DIXFIELD – For the third consecutive time, residents voted Tuesday against approving an amended wind energy facility ordinance.
The vote was 220-178, ballot clerk Bev Glover said.
The road to approving an amended wind energy facility ordinance has been a long and arduous one for residents, selectmen and the Planning Board.
The ordinance was written after Patriot Renewables of Quincy, Mass., approached town officials in October 2010 about constructing wind turbines on Colonel Holman Mountain ridge. It passed in November 2012, but zoning restrictions in it were unenforceable.
In November 2014, an amended version was rejected. In June 2015, the Planning Board’s original draft was also rejected.
In August 2015, selectmen accepted a citizens’ petition to adopt the sound standards of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection for the ordinance, which included a limit of 42 decibels at night and 55 decibels during the day. In January, the board unanimously voted to include the DEP sound levels in the ordinance, but not 27 pages of DEP standards that Board of Selectmen Chairman Hart Daley said were not applicable to the town.
In March, the board voted 3-2 to place the ordinance draft that was defeated in June 2015, with amended sound limits of 42 decibels at night and 55 decibels during the day.
In other election news Tuesday, residents elected Norine Clarke and Aaron Jamison to the Board of Selectmen, ousting Selectman Dana Whittemore.
Glover said Clarke received 257 votes, Jamison received 199 votes and Whittemore received 194 votes.
Former Selectman Scott Belskis received 181 votes.
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