BARTON — Like the mouse that roared, the town of Barton may have blocked plans by a multi-national company, First Wind, to transport turbines and other construction material through its downtown area to the site of the Sheffield wind project.
Earlier this fall the company informed the Public Service Board (PSB) that either one of its two truck routes “completely avoids the center of Barton Village.”
The two routes differ sharply from what First Wind, formerly known as UPC, presented to the board during a round of technical hearings in 2007.
Town attorney William May, who had ardently opposed the downtown route during the PSB hearing nearly two years ago, said in an interview Thursday that the company’s transportation turnabout raises questions about its credibility.
“It just irked the hell out of me,” he said, recalling testimony from company officials who said they would use special trucks to negotiate the turns past the square.
“They do have special trucks, but they just aren’t that special,” he said.
Truck traffic on either route would reach the project’s site by getting off Interstate 91 south of Barton at Exit 24.
What the company is calling Truck Route #1, would require “oversize loads originating from the south of I-91” to go as far north as Exit 25, which leads into Barton.At that exit, the overloads would turn around and get back on I-91southbound and get off at Exit 24.
From there, traffic would proceed north on Route 122 and pass through Sheffield.To reach the New Duck Pond Road, overload traffic would pass through the I-91 underpass, or what is known locally as the tubes.
Initially, First Wind had ruled out the possibility of using the I-91 underpass.In an exhibit presented to the board, the company said the underpass would be unable to accommodate tall loads.It also eliminated the route on the argument that a “vertical curve which begins between the two Berry Hill Road underpasses prevents all long loads.”
In his office this week, attorney May wondered what happened to those arguments.
“They swore they couldn’t use the tunnels, just not feasible,” he said.
Out of 12 proposed alternatives, the company at that time concluded that the “only feasible alternative” was to leave the northbound lane of Interstate 91 at Exit 25, drive north on Route 16 and turn south onto Route 5 after passing through the town square in the heart of downtown Barton.From Route 5, the route would turn west onto Duck Pond Road.
But in a transportation study submitted to the PSB in October, a Massachusetts engineering firm employed by First Wind noted that the downtown route through Barton would require the removal of both the gazebo on the village square and a house on what is known as Dead Man’s Corner on the Duck Pond Road.
According to Mr. May, the problem with the initial route was abundantly clear to one of the project’s opponents who attended the hearing.
When First Wind’s testimony on transportation concluded before the board, he handed Mr. May a note that aptly summed up the situation.
“Bye, bye gazebo,” the note read.
In making changes in its transportation routes, First Wind said it was complying with the board’s requirement that it “minimize the use of roads within the Village of Barton.”That requirement was among a list of conditions that PSB attached to its certificate of public good, which approved the project to erect 16 400-foot wind towers along ridge lines in the town of Sheffield.
Controversy has dogged the project from the outset.Still pending is a decision from the state Supreme Court on whether the board erred in granting project approval for First Wind.After a slow start, a groundswell against the project has emerged in Barton out of concern about the turbines’ visual impact on Crystal Lake.
Elizabeth Butterfield, an opponent of the project, said the changes in transportation routes have to be measured against the big picture.
“In some respects, it doesn’t change anything what the people of the Duck Pond Road are saying,” she said, referring to the Barton residents who would be most affected by the project.
No matter what routes the overload traffic takes, she said, the towers would still be visible at the southern end of Crystal Lake.
“It’s a very small gain for a very large loss,” she said.
First Wind spokesman John Lamontagne was unavailable Tuesday to comment on the change.
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