Setting the record straight on wind turbines in Charlestown
The following letter appeared in local newspapers and is shared with us here by the author George C. Tremblay. Mr. Tremblay is a member of the Charlestown Town Council.
In his campaign literature, Robert Malin identifies himself as a 19-year resident of Charlestown, and an opposition candidate for the Charlestown Town Council. Mr. Malin repeatedly claims Charlestown to have banned wind power, and he campaigns to lift the ban. I write to refute his claim, and set the record straight. A temporary moratorium on wind turbines was put in place during much of 2011, while we were writing an ordinance governing their installation. The Planning Commission listened to public input for the better part of a year, and drafted an ordinance to accommodate the varied interests that came before us. It was a very public process, and the moratorium was lifted when the ordinance was adopted five years ago on Nov 14, 2011.
The user-friendly ordinance specifies conditions for safe installation, and protection of abutters from undesirable results. A summary description of the ordinance, and the varied interests it addressed, were detailed in a Nov. 9, 2011, Westerly Sun letter to the editor from Ruth Platner and myself. Charlestown’s ordinance for capturing wind energy for domestic use, and the considerations attendant to its adoption, can be found in Chapter 218-37 D (4) of the town’s zoning ordinances, and at this link: charlestowncitizens.org/wind-ordinance. Wind turbines are not banned in Charlestown.
George Tremblay Charlestown