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Date: 10/2/2019
HUNTINGTON – Huntington Planning Board chair Linda Hamlin said they were not notified of any public hearings on the proposed Holiday Hill Community Wind Project in Russell, when that town approved the special permit and site plan for the project in 2012.
The two turbine, 5 MW project is under construction on 100 acres of a 275-acre parcel owned by the Stewart family estate at the top of Pine Hill Road in Russell. The tower height is 295 feet, and the blades have a 350-foot diameter sweep.
The North Tower, which was recently constructed, is visible from downtown Huntington, the bridge at the intersection of Route 20 and Route 112, the transfer station, the Gateway Regional School complex and Littleville Dam among other locations.
The South Tower, which faces Russell, is currently being constructed. Alan Robinson, General Manager of Russell Municipal Light, said after both towers are completed, the blades, which have all arrived at the site, will be put up. He said they will be attached to the nosecone and lifted onto each tower in one piece. Robinson said the crane operators have to have “nerves of steel.”
According to Massachusetts General Law (MGL) Ch. 40A Section 11 in all cases where notice of a public hearing is required, notice must given by publication in a newspaper and sent to individuals or specific boards or other agencies including the petitioner, abutters, the planning board of the city or town, and the planning board of every abutting city or town.
In a discussion with Hamlin, Selectmen Darlene McVeigh and Karon Hathaway following a meeting of the Board of Selectmen on Sept. 18, they said the town did not know the turbines were going up until they first saw the crane in August.
Robinson has said that he did visit the planning boards in neighboring towns and several committees, including the Jacob’s Ladder Scenic Byway in 2008, when the project was first being investigated, bringing with him drawings of the proposed turbines.
The wind project represents an 11-year effort by Robinson, started on a $55,000 grant from Mass Clean Energy for a feasibility study. Working with VERA Renewables out of Vermont, the town of Russell created a wind bylaw in 2008 to 2009, and the project received a permit.
Hamlin said there were objections to the visual impact on the town raised at those meetings back in 2008. Since then, the town had heard nothing, and had assumed the project was dead.
In fact, it was on hiatus. Right after the permitting, the economic picture changed and the project stalled. “We had just done the wind bylaw in Russell. Wholesale prices were 8 to 9 cents; soon afterwards they collapsed to 3 to 4 cents. It wasn’t going to be economically viable,” Robinson said.
That changed four years ago when Vermont resident David Blittersdorf, a private developer of solar and wind power, was able to obtain power purchase agreements with the Russell Municipal Light, Chicopee Electric Light and Westfield Gas & Electric, which allowed the project to continue forward into its current construction phase. Robinson said the wind turbines will comprise 20 percent of Russell’s power portfolio. Hamlin said if Huntington’s Planning Board had been notified of a public hearing, they would have shown up.
Westfield City Planner Jay Vinskey said abutting towns do have standing as parties of interest and should be notified. He could not find a record of Westfield being notified of the project either. Westfield, Montgomery, Blandford and Huntington all border Russell.
The minutes from the Russell planning and zoning boards from 2012 list abutters in Russell as having been notified, but do not include neighboring towns.
When Russell Town Clerk Jodie Paradis was asked about the lack of notification, she said she would look into it, not having been with the town during the public hearings in 2012. Until pointing out the MGL section that lists neighboring towns as abutters, she did indicated that she was aware of that section of the law.
Many small towns have limited public hours and part-time employees, who have difficulty getting the training they need. This was raised during the Planning Board meeting in Huntington on Sept. 26 when Hamlin was looking for training opportunities for planning board members, including herself, and could find none scheduled.
In their discussion about the wind turbines at the meeting, Hamlin said they had just received an opinion from the town attorney. She said she would be composing a letter to Russell on behalf of the planning board.
Also at issue with the project are members of the Huntington Historic Commission, who said the downtown village of Huntington is listed as a National Historic District. The commission has written a letter to the Massachusetts Historical Association.
Not everyone in Huntington, however, is opposed to the project.
“We need to cut down on our use of fossil fuels, but we still need energy, and wind turbines are one way to go,” said Susan McIntosh, who chairs the Huntington Conservation Commission. “It doesn’t bother me,” she added.
Charles Dazelle, speaking as a taxpayer and homeowner, said it doesn’t bother him at all.
“It’s the way of the future,” Dazelle said. “Everybody wants green energy, but then when it comes, they don’t want it. Everything is wanted, then nobody wants it.” He cited opposition to solar fields being put in pastureland, and placement of cell towers, which he said are essential to emergency services. He said the problem in the hilltowns is these projects are very visible, while in the cities, nobody sees them.
“There’s always a line down the middle. I have nothing bad to say about it, it’s just getting used to the future. Hopefully, it will help out,” Dazelle added.
Blittersdorf said last month that much more needs to be done for green energy to have an impact on the future. “We have to grow by 10 times the rate we’re doing it today; we aren’t going fast enough at all,” he said.
Edward Renauld, who chairs the Huntington Board of Selectmen, said the board voted to let the Historic Commission and Planning Board respond to the lack of notification.
“Personally, I think we need green technology. I’m just disappointed that the process wasn’t properly followed,” McVeigh said.
“I’m dismayed,” said Hamlin.