Zoning Board of Appeals to decide fate of Bog Wind project by mid-March

Dec 15, 2011

Wareham will find out by mid-March whether a local cranberry bog will eventually harvest wind energy as well as fruit.

The Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously to close public comment on the Bog Wind project during a public hearing Wednesday, Dec. 14. Now it is up to the Board to make a decision on the project. The members will review the record and publicly deliberate to render a decision within that time 90-day time period, which began at the close of the meeting on Wednesday.

Bog Wind developer Glen Berkowitz appeared before the Zoning Board of Appeals at the public hearing. He requested that no public comments be made at the meeting.

“There’s no new information or changes to anything,” Berkowitz said.

Many of the seats in the audience were filled by citizens who attended to hear the outcome of the hearing. Just about everyone left once the board completed its vote and moved onto other business.

While public verbal comments have been closed, the Zoning Board of Appeals will accept written comments until December 21.

The Bog Wind proposal has been controversial since it was first introduced in 2010. The original plan called for the construction of eight wind turbines in various areas around Wareham, but the project was scaled back twice after residents voiced quality-of-life and other concerns. The plan currently calls for the construction of two wind turbines on Charge Pond Road cranberry bogs.

On June 8 of this year, the Zoning Board of Appeals voted to postpone the ongoing public hearing on the project until the Attorney General could review Town Meeting’s decision to repeal the town’s bylaw on wind turbines in May.

At the time, Town Attorney Richard Bowen said the project would be grandfathered into using the previous bylaw since it was already before the Zoning Board of Appeals. But a week later, Bowen explained that because the Bog Wind developer did not file the proposal properly, the project could be impacted by the bylaw change.

The Attorney General decided that the Town Meeting vote would not affect the Bog Wind project. This meant that all “interested parties” had to be alerted, leading to the delay of a public hearing until this month.

 

In other Zoning Board of Appeals business:

The Board voted to continue the public hearing with Atlantic Metal Recycling until its January 11, 2012 meeting. Up for discussion is the proposed construction of an outdoor recycling area with a drive-on scale to weigh materials. A representative from the recycling center, which pays cash for metal, submitted a letter requesting the continuation.