Originally published in The Weekly Packet, November 10, 2011
Brooksville voters approve wind turbine ordinance
by Faith DeAmbrose
By more than a two-to-one margin, Brooksville voters approved a Wind Energy Systems Ordinance on November 8 as part of the town’s general election process.
The ordinance, which handily passed with 274 votes for and 111 votes against, puts into place a number of town-specific regulations governing the construction, height and decibel level of wind turbines and funds for having them removed.
As previously reported in The Weekly Packet, the maximum tower height would be 100 feet. Since the length of a rotor blade is typically one-half the tower height, the total height would be about 150 feet to the tip of the blade at the top of its arc. (This contrasts with the approximate 400-foot blade tip height for the wind turbines on Vinalhaven.)
The maximum allowable power output of a turbine would be 50 kilowatts. The maximum sound level at a property boundary would be 35 decibels.
The ordinance requires that a surety bond be posted for facilities between 10 and 50 kW to cover the cost of removal if a tower is abandoned.
The Wind Energy System Ordinance is available for viewing in its entirety at the town’s Web site, brooksvillemaine.org.