GRAFTON — Citing legal concerns, the Select Board rejected a petition signed by 40 Grafton residents and submitted by Friends of Grafton's Heritage founder, Liisa Kissel, an hour before the Jan. 24 deadline, requesting that an article, “Shall the town prohibit large-scale industrial wind installations in Grafton,” be added to the warrant for the Annual Town Meeting.
Select Board members sought the advice of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, which said that “the Vermont Legislature has not conferred upon voters a statutory role in the regulation of net metered wind projects.”
They were told that what limited role does exist for municipalities to participate in the state Public Service Board's review process is granted to Selectboards and Planning Commissions.
Therefore, the VCLT said, the Select Board could decide whether to include the petitioned article.
Town attorney Robin Sterns told the board that “the town does not have the authority to act on the presented article -- that authority is with the Public Service Board.”
She recommended it “should not be included” in the Town Meeting warning, that another town article will address this issue sufficiently [see related story this issue].
Select Board Chair Bill Kearns moved that “after consideration of Liisa Kissell's article to which there are the appropriate numbers of signatures, the town does not have the authority to adopt land use regulations in this manner nor does the Town have the authority to prohibit such projects that this article wants to prohibit.”
The proper procedure is defined in state law, he said, and such a prohibition “would have to go through the Planning Commission first.”