By CRAIG CROSBY
Staff Writer Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Voters will decide June 12 whether or not to repeal the Commercial Development Review Ordinance, which they approved in August of last year.

A public hearing to discuss the ordinance has been scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight at the Grange Hall.

The ordinance was developed in response to Portland-based Competitive Energy Services plans to install three electricity generating wind turbines on Beaver Ridge.

While the Planning Board approved the turbines, the Board of Appeals rejected the project in March after finding it failed to meet the noise levels and bonding requirements spelled out in the commercial development ordinance.

Competitive Energy has since filed an appeal in Waldo County Superior Court, but Glen Bridges, who organized the petition drive to force the June 12 vote, hopes the court action will be dropped if voters rescind the ordinance.

"The town passed the ordinance because they wanted the wind power project," Bridges said. "They thought the ordinance would guide it. The townspeople never expected this to kill the project."

Bridges believes the ordinance's shortcomings are too numerous to try and correct, but Steve Bennett, whose property abuts the Beaver Ridge site, and who has opposed the project, believes repealing the ordinance would leave the town wide open to any number of projects that residents would not favor.

"They're going to repeal the whole thing in order to eliminate any restrictions that have to do with turbines," Bennett said.

"That's like throwing the baby out with the bath water. It's pretty irresponsible for any town not to have a commercial site review ordinance," he said.

The hearing, and the vote in June, are technically a referendum on the town's ordinance and not the proposed wind project, but voters know the implications, Bridges said.

"We felt the town should have a right to vote on this, but it's also an up-or-down vote on the wind project," she said.

Craig Crosby -- 861-9253

ccrosby@centralmaine.com