Tardy posts

I know, I know, I have not been good at posting stuff as of late.

Chalk it up to ... ah, heck, whatever you like.

Someone sent me this link, yikes a while ago now. It's about a wind turbine and turbine noise in Falmouth, MA.

I'm not really a big fan of the Boston Herald, but it's an interesting story, especially in light of our pending new planning director, Andrew Port. I'll be speaking with him more tomorrow, hopefully.

He seems to be very nice and capable - and he mentioned wind turbines in his Monday "meet-and-greet" with (some) city councillors.

Important meetings upcoming

The Senior Center Building Committee is meeting at 5 p.m. on Thursday (April 1) and Mayor Donna Holaday will be there to update everyone on a location. The meeting will be in the City Hall auditorium.

Ward 4 Councillor Ed Cameron said the committee "continues to think of Cushing Park is a good location for a senior center" and that considering other locations at this point is "adding just another big piece onto something that's quite simple."

As we know, Holaday has proposed at least two alternate locations to Cushing Park: the Port Rehab building and now the building where the Fitness Factory was.

The City Council's Planning and Development standing committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. on April 8 in Council Chambers to review the input from the Planning Board on the proposed changes to the wind energy conversion ordinance.

Not a syllable

I find it kind of strange that no one else, that I know of, has commented on one aspect of the March 3 joint Planning Board/City Council hearing about the wind turbine ordinance and the mobile signage ordinance.

That is - a bunch of people started talking about banning turbines in Newburyport. I think it's kind of significant (obviously) but I don't see much conversation about it.

What do you all think? Do you think Newburyport is too small for wind energy facilities?

Hearing on turbine/mobile signs March 3

The long-awaited joint public hearing with the City Council's Planning & Development committee and Planning Board on changes to the wind energy conversion ordinance and the mobile sign ordinance is tentatively scheduled for March 3.

Or it was as of last night, at the City Council meeting.

Interesting reading

Here's a link to a story that a friend sent me about a proposed wind turbine installation, from The Martha's Vineyard Times online.

The results of the acoustic study that was conducted by Tech Environmental showed that the community-scale wind turbine would increase the sound level for West Tisbury School's property boundaries and nearby residences beyond the acceptable level allowed by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) Noise Policy.

And interestingly, the powers-that-be in this town, West Tisbury, are following the 3x the height of the turbine "rule of thumb."

As a "rule of thumb" for minimizing possible noise, the study explained, a wind turbine should be sited three times the blade-tip height from residences. Based on the turbine initially proposed at West Tisbury School, that meant it should be located about 1,000 feet from residences.

The study referred to is "a wind site survey conducted by the Renewable Energy Research Laboratory in January 2007 ..."

I don't know how this noise controversy will ever be resolved!

Wind turbine hearing

Bob Cronin has an explanation on his blog of what's going on with the joint hearing between the City Council and the Planning Board about the revised wind energy ordinance.

Sorry for the late notice of all this stuff ... I've been up to my (unplucked) eyebrows in meetings and interviews!

P.S. I hate the way I look w/plucked eyebrows.

Senior center decision & more

Monday is the day the Senior Center Building Committee imposed on itself as the day it will make a decision on whether to pursue the property at the Towle Office Building. The meeting is at 8 a.m.

I really miss Ed Cameron notifying everyone of these meetings ... although one click takes me to the city's website, where one may find notification of meetings.

I see where The P. Preservationist is listing a joint Planning Board/City Council meeting for Tuesday, Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. I don't see that on the city meeting calendar. The Planning Board meets on the first and third Wednesday of each month ... help, anyone? This would be the discussion of the revised wind energy ordinance and the changes to the ordinance relating to moveable signs (as in, the Germinara truck).

The Preservationist is also reporting that there is a movement afoot to not amend the wind energy ordinance.

A sample letter is being circulated trying to pressure City Council and the Mayor to not only not amend the present Wind Energy Ordinance but to loosen its restrictions even further! Supporters are already sending their versions using pure political frenzy to put pressure on our elected officials.

Does this have anything to do with the money the state is doling to implement rampant construction of giant wind energy conversion facilities?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for green energy ... but I see trouble ahead. (But then, as a journalist, trouble means good copy.)

Wind energy does not wow 'em

I got an email from Ed Cameron this morning saying that last night's Planning & Development committee meeting on the wind energy ordinance had been canceled.

"I became aware that we would not have a quorum at about 5:20PM," Cameron wrote.

The meeting was posted as a Committee-of-the-Whole, which means they all should/would have been there.

I wonder how often this happens? It happened recently, at some committee or the other - oh, it was the Ad Hoc Independent Counsel committee - but the missing councillor had a family emergency.

Just in case you were wondering ... I had not planned on going, in any case, since I only saw the original email notifying me about it at 5 minutes to 7.

Turbine troubles

I gather from this report in the Daily News and the report from Ari Herzog that the City Council's Planning and Development committee continues to study changes to the city's wind turbine ordinance.

From today's DN:

Any recommendations from the City Council's Planning and Development committee on how to change the city's wind turbine ordinance will not come for a few weeks. The three-person board decided last night to wait to go through the document until they gather more information and divide up the work.

The committee will meet again July 29 at 7 p.m. in City Hall.

I did not attend the meeting, but it was the P&D and Committee-of-the-Whole, which is becoming quite the norm these days with "hot" issues.

Another interesting tidbit, a quote from At-large Councillor Donna Holaday, who of course is running for mayor:

At-large Councilor Donna Holaday asked the committee to look over how studies are presented under the ordinance, saying the independent study used in the Richey case was "wrong" when it said the noise and flicker would be minimal for neighbors.

"That is inaccurate information," she said. "Look at where these neighbors are. So now what do we do?"

Well ... duh.

In the meantime, if someone comes along with a wind energy proposal, will that fall under the old ordinance? I think someone - believe it was James Shanley - said there would be some sort of interim arrangement.

This info should have been included in the story, since isn't the MBTA planning a turbine at the train station?