Mary Pat "Wind Turbine" Flynn Retires

Mary Pat Flynn of Falmouth, the representative from the Barnstable County Board of County Commissioners in 2011 voted in favor of wind turbine setbacks of noise setback of 10 times the diameter of the turbine blades.

Today the Cape Cod Commission model bylaw would require a setback of almost 3000 feet for one Falmouth town-owned wind turbine.

The Massachusetts courts shut down both town-owned nuisance wind turbines in June of 2017.

Cape Cod Commission Approves Wind Turbine Regulations

By: Michael C. Bailey Published: 02/18/11

"A set of proposed regulations for the siting and review of land-based wind turbines got the Cape Cod Commission’s seal of approval yesterday, and now heads to the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates for its vote.

The commission was barely at a quorum when it voted to approve the proposed changes to the Regional Policy Plan (RPP) following 90 minutes of public testimony, which was split between those who felt the standards were too lenient and did not adequately protect homeowners, and those who felt the standards were too strict and could unduly impede wind turbine development.

Royden Richardson, Barnstable’s representative and chairman of the CCC, and Mary L. (Pat) Flynn of Falmouth, the representative from the Barnstable County Board of County Commissioners, voted in favor of the regulations.

Michael Blanton, Bourne’s representative, left the meeting before the vote was taken just before 5 PM. Mario DiGregorio, Ernest Virgilio, and Joanne O’Keefe -- respectively the representatives from Falmouth, Mashpee, and Sandwich -- were absent from the meeting.

When the Assembly takes up the matter at its March 2 meeting, it will mark the second time the county’s legislative branch has weighed in. The Assembly last reviewed the amendments to the RPP’s energy section in November, but rejected the proposal as too lenient and in some areas too vague.

The Cape Cod Commission spent the following weeks crafting more specific and restrictive language that still granted maximum flexibility to develop onshore wind turbines. A revised proposal received a public hearing last month, and this past Monday underwent a final bit of fine-tuning during a joint meeting of the CCC’s planning and regulatory subcommittees.

The final draft approved on Monday, which would apply to any proposed turbine greater than 65 feet in height (as measured from the base to the tip of the rotors at the apex of their rotation):

• Establishes a “clear area” of 1.5 times the overall height of the turbine or the turbine manufacturer’s recommended minimum clear area, whichever is greater;

• Establishes for all turbines of 660 kilowatt (KW) capacity or greater a noise setback of 10 times the diameter of the turbine blades, as measured from the base to the nearest receptor -- defined as any occupied residential or commercial property -- or residentially zoned parcel;"

Truncated click link for the entire story :

http://buzzardsbay.org/newspapers/ccc-approves-turbine-regulations-feb2011.pdf

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I870jOVSN1M

Falmouth Wind Turbine -Freedom from Unwarranted Experimentation