Politics & Government
Town Meeting Rejects Wind Energy Amendment
A proposal to limit the location and size of wind turbine facilities in Plymouth was defeated at Fall Town Meeting.
Plymouth's zoning bylaw on wind energy facilities will remain as written after Town Meeting voted down a more restrictive policy.
A roll call vote determined 49 Town Meeting members in favor and 68 opposed with five abstentions, at the meeting Saturday, Oct. 19.
The defeated amendment would have limited the height of turbines and created two overlay districts where facilities could be built. Those districts would be near the Shops at 5 and near Colony Place.
Simon Thomas, a Precinct 4 Town Meeting member and a partner at Camelot Wind, concluded the proposed districts offered no viable locations for turbines.
"Under the proposed bylaw, neither overlay district would allow for a wind turbine to proceed," Thomas said.
Some officials and Town Meeting members disagreed with Thomas' assessment.
While additional overlay districts could have been added, many members expressed a concerned the bylaw was shifting from too liberal too restrictive.
"We're going from one extreme to another," said Peter Conner, Zoning Board of Appeals Chair and a Town Meeting member from Precinct 10.
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