DIXFIELD — Selectmen accepted a petition from opponents of a wind turbine project Monday night that seeks to ban such development through the establishment of zoning.
Town Manager Eugene Skibitsky said Tuesday afternoon that the petition question will likely appear on the Nov. 2 general election ballot.
That question will appear on the same ballot as a proposed wind ordinance, which is being created by Selectmen Norine Clark and Steve Donahue.
When residents Dan McKay and Freemont Tibbetts circulated the petition last month, more than 250 signatures were gathered, said McKay.
McKay said in an e-mail that the petition asks voters to create an ordinance that would prohibit industrial development, except logging operations and communication towers, above 1,000 feet elevation in the areas of the Colonel Holman Mountain range and Sugarloaf Mountain.
He further said that he hopes to set up regular public meetings so that Dixfield residents may “obtain or relay information about wind turbines and their implications to the River Valley.”
Skibitsky said if the petition question is passed in November, either selectmen or the Planning Board would likely be required to write a zoning ordinance that would cover the entire town, which in turn would have to be acted on by residents at another special town meeting.
“A zoning ordinance can be simple or very complicated. It would have to treat the whole town,” Skibitsky said.
Patriot Renewables LLC, Quincy, Mass., has proposed constructing a 20-megawatt project on the Colonel Holman Mountain range, which could mean installing from seven to 14 wind turbines, depending on the size of the turbines.
The wind energy company is currently making plans for a similar project in neighboring Carthage and in Woodstock.
Patriot Renewables’ representative Tom Carroll also attended Monday’s board meeting to introduce himself to the board’s two new members, Katherine Harvey and Malcolm Gill. Carroll has staffed an informational site at the former Holmes Market for several months.
The town’s wind moratorium, which will have been in effect for a year, expires in October.
A public hearing on the town’s proposed wind ordinance will be held sometime prior to the November election.
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