Biomass language to be rewritten for town plan

The language of the proposed Springfield Town Plan dealing with biomass plants will be revised.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20121024/NEWS02/710249863

Published October 24, 2012 in the Rutland Herald Biomass language to be rewritten for town plan By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — The portion of the proposed Springfield town plan dealing with biomass plants will be rewritten by the executive director of the Southern Windsor County Regional Planning Commission. The town plan, which has been under revision for the past three years, defined biomass erroneously, Tom Kennedy, executive director of the planning group, told the Springfield Select Board on Monday. About 25 people packed the Springfield Select Board meeting room Monday night to discuss the proposed town plan, most of them upset about the language dealing with biomass plants. Kennedy said the definition of what biomass plants burn was in error, and more accurately described an incinerator, like the Wheelabrator trash incinerator in Claremont, N.H. The controversial language said a biomass plant could burn everything from wood chips to sewage sludge and “municipal waste.” Most of the people at the meeting are concerned about the proposed wood-fired power plant that Winstanley Enterprises and Weston Solutions want to build in North Springfield. While Winstanley has promised that it would only burn “clean” green wood chips, that could change in the future, several people told the Select Board. Kennedy took responsibility for the poor language in the proposed town plan, saying it had been written by an inexperienced staff person back in 2009 and had left the office without his review. The regional planning commission typically helps towns and town planning commissions write town plans, which are an important planning tool and required in any state grant applications, said Bill Kearns, the town’s zoning administrator. Town Manager Robert Forguites said the town plan was under discussion, and not the proposal by the North Springfield Sustainable Energy Project, which calls for a 35-megawatt wood-fired power plant in the North Springfield Industrial Park next to the Winstanley building. The discussion about biomass came during a lengthy review of the revised town plan. But because there were so many suggestions and revisions, the formal hearing process must start from scratch again, including a hearing with the planning commission, Kearns said. Kennedy said the regional planning commission would have the biomass language rewritten and available to be reposted on the town’s website as early as next week. But Kearns said the planning commission must have a new hearing, it needs 15 days to warn such a hearing, and then the revisions go back to the Select Board for two public hearings. Kearns said it was now looking like January or February before the new plan is finally adopted. Kennedy’s quick admission appeared to head off a heated discussion. Walter Dodd, a North Springfield resident opposed to the wood chip plant, said the town plan should also address industrial wind, which is becoming a controversial issue in many Vermont towns. “It’s important that it be addressed too,” Dodd said. Kearns and Forguites both said the town plan language was written back in 2009, way before the specifics of the Winstanley project became public. Beth Dodd said the town’s real concern should be about air quality. Town plans by law are to be revised every five years. While the current town plan was adopted in 2009, it was a conditional approval until a full revision was completed, Kearns said. The last complete town plan was approved in 2004, he said. There is no mention of biomass energy in the 2004 document dealing with energy.