UPDATE: Selectmen Refuse to Support Moratorium Article

Despite being approved by the Planning Board, an article calling for a two-year moratorium on building wind turbines in residential areas was rejected by the Board of Selectmen Tuesday.

The article was defeated on a 4-1 vote with only Selectman Ken Tavares voting in favor. According to WATD, during discussion of the article, selectmen said they had faith in the Planning Board and its permitting process.

This seems a contradiction to the petitioner Kerry Kearney:

“The Planning Board’s decision was to approve a moratorium only in residential zones, to allow them in industrial zones, and I think that was the right decision, and I’m surprised the Selectmen did not support the Planning Board’s decision when they were adamant that they support the Planning Board.”

Keith Mann told selectmen a moratorium is not needed since the Planning Board’s permitting process works. A process he knows well since it took him almost two years to get four turbines approved:

“It was close to a dozen public hearings that we went through and in that process we had to modify the project quite a bit. We reduced numbers of turbines, we re-located turbines. We took a lot of input from neighbors and incorporated that in the project.”

As a petition article, it will still be on the Town Meeting Warrant, but the Selectmen willl not support it.

What do you think? Should selectmen should have allowed the article to go before Town Meeting in October, or does the Planning Board do enough to vet projects? Tell us in the comments below.

Editor's note: This version clarifies that the article will still be on the Fall Town Meeting Warrant.