ANTRIM PLANNING BOARD MEETING MINUTES
February 20, 2014
Members Present: Chris Condon (Member) Jesse Lazar (Chair) Steve MacDonald (Member) Janet McEwen (Seated-Alternate Member) Martha Pinello (Member)
Sarah VanderWende (Member) Gordon Webber (Ex-officio)
Members Absent: Charles Levesque
Public Attendees: Elsa Voelcker
7:00PM Planning Board
Chair Lazar called the meeting to order.
Ms. McEwen was seated as a voting member due to Mr. Levesque’s absence.
Members reviewed and discussed the draft of the letter to Antrim Residents regarding Article 2 for the March ballot. Members reviewed the sub-committee draft and Mr. Levesque’s suggested edits to that draft letter. After a general discussion of the suggested edits, Chair Lazar offered Mr. Webber the floor to discuss his objection to the letter content.
- Discussion ensued regarding the decommissioning section of the letter and the petition submitted ordinance. Summary of the discussion was based on interpretation of the wording in which the value of the salvage is subtracted from the value bond. Mr. Webber felt this was appropriate other felt that this was too vague as it could mean the Town was responsible for the value of the facility whether or not the funds could be collected. Chair Lazar, Ms. Pinello and Ms. McEwen held the view that the Town/ taxpayers would be held responsible for greater cost of decommissioning because of the wording of the petition ordinance. Mr. Webber concluded he did not understand the wording of the ordinance to have that meaning.
- Setbacks discussion focused on the information that VESTA and General Electric, manufacturers of wind turbines, have recommended setbacks for their workers greater than the setbacks in the petition ordinance.
- Mr. Condon recommended that the wording for be changed to: Inadequate consideration is given to aesthetic values vs. no consideration.
- SEC jurisdiction- Mr. Weber felt the SEC did not have jurisdiction for the project based on a phone conversation with Mr. Drew. He was not clear Mr. Drew’s authority to opine this. Ms. VanderWende reiterated that the topics in the letter were drawn from the discussion at the previous planning board meeting. A consensus of members felt the topic in a parenthetical phrase was not specific to the paragraph.
- Ms. McEwen spoke regarding the process of bringing an ordinance by petition and that it did not allow for the Planning Board, the public or the Consulting Planner to fully vet the ordinance. Mr. Webber explained that he was approached by 2 citizens who wanted to write an ordinance. He reported that he then spoke with the folks at Antrim Wind and consulted with Planning Board Consulting Planner Carol Ogilvie regarding how to write an ordinance. All members agreed it was legal to bring an ordinance by petition however. Ms. McEwen reiterated that she felt this was not good policy.
Motion: To accept the changes made to the Letter to Antrim Residents
Moved by Ms. VanderWende Seconded by Ms. Pinello
Roll Call vote: McEwen, yes VanderWende, yes; Condon, no; Lazar, yes; Pinello, yes; MacDonald, no; Webber, no.
The motion passed 4 – 3.
Motion to Accepted the February 2014 minutes as printed
Moved by Ms. McEwen Seconded by Mr. Condon
Motion passed unanimously approved with no amendments.
At 9:03 pm, Ms. VanderWende moved to adjourn. Mr. Condon seconded the motion. All voted unanimously to adjourn.
Respectfully submitted, Martha Pinello, Secretary Pro Tem
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