CLIFTON, Maine — Board of appeals members face plenty of work as they review whether the planning board — which approved a $25 million, five-turbine wind farm for Pisgah Mountain in October — based its decision on the facts.
“This is not a meeting about wind power,” Chairman Bruce Davis said at the beginning of Thursday’s appeals board meeting. He said it was “strictly an administrative hearing” to review data collected over the past three years to determine whether the planning board acted on a factual basis.
Peter and Julia Beckford filed the appeal, citing 11 items they contend the planning board did not fully consider when making its decision.
Crystal Phillips, a member of the Clifton Taskforce on Wind, filed a second appeal, citing similar issues.
All of the issues cited on Thursday were addressed by the planning board during its review of the wind farm, said Erik Stumpfel, the attorney for developer Paul Fuller of Bangor.
“Many of the issues tonight are disagreements,” he said. “There is substantial evidence to support the planning board’s findings. It’s nitpicking.”
The issues raised need to be looked at closely to see if the planning board’s decisions were based on the fact, Peter Beckford said.
After going through and highlighting some of the major points of his appeal, he said each of the items raised by him and his wife are backed by data collected over the last three years.
“In the back is three pages of wicked detailed details,” Peter Beckford said. “I know it’s a huge amount of work to go through.”
After the Beckfords and Phillips had their say, the developer was given time to rebut them. Then planning board members were given time at the podium.
Planning board Chairman Eric John used his time in front of the 55 or so residents to clarify questions asked earlier in the night and to say the planning board worked diligently on the permit process.
Members of the public also got an opportunity to speak at the meeting. The appeals board now has the job of going through all of the data to determine whether to affirm the planning board’s October decision or send the project back to the panel for additional work.
oh gee, if they do build the turbines , make sure they do not go for TIFs, conservation or tree growth.
Plane your mil rate and make them pay for every acre in full value. If you improved a property, the town would hit you with increased value.
Once the turbines are obsolete, WIND has beautiful McMansion real estate with roads and power delivered to the doorstep.
Make them pay all the way.
These Mainers deserve the benefit of the doubt and every consideration possible. This five turbine project is so insignificant in the great scheme of things that any negative impact to Maine or Mainers is really not justified. If the wind project had to compete with other energy sources on its own merits, it wouldn’t even be built.
If someone could pull the plug on this planned mountaintop white elephant, it would save federal taxpayers a few dollars and save Maine from another pointless corporate welfare project blotting the landscape?
The Fullers are not living near their own development, I notice. I hope the Appeals Board is more conscientious than the crooked Lincoln appeals farce, which did have a minority of responsible members. The majority were appointees by the town specifically to pass the windsprawl project. Quite devious. Erik Stumpfel may think it is nitpicking. The appeals board may discover otherwise and has a duty to protect the citizens from unscrupulous developers who do not care about the abutters.
You have no idea of what an appeals board actually does or what powers it actually legally has.
I congratulate the Beckford’s for standing up on this issue. Now is the time to bring up the issues and to deal with them. Woodstock has failed the people and believed the computer data that was submitted by the wind company. That data was incorrect and now at 1.2 miles from turbines, we listen to the blades go round and round with the sound of whoosh whoosh and a jet engine sound added to boot.
It seems the seasonal people in Woodstock were dealt a deal and have lost their oasis of solitude in the back woods of Maine. These are the people that would not have a vote at town meeting and were left out of the process, yet, these are the same people that have been put in the position to file nuance suits and loss of property value. Before any wind project goes up, it is the duty of the planning board to do their research and realize that these wind farms need regulations to protect the public. It is clear that the regulations in Woodstock came very short in protection of the people. 500 ft. from abutting property’s and a 410 ft. structure. I pray to god that the turbines don’t roll or bounce when they come down. It is the turbine fire that will clear the land and burn surrounding buildings. These are just a few of the issues to be addressed.
Think of it in this way, the Beckford’s are merely asking the wind company to prove what they say and if that is nitpicking, then it basically brings out the point that the wind company must have something to hide and want to turn this on the Beckford’s rather than answer questions they know they can’t back. The Beckford’s have science on their side and it would be wise for the planning board to hear them out and ask the wind project to prove what they say. Don’t wait until the wind company builds it to find out how it will work in your community. Vinalhaven, Woodstock, Freedom and the list goes on all across the globe to prove that wind does not play fair or nice. It is time for people like the Beckford’s to ask their planning board to look at all the issues, see the shortfall of LURC, DEP and BEP in true regulations on industrial wind turbines. Self Rule, township rule, does not mean that one half does not look out for the other half of the towns people. The Beckford’s are looking out for the safety of all in their town.