Buckfield board to visit Freedom windmills project

BUCKFIELD — The Board of Selectmen will visit the wind farm in Freedom on Sunday, Nov. 22, and Town Manager Glen Holmes said Tuesday night that anyone who wants to join them is asked to call the town office. The bus will leave the Municipal Building at 9 a.m.

The trip is planned to give officials an opportunity to see and hear the wind turbines, and it comes at a time when Buckfield is developing an ordinance to regulate such projects. A special town meeting is scheduled Jan. 9 to vote on a moratorium on wind power development.

The Beaver Ridge Wind Project has three 400-foot turbines that generate electricity to power 2,000 homes annually, according to the Natural Resources Council of Maine Web site. The $10 million project was developed by Competitive Energy Services of Portland. It is the second commercial wind project to be operational in Maine.

The trip had been planned for Sunday, Nov. 15, but only eight people showed up and Holmes said he could not justify taking a 44-passenger bus to Freedom with so few passengers.

A committee has been charged with writing an ordinance, which will be on the special town meeting warrant if it is completed. Holmes said the committee is looking at the Vinalhaven wind ordinance as a model. It gives the minimum distance of windmills from any home as 1.25 times the total height of the turbine.

The town will also act on whether to sell Bessey Field and use the proceeds for a lighted softball/baseball field at the Municipal Center.

The last article will ask voters to appropriate money from the fund balance to complete the salt/sand building. Holmes reported that the walls are up, 3 inches of pavement is down, and 19 yards of sand is already inside. There is no roof as yet, but the building can be used.

Holmes reported that a person was willing to donate a 30- to 35-foot tree to be used at the Municipal Building for Christmas. He also told the board there is no money for setting it up and lighting it. The board approved putting a tree on next year's budget.

A small tree in the gazebo will be lighted on Dec. 8 at 4:30 p.m., and the High School Chorus will sing Christmas songs. Holmes said the church next to the gazebo will provide hot chocolate.