10/17/09 - The Planning Board this week revisited the issue of a public utility zone at the transfer station, which would make it possible for the town to install a municipal wind turbine there.

After much discussion Wednesday night, it became apparent that at least half of the six-member board had second thoughts about the original proposal.

The controversial proposal met with much public outcry at a public hearing October 5, and the Town Council sent the matter back to the Planning Board to modify the proposal to indicate its compatibility with the Comprehensive Plan and to include suggestions brought up at the hearing.

On Wednesday, Town Planner Jane Weidman walked the board through her suggested modifications. The primary change would be to require a special use permit for all uses in the zone; the original proposal allowed for a wind turbine by right.

By requiring a special use permit, Weidman explained, any proposal would be subject to extra layers of scrutiny, including Development Plan Review.

“It would be the most restrictive zone in town in terms of allowable uses,” Weidman said.

The Development Plan Review would address issues such as sound impacts, flicker and impacts on birds.

She suggested that there is “enough data out there [in regard to the three issues] to give you a certain comfort level going forward on this.”

She said that a turbine would be compatible with Comprehensive Plan, especially the goal of seeking a “non-polluting energy source.”

Board members react

The six board members provided a range of opinion — from outright opposition to the zoning change, to full support.

Chair Margie Comings was more comfortable with the special use permit route.

Neil Lang said he thought the board was “putting the cart before the horse,” and was “opposed to the rezoning at this point.” A host of issues brought up at the public hearing — such as bird migration and the feasibility of tying the turbine into the current island grid — had given him pause, Lang said. He didn’t think the board had enough information to make a decision.

Lang suggested a comprehensive study of the island’s energy needs be undertaken before moving forward on such a proposal.

Brad Marthens agreed with Lang “to a point,” but thought the special use permit process could allow for many questions to be answered before any decision was made.

Kevin Hoyt agreed with Lang and said he had misgivings about both the location and the entire project. He did not believe that a wind turbine was the only answer to the town’s energy problems and suggested investigating bio-fuels, net metering and using the sewer plant generator to help power town buildings. He agreed that the town needed a comprehensive energy plan, and floated the idea of seeking funds for such a plan at the next Financial Town Meeting in November.

He admitted that he had not considered “all the ramifications” of the project, and asked how Block Island Power Company could survive if the turbine took care of 600 kilowatts of the island’s typical 800 kilowatt demand on a winter’s night.

Also, as the son of a former Block Island Conservancy president, Hoyt said he said the issue of Jack Gray’s deed restrictions must be honored.

When Gray gifted the land to the town, he called for it to eventually be returned to a natural state with no structures.

Board attorney Don Packer, however, said that the deed restrictions were not the purview of the board. The board, he said, was to consider what is best for the island vis-à-vis the Comprehensive Plan.

Rob Gilpin, on the other hand, expressed his exasperation with critics of the proposal. He stressed that there was no application before any board for a wind turbine — only for a zoning change. The zoning change “is a starting point to evaluate the site,” Gilpin said.

He pointed out that BIPCo goes though “8,000 gallons of diesel a day,” and with the wind resources Block Island enjoys, it would be “negligent” not to pursue a means to harness them.

In the five years a wind turbine has been in place at the North Light, Gilpin said he experienced only a single bird death. (He is the head of the North Light Commission.)

He reminded those gathered that the board’s charge had been to find a town-owned location for a possible turbine. The transfer site was chosen because it had unimpeded access to prevailing southwesterly winds and because it was in a residential zone and already had a commercial use.

He suggested, however, that with nearly half of the island’s 6,000 acres protected as open space, there might be another, better location.

Board member Denny Heinz said he was in support of a special use permit route.

Audience input

Chris Littlefield of The Nature Conservancy cautioned against justifying a turbine via the Comprehensive Plan, because the plan “like the Bible, can be interpreted in different ways.”

He suggested that the town conduct an energy audit first to identify possible energy savings. He quoted an executive from Duke Energy who said, “the cheapest plant is the one we don’t have to build.”

Littlefield said the “community owes it to itself to look at all the alternatives.”

He pointed out that a full third of the conservation land on the island was gifted, and the terms of those gifts are “supposed to be sacrosanct.” To go against Gray’s wishes at the transfer station would set a dubious precedent, Littlefield suggested.

Littlefield said the approach of “picking one site and backfilling” wasn’t the way to go.

First Warden Kim Gaffett reminded the group that the initial idea was to create standards for a kind of “floating zone” that could be applied to any appropriate site.

Martha Ball suggested that pursuing a wind turbine was a “narrow approach.” She also said it never occurred to her that the board would seek to allow a turbine “by right,” and not a special use.

Corn Neck Road resident Arlene Tunney presented a draft of Department of Environmental Management wind turbine regulations that, if adopted, could have an impact on the town’s suggested site.

The draft calls for a turbine to be at least 300 feet from the shoreline and a distance equal to one-and-a-half the turbine hub height, plus the rotor radius, away from property lines.

She pointed out that shorn turbine blades have been known to travel 500 feet, and blade fragments up to 1,650 feet. Finally, she pointed out that wind turbines can throw ice fragments as far as 825 feet, which would potentially endanger employees and customers at the transfer station.

West Beach Road resident William Rader said that the objections to the zoning change were “something other than NIMBY,” and he pointed to the environmental hazards outlined by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as the Nature Conservancy and the Audobon Society.

Tom Plunkett, attorney for a number of residents near West Beach Road, said he was concerned the board had a “lack of professional opinion provided to you” before passing the recommendation on to the Town Council.

“I submit it is not a feasible site,” he said. He suggested arranging a non-contentious work session with the board and neighbors to discuss the proposal as well as alternatives.

Board will discuss its options at a work session November 3, and will vote again on November 9.

Options include reaffirming the first recommendation, offering the council a new recommendation that calls for a special use permit, or recommending that the zone change is not compatible with the Comprehensive Plan.

Other business

The board dealt had other matters Wednesday.

It tabled a request by Carol Payne to create a zoning change in the Residential/Commercial mixed zone that would allow a restaurant at the Payne’s Overlook on Beach Avenue. Board members said they needed more time to consider the ramifications.

Beach Avenue neighbors Joe Noel and Rob Beguelin both stood to say they did not support any change that would allow restaurants in the area.

Weidman offered proposed language that would create a “lite assembly” section in the zoning ordinance. Sven Risom asked for the change once he realized the town’s ordinance did not allow a manufacturing business with employees. The board must still consider what zones it would like to see the “lite assembly” allowed in.

The board signed off on a major subdivision for David and Linda Morrison (Plat 17, Lot 27) on Old Town Road.

After much discussion the board voted to no longer continue Ted Robinson and Nick DePetrillo’s application for major subdivision for property off Ocean Avenue (Plat 6, Lots 5 & 6). The board said none of the mandated improvements had been made, and the matter had been on its agenda since March 2007.