BARTON — A petition which seeks to put a prohibition of commercial wind power projects in the town plan is gathering signatures in several local stores.
The petition drive has been organized by the Barton Ladies Improvement Society, a group which has taken a late — but determined — stance against the wind farm proposed for Sheffield.
While it comes too late to affect the Sheffield project, supporters say it could help keep such projects out of Barton.
“When the next corporation says we could put three huge wind towers on Barton Mountain, the prohibition would already be in the town plan,” Liz Butterfield said Tuesday.And that, the Ladies Improvement Society member added, would carry a lot more weight with the state Public Service Board.
If it collects 89 signatures, town officials say, the prohibition would go to the town selectmen who, after public hearings, would vote to adopt or reject it.
Technically, the petition is addressed to the Barton Planning Commission.It asks that the town plan be amended to read:“The town of Barton shall prohibit all commercial or industrial wind turbine development within the town of Barton.”
State law requires a town planning commission to send to the selectmen any amendment supported by a petition signed by 5 percent of the town’s voters.
Another state law suggests that the state authority that decides whether or not such projects get a “certificate of public good” should at least consider such a prohibition.
Specifically, the law says the Public Service Board should give “due consideration” to the recommendations of municipal planning commissions “and the land conservation measures contained in the plan of any affected municipality.”
In a preamble, the petition notes that in January Barton’s voters unanimously passed a resolution that “emphatically reinforced the townspeople’s aversion to viewing the Sheffield wind turbine project and allowing construction vehicles to come through the town of Barton.”
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