Wind turbine meeting causes a bit of a tempest

NORTH CANAAN — Writing new zoning regulations is never easy, but the creation of regulations governing wind turbines is turning out to be especially controversial for the Planning and Zoning Commission and, in particular, the commission chairman.

The commission apparently committed three Freedom of Information Act violations at a Dec. 15 meeting. In addition, several members of the public  are angry because, they claim, they were not allowed to comment at the meeting.

A company called BNE Energy, Inc. filed an application to build a wind turbine at Lone Oak Campsites. The Planning and Zoning Commission  (P&Z) denied the application in November, because there were no regulations in place yet governing the green energy source.

P&Z members have been meeting in workshops since then to devise a set of regulations. They’ve been processing and studying a large amount of information, mostly regulations from other towns.

At a well-attended Dec. 6 workshop, a draft of proposed regulations was read. The response from BNE Chairman Paul Corey was that several points in the draft would prevent installations under industry standards.

At that workshop, P&Z Chairman Steven Allyn, who has repeatedly warned this process will be lengthy, said the regular meeting on Dec. 15 would include another review of the draft, followed by input from the public and BNE.

It was made clear that the intent was to allow open discussion in response to the proposal on the table. P&Z member Tim Abbott, who has taken the lead in writing the draft, said they are far from a final version.

At the Dec. 15 meeting, North Canaan resident Wheaton Byers spoke during the public comment portion at the beginning of the meeting. He suggested P&Z make no decisions for at least a year, to give the public and the commission a chance to digest the wealth of new information.

Allyn  said during Byers’ comments that the regulations will probably not be finished until next summer. As with any addition or amendment to the regulations, a public hearing is required. However, only the commission votes on the changes or additions.

Lone Oak owner Barry Brown and Matthew Freund, owner of Freund’s Farm, where BNE is looking at another turbine site, arrived after the public comment session.

When the proposed regulations were discussed later in the meeting, under the heading of “old business� on the agenda, they were denied a chance to comment. Allyn said their opportunity had come during the earlier public comment portion of the meeting. Feathers were ruffled then, and remained so for days after the meeting.

Beginning in January, P&Z will hold its regular monthly meetings on the second Monday. The change was to allow the attendance of Zoning Enforcement Officer Ruth Mulcahy.