Dixmont Passes Wind Turbine Ordinance 229 to 78

Big turnout. What does the ordinance do? Was it seen as pro or anti wind?

Dan - The meat of the ordinance establishes buffer zones between wind turbines and residences. A majority of Dixmont residents liked the idea. The company interested in building 10-35 thirty-five story tall wind turbines in Dixmont said in a letter to town residents, If you adopt the ordinance we will NOT build the turbines.

Dixmont's ordinance is available for downloading online.
Click Here (PDF)

NIMBYism. I get it.

I'll forward you Rich Silkman's LLC info. You can write or call and tell him he'll have carte blanche with his wind turbine plans in your town.

Best,
skf

Lots of NIMBies in Bowdoinham, too.

I am skeptical of any ordinance that is passed as a result of a development proposal.

I wonder how many of the Dixmont Yes voters consider themselves environmentalists.

Personally, I think we should ban all windmills.

Yes lot's of Nimbys and so much for property rights.

Note to all Nimbys adopt and use the Dixmont wind turbine ordinance as a boiler plate for your town. You will never be pestered by WT developers again

Dan, Mike G -

And how many fed tax subsidized 35-story wind turbines are in your hometowns?

skf

Of I'm sure once my town gets a hold of your ordinance, there won't be any WT developers here either.

Last week while hunting in the Stratton area my brother and I rode up to the Kibby Twp. wind farm. There are 22 operating wind turbines of some 410' stature. We could not hear any noise from the spinning blades and later I learned that they spin only 16-17 rpm. That is even slow enough for birds to duck around I would guess. Would I want one in my backyard, sure if I got cheaper electricity. Can't be any worse than living next to a RR as I do now.

So Gaffer you want one only if it benefits you, see I want to put a 100 windmills up in your town so I get cheaper electricity not you? How much of the wind energy produced now is giving Mainers cheaper electricity? I think you can put up a windmill on your property and then you get free electricity, haven't seen to many around though, don't understand why lol

But gaffer, at least you can be certain that sooner rather than later, the RR you live by will likely be silent.

BANANA!

Good for Dixmont!! Wind energy is a scam. Why should any viable business need federal subsidies?

Good question. Why should truckers be able to use federally subsidized roads or airplanes use federally subsidized airports? With that warped thinking every trucking company should have to build its own roads and every airline should have its own airports.

As a historical footnote, the Cole family built the first truck road to Houlton.

The Dixmont leftists have gone beyond NIMBY to NIMFYE. That's "not in my front yard either". No added revenue to Dixmont at no cost to the town. I bet there are towns with ridges that want some extra tax revenue.

Why, it's clear to me that Dixmont residents simply didn't want to be bothered picking up all those decapitated eagles' heads from their dooryards.

What's wrong with that?
:)

I saw the wind turbine in Saco recently, and the thing was spinning like a set of helicopter blades. I bet the city could stock an entire soup kitchen with the deceased avian critters piling up at the bottom.

Most times I've been by it was sitting idle, Naran. By the way, how's it done in meeting the projected power production, anyone know?

thanks

charlie

Why are you guys jumping on me? All I said was the ones at Kibby were quiet and you all accuse me of robbing your tax money. The last time I looked Kibby was mostly funded by Canadian money. Shesh!

Gaffer they aren't jumping on you. they are patting their buddy on the back.

"not in my front yard either" or.. not in my f-n yard either... you get it..

I agree that wind is a scam. The subsidies should be eliminated. But what does any of that have to do with restrictive zoning? Are we now endorsing the idea that towns can zone out anything they like? How is this any different than zoning away big box stores or gravel pits?

If you want a buffer zone between your house and what your neighbor does on his land, buy more land.

If you want a buffer zone between your house and what your neighbor does on his land, buy more land

Well said Dan....I couldn't agree more.....

So Dan are you saying towns should have no restrictions on what type of business's operate in that town? Just a free for all? If a town doesn't want a big box store, windmills, nuke plant or maybe lawyers isn't that their choice? I may not agree with it and instead of buying up land just move, I can't afford to buy land. I wouldn't want the eyesore of windmills in our town either, rather have Maine Yankee back.

Dan - If we agree wind is a scam, why are you arguing that Dixmont - or any town for that matter - is wrong in creating an ordinance that puts limits on out-of-towners radically altering the look, the landscape, the feel of the town with 10-35 huge wind turbines? This ordinance was crafted by the town planning board over a 9-10 month period. The board members visited/interviewed wind turbines in the Towns of Mars Hill and Freedom. They studied several wind turbine ordinances and recommendations. the planning board members were unanimous in support of the ordiance. And the ordinace was crafted and reviewed at several public meetings over that 9-10 month period. And the ordinance was voted on by the best attended town meeting I've ever seen in my 20 years in Dixmont.

Also, the company wanting to build the turbines in Dixmont sent three pieces of mail - two letters, one postcard - over the last 9-10 months to everyone in town, arguing their case. They also had a presence during the crafting of the ordiance.

skf

If Dixmont did the exact same thing to keep out Wal-Mart or a asphalt plant (like Westbrook), there would be an AMG thread full of comments criticizing Dixmont for its heavy handed regulation.

Once you get through the ordinance you come to the meat of it. A 2500 foot setback from any WT and non-participating property and to add further restrictions a 1500 foot setback from any public way.

This is the meat of the ordinance, it might as well say no WT within the town of Dixmont, this ordinance is just dressing for that simple statement.

If Dixmont's ordinance is heavy handed regulation, how would you define carefully considered, democratically approved ordinances?

skf

Obviously the same

Editor: That would be regulation which would make a development possible and economically viable. As Mike G notes, this regulation is intended to make a wind farm effectively impossible in Dixmont.

By the way, the fact that something is democratically approved is not necessarily a good thing. As you know, our founders gave us a republic because they knew that democracy does not lead to liberty.

With some kinds of proposed development, the admonition to "buy more land" might be feasible. That includes a proposed home, store, small farm, etc.

However, I wonder - just how much additional land would one need to purchase in order to avoid the sight/impact of turbines that are 35 stories high?

Something roughly the size of Rhode Island?