Effort to build wind turbines appears in tatters; Backers are short 1 vote on board

Effort to build wind turbines appears in tatters; Backers are short 1 vote on board
By Christine Legere, Globe Correspondent | May 3, 2009

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 when the issue is taken up on Wednesday. All four of the board members considering the application must agree, if the permit is to be issued.

The project applicants say they will probably file a court appeal if the board rejects their proposal.

Ivimey said the issue of noise from the proposed turbines - a key concern among neighbors - had not been adequately addressed by the applicants. He also had some safety concerns.

While fellow board members opted to delay the formal vote until Wednesday - after it had failed to come to a vote following five hours of discussion last Wednesday night - Ivimey declared he's not changing his mind.

"I wanted so much to like this project," Ivimey said. "But I'm so unimpressed."

James Sweeney, president of the Plymouth-based company CCI Energy, had applied for the special permit for two commercial wind turbines, each measuring over 450 feet from base to blade tip. Town Meeting had passed a bylaw a year ago with Sweeney's project in mind, allowing wind turbines to be built in any of the town's zoning districts as long as a special permit from the Planning Board was granted. The pair proposed by Sweeney would stand on top of one of this scenic seaside town's highest points, the Graham Waste landfill tract, which overlooks Route 3A as well as some residential neighborhoods. The 8 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year generated by the pair would be sold.

Benefits to the town include tax revenue and an opportunity for discounts on electricity. These turbines would differ from the pair in neighboring Hull in that they are larger and would generate energy to be sold. Hull's turbines, Wind I and II, supply energy to that town, meeting about 10 percent of its current needs. An offshore wind turbine project, currently under discussion in Hull, would accommodate all the town's electrical needs.

Turbine proposals are also popping up in other locations. Sweeney's company has wind projects that are awaiting permitting in Plymouth and in Fairhaven. While the two Fairhaven turbines will be smaller than those proposed for Cohasset, the Plymouth pair will be similar in size.

State environmental and transportation officials are looking to install a wind turbine on a property overlooking the Mass Turnpike. That one is also somewhat smaller than the ones proposed for Cohasset.

A vocal group of neighbors has doggedly attended the Cohasset hearings since they began last September, voicing concern over noise, light-shadow flicker caused by the whirling blades, the general visual effect, and the negative impacts on their property values.

The Planning Board had set a special meeting last Wednesday to take the vote on the special permit, with members saying it was time to put the wind turbine issue to rest. But after nearly five hours of discussion and argument, Ivimey declared that noise impacts from the whirling blades had not been addressed to his satisfaction.

Ivimey told his fellow board members he will not vote for two turbines on the landfill property, but he would support a single turbine there. Several motions were made, but none came to a vote. Members were reluctant to take that final step since board chairman Alfred Moore had warned that all four who had attended the hearings must approve the special permit for it to pass. Ivimey made it clear he would vote against.

The only motion planners finally agreed on, just a few minutes before midnight, was to adjourn.

"We're disappointed they didn't vote in favor, and we're particularly disappointed we were precluded from addressing the sticking point over noise," said Sweeney's attorney, Kenneth Ingber, after the meeting. "We knew the answers to their questions."

Sweeney and his team were not allowed to speak during the discussion, because the public hearing had closed.

On Thursday, one of Sweeney's partners, Gordon Deane, said the project's applicants don't understand Ivimey's opposition, since their consultant, the Planning Board's engineer, and a member of the Planning Board who is an engineer, all say the projected noise levels are within the allowable standard.

"We have not formulated a position at the stage about what we would do if the board approves only one turbine," Deane said. "Clearly, we are likely to appeal if no turbines are approved."

He said that limiting the project to one turbine might make it difficult to turn a profit.

Graham Waste landfill owner Paul Barry, who has agreed to lease part of his site to Sweeney for the turbines, said he was "shocked" at the board's behavior.

"I had thought we had the opportunity here to turn the landfill, which most people see as a negative thing, around to a positive use," Barry said. "I went out of here very confused."

Conrad Langenhagen, who lives near the site and opposes the turbines, said the board's reluctance to take a vote shows it remains concerned about "safety, noise, and visual impact." He said he believes the project would violate the noise standards in the town's wind turbine bylaw, "which should terminate the project by itself."

"And the visual impact directly challenges Cohasset's master plan mandate of preserving the natural aesthetic beauty of the town," Langenhagen said in an e-mail Thursday.

The Planning Board will continue its discussion on the proposal on Wednesday at 8 p.m. in the Town Hall.

Christine Legere can be reached at christinelegere@yahoo.com.