FREEDOM - Competitive Energy Services LLC, the Portland-based company that wants to build a 4.5-megawatt wind farm in Waldo County, has voluntarily suspended its application to give the town time to draft an ordinance dealing with such proposals.
FREEDOM - Competitive Energy Services LLC, the Portland-based company that wants to build a 4.5-megawatt wind farm in Waldo County, has voluntarily suspended its application to give the town time to draft an ordinance dealing with such proposals.
Sue Jones, a consultant working for CES, said the company made its decision Tuesday morning after hosting a public meeting in the town's Grange Hall on Monday night.
"The town would like time to develop an ordinance," she said.
Two Freedom selectmen could not be reached Tuesday.
More than 70 people attended Monday's meeting, Jones said, including members of an ad hoc group calling itself Windwize, composed of residents who live near the Beaver Ridge site where the three 260-foot towers are proposed.
"There's a lot of interest in the community," with residents asking, "What does this mean to the community and what does this mean to me individually?" Jones said.
Residents asked about how the towers and turbines will affect real estate …
Sue Jones, a consultant working for CES, said the company made its decision Tuesday morning after hosting a public meeting in the town's Grange Hall on Monday night.
"The town would like time to develop an ordinance," she said.
Two Freedom selectmen could not be reached Tuesday.
More than 70 people attended Monday's meeting, Jones said, including members of an ad hoc group calling itself Windwize, composed of residents who live near the Beaver Ridge site where the three 260-foot towers are proposed.
"There's a lot of interest in the community," with residents asking, "What does this mean to the community and what does this mean to me individually?" Jones said.
Residents asked about how the towers and turbines will affect real estate values, and about the noise associated with the turning blades.
"There is a little bit of opposition," Jones said.
When CES made its proposal public last month, it needed only a permit issued by the town's code enforcement officer and would not have faced review by the planning board or selectmen.
The project does not require state Department of Environmental Protection permitting.
Lighting for the towers and turbines - which will extend to a maximum height of almost 400 feet when one of the three blades is vertical - will be regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Knox dairy farmer Ron Price, who owns the Freedom parcel where the towers are proposed, will lease the land to CES.
Earlier this year, selectmen learned an Albion man was considering developing a commercial water extraction operation in town. Since town ordinances did not cover such an operation, an ordinance was drafted to address such concerns as its effect on groundwater.
That ordinance was adopted at the annual town meeting March 24.
Jones said town officials have the same sort of response in mind to the wind farm proposal and want time to draft an ordinance regulating it.
Over the last few weeks, CES has considered giving the town time to come to terms with the proposal, and the Monday night meeting confirmed that view, she said. Creating the ordinance is expected to take about three months.
"We want this to be done right," Jones said, so CES agreed to give the town time.
"We have suspended our application based on that good faith," she said.