During 2011 and 2012 Manomet staff worked with town planning officials and committees in Massachusetts and Maine, who expressed frustration at the daunting task of drafting wind turbine regulation language. We therefore, began to develop a tool to help community level planners with drafting or revising land-based wind turbine regulations for their municipality.

 

Our research approach involved Manomet attending numerous town planning meetings where we talked to stakeholders in communities considering wind energy development. We also talked to wind industry representatives and reviewed existing regulations on land-based wind development.

 

Manomet’s Guide To Drafting Wind Turbine Regulations is not intended to work for or against any wind turbine proposal; rather, it is intended to help local officials more effectively draft the language that will match their municipality’s preferences.

 

This guide presents examples of language from active bylaws and ordinances in order to demonstrate how different levels of regulatory restriction can be achieved on a variety of common issues.

 

The most important lessons learned from the process are:

 

1. The need for incorporating clear and specific language to avoid confusion and to minimize the potential for loose interpretation of the regulation’s intent.

 

2. Community involvement from the outset is key, for both the crafting of a wind ordinance, and in the subsequent process of developing wind power.

 

Click on the thumbnail below to view the Guide To Drafting Wind Turbine Regulations.