoning appeals. “I don’t believe it is an appropriate use for the location,” Chairman Richard McLeod said before he joined his colleagues on Sept. 1 in rejecting a variance request from property owner Joseph Fantasia. “There is a school property line there.”

A Superior Court ruling against abutters who sought to keep the town from erecting a wind-measuring device on town-owned property at the Water and Sewer Department makes it more likely the town will get an electric power-generating windmill in the future. The town wants to erect the 130-foot tower to take readings to determine wind velocity in the area.

Like prospectors who discovered gold in the old West, developers, business owners, and homeowners are rushing to stake their claims to free, renewable energy by putting up wind turbines. As more of the structures sprout, however, local, state, and federal authorities are struggling to close the gap between old regulations and relatively new technology.

As Island towns refine and strengthen their regulatory authority over local wind turbine projects, the Martha's Vineyard Commission (MVC), as the Island's comprehensive land use planning agency, is considering the extent of its role in the process. MVC executive director Mark London said this week that the commission is closely watching two key pieces of state legislation that will influence development of wind power on land and sea.

A new subdivision could be in the cards for the land where two wind turbines were recently proposed in Cohasset. Civil engineer and CCI-Energy President Jim Sweeney, the proponent of the Cohasset Heights wind turbine project, was before the planning board this week presenting plans for a new access road to the site.

An apartment owner's plan to build a 60-foot wind turbine to provide power for his six units at 1282 Commercial St. stirred frustrations among his neighbors during a board of zoning appeals public hearing on July 8. Joseph Fantasia agreed to reduce the height of the turbine to 53 feet after hearing comments from nearby homeowners about his design plans that include construction of a garage and a retaining wall.

Any recommendations from the City Council's Planning and Development committee on how to change the city's wind turbine ordinance will not come for a few weeks. The three-person board decided last night to wait to go through the document until they gather more information and divide up the work.

nder the newly released ocean management plan for the state's coastal waters, Greater Newburyport's coastline could one day be home to 10 wind turbines. Massachusetts officials yesterday released a draft of the plan that spells out rules for setting up wind farms in state waters.

A state plan to manage future renewable energy projects in coastal waters would put the kibosh on proposed large wind farms in Buzzards Bay but open up the possibility of as many as 10 turbines in the waters around Cape Cod and almost 170 turbines southwest of Martha's Vineyard. "We're the first state in the nation to conduct such a comprehensive ocean management plan," Ian Bowles, state secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, said.

On the first sunny evening all week a crowd of 247 voters turned out to Special Town Meeting Thursday to vote on a citizen petition proposed “moratorium” on the wind energy bylaw and an article amending the previously approved article on the high school’s turf field. Shortly after Town Meeting was called to order Town Moderator Daniel Evans told the crowd they would not be able to act upon the wind energy bylaw as it was set forth in the warrant.

Citizens expecting to head to the high school gymnasium tonight (Thursday) to cast their vote on a proposed amendment to the wind energy bylaw will not be given the chance. On the eve of the scheduled Special Town Meeting Wednesday a majority of the Planning Board determined they needed more information, discussion and clarity on the citizen petition article concerning the wind energy bylaw.