Published on May 6, 2009

BARTON — The job of preparing Duck Pond Road for the transportation of 16 big wind turbines into the remote hills of Sheffield will go to a Derby contractor, to the dismay of at least one Barton contractor.

Jason Sicard voiced his objections Monday night to the selectmen’s plan to use contractor Omer Choquette of Derby for the job.

“I would think you would like to support local businesses,” Mr. Sicard told the selectmen.  “I’m not just talking about me.  You’ve shut out all of the local contractors.”

“This is not local money,” Rupert Chamberlin, chairman of the selectmen, informed Mr. Sicard.  “This is coming straight out of their pockets.”

The pockets belong to First Wind, the company that will install and own the Sheffield wind farm.

Mr. Choquette accompanied the selectmen and engineers for First Wind on a tour of the road two weeks ago.  The contractor devised a rough estimate of the cost of the necessary road upgrades.  That estimate was presented to the two First Wind representatives who came before the selectmen to work out an acceptable compromise to secure an overweight permit from the town.

Under the proposed arrangement, Mr. Choquette would work for the town, but First Wind would reimburse the town for its expenses.  Though the town would act as the go-between, no public money would actually be used in the process, Mr. Chamberlin said.

“There’s no need for this to go out to bid,” Selectman Robert Croteau said.  “We made the decision we did because we want a contractor who says he can do the job in 30 days and actually get it done on time.  We believe that this contractor can accomplish that.”

The selectmen’s choice of Mr. Choquette was well received by the two First Wind representatives at Monday’s meeting, Development Manager David Velez and Environmental Coordinator Josh Bagnato.  Mr. Choquette’s preliminary estimate was well within the $100,000 to $140,000 projection for improvements to Duck Pond Road, Mr. Velez said.

On Monday night First Wind sought to clarify and refine the town overweight permit application.  In particular the company had hoped to establish solid commitments and objective criteria for the conditions of the permit.

“We just want some kind of assurance that you won’t just deny us use of the road every time it rains,” Mr. Bagnato said.

The company is more than willing to abide by reasonable restrictions, such as limiting truck traffic any time the road is posted, Mr. Velez said.  After several minutes of back and forth discussion, the company and the selectmen agreed that the road would be closed to First Wind’s trucks any time the first truck causes ruts that are four inches or more deep.

“What we don’t want to have to do is follow you up there with a grader every time you go through,” Mr. Croteau said.

The selectmen were frustrated in their efforts to secure a solid start date for the project.  Mr. Croteau said the town wanted to make all necessary improvements prior to First Wind’s first load passing through.  Mr. Bagnato said the town should expect no fewer than 30 days’ advance notice before any trucks come through.

Given the amount of site work that needs to be completed, the town should have more notice than that, Mr. Chamberlin said.

First Wind cannot provide a firm start-date due to an appeal of the project’s storm water permit in Environmental Court, Mr. Velez said.

“I would like to green-light this but we can’t because of the permitting situation,” he said.

The company remains confident that it will prevail, given the political support the Sheffield project has garnered so far, Mr. Bagnato said.

“If it doesn’t get built in 2009 it will be built in 2010,” Mr. Bagnato said.  “If for some reason it isn’t built in 2010, it will get done in 2011.”

At this point, detailed discussions with First Wind are somewhat irrelevant, Mr. Chamberlin said.  If the company cannot work out an agreement with Barton Village, any agreement with the town is likely a moot point, he said.

“It’s pretty pertinent to get that one first,” he said.  “If you don’t get that one first, there’s no point us playing games with you.”

Mr. Croteau sought assurances that Duck Pond Road would not become a secondary route for any construction vehicles beyond the 132 loads already presented in the permit application.

“I don’t want to see additional loads coming through here if the Sheffield end calves out,” Mr. Croteau said.  “This is not going to become an alternate route for dump trucks and cement trucks.”

Mr. Bagnato said that the only traffic the town should expect to see beyond the permitted 132 loads would be workers driving their pickups to the site.  Indeed, he expressed confidence that workers would be just as likely to use the road to come into town for lunch and dinner.

First Wind expects to deliver its revised application to the selectmen by May 13.  The company will return to the next scheduled meeting of the selectmen on May 18 to seek a permit.

“Hopefully by that time we will have resolved the issues with Barton Village,” Mr. Bagnato said.