FALMOUTH ZBA-- APRIL 19 2005 SPECIAL PERMIT REQUIREMENTS WIND TURBINE

FALMOUTH ZBA APRIL 19 2005 SPECIAL PERMIT REQUIREMENTS WIND TURBINE

Subject : two-part feasibility study of utilizing the wind at the wastewater treatment plant. Where is the missing April 19, 2005 report. This was a two part study !

“TOWN OF FALMOUTH COMMUNITY WIND PROJECT SITE SCREENING REPORT.” APRIL 19 2005 -- WHERE IS IT ?

The Falmouth Zoning Board of Appeals has to do “due diligence. “ The mission of the Zoning Board of Appeals is to interpret and apply the General Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Zoning Bylaws of the Town of Falmouth.

The Falmouth Zoning Board of Appeals is a quasi-judicial board. There appears to be a missing or misplaced wind turbine document called the “TOWN OF FALMOUTH COMMUNITY WIND PROJECT SITE SCREENING REPORT” dated April 19, 2005.

The document has been deleted from a state agency website and can only be found as a reference on Falmouth town website.

Massachusetts has established a long history in the commercial wind turbine business. That history is not what they tell the public but what you have to look for ! You have to find what’s missing and gets lost or the “mistakes.” Now they are losing reports ?  Again where is the April 19, 2005 report ?

The Zoning Board of Appeals is established in accordance with the provisions of Section 12 of Chapter 40A of the Massachusetts General Laws.
It is important that the FALMOUTH COMMUNITY WIND PROJECT SITE SCREENING REPORT” dated April 19, 2005 be located and made available to the public and restored as a public document.

The document was produced and completed using public funds. The public needs access to all public documents physically or electronically.

The Town of Falmouth had a two part wind study done for its first wind turbine called Falmouth Wind 1.

The first was completed on April 19, 2005 called the “TOWN OF FALMOUTH COMMUNITY WIND PROJECT SITE SCREENING REPORT.”

This report was prepared by KEMA ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT, INC and funded by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative .

The report says a Special Permit is needed for the turbine.

On page 28 of the April 19, 2005 site review says : 6.2.2 a special permit is needed for the wind turbine .

The report at one time several years ago could be found online at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative website http://masstech.org/

The report can no longer be accessed through that website.

The final report called the “ TOWN OF FALMOUTH COMMUNITY WIND PROJECT FEASIBILITY STUDY” dated November 2005 on page 8 of the pdf reader, page 1 or section 1.2 makes reference to the April 19, 2005 site screening report can be found on the town energy web site.
The site screening report can not be found on the town website.

The final report November 2005 can be found here which references the missing document from April 19, 2005 :

TOWN OF FALMOUTH COMMUNITY WIND PROJECT FEASIBILITY STUDY

November 2005 Prepared by: KEMA, Inc. & Ecology and Environment, Inc

Page 8 of the pdf reader or page 1 of the report section 1.2 Feasibility Study Purpose

The first part of the feasibility study, a site screening, was completed in April 2005.

1 The purpose of this initial screening study was to identify and evaluate factors that could make it infeasible or excessively challenging to develop a wind project at the WWTF site.

The site screening did not identify any significant challenges and recommended proceeding with the feasibility study.

Based on the screening study, the Town of Falmouth and the Town of Falmouth Energy Committee agreed to proceed with this full feasibility study.

Note # 1 The site screening report can be found online via http://www.town.falmouth.ma.us/energy/ ;

TOWN OF FALMOUTH COMMUNITY WIND PROJECT FEASIBILITY STUDY
http://www.falmouthmass.us/energy/falmouth%20feasibility%20study_111505.pdf


Further reference to the April 19, 2005 “TOWN OF FALMOUTH COMMUNITY WIND PROJECT SITE SCREENING REPORT” can be found at a discussion of the March 28, 2005 Energy Committee Minute Meetings.

Energy Committee Minutes for: 03-28-2005

Monday, March 28, 2005 10:00 Meeting in Selectmen’s Room, Town Hall, Falmouth, to discuss the KEMA draft site screening report of March 2.

John Abe presented the summary of the report, the first of the two-part feasibility study of utilizing the wind at the wastewater treatment plant, and asked for comments and questions about what Falmouth wants for the final report.

At the end of the meeting he asked for all our comments to be sent to him by next week, Friday (Apr 8) ; he will then submit an outline for the feasibility study and a timeline for further discussion from the town and for involving the community. Meeting was attended by:

John Abe, KEMA, Inc, Author of the Site Screening Report (Feasibility Study)

Dick Elrick, Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, Sponsor of the Feasibility Study
George Calise, Engineer for the Town of Falmouth
Ahmed Mustafa, Chair, Falmouth Selectmen
Kevin Murphy, Falmouth Selectmen
Bob Whritenour, Falmouth Town Administrator
Megan Amsler. Co-Chair, Falmouth Energy Committee
Joan Muller, Co-Chair, Falmouth Energy Committee
Ursula Boyce, Falmouth Energy Committee
Joe Hackler, Falmouth Energy Committee Advisor
Dick Koehler, Falmouth Energy Committee Advisor

http://www.falmouthmass.us/meeting.php?depkey=energy&number=290

The bottom line is the “TOWN OF FALMOUTH COMMUNITY WIND PROJECT SITE SCREENING REPORT.” APRIL 19 2005 page 28 of site review says : 6.2.2 a special permit is needed for the wind turbine .

The report needs to be made public again