Madawaska board upholds windmill permit> Noise, safety concerns spurred review of plans

MADAWASKA — The Madawaska board of appeals Thursday night upheld the issuance of a building permit for the construction of a 100-foot-high windmill that will generate electricity for a Main Street business.

Disgruntled neighbors, opposed to the project because of concerns over safety problems and noise levels, would have to appeal the decision to the Aroostook County Superior Court for further consideration.

Construction of the windmill has been under way for nearly a month, and is substantially advanced. It could be operational within two weeks.

Larry Beaulieu, owner of the Main Street One Stop Convenience Store, twice received approval from the planning board to build the windmill next to his store, before the issue was passed on to the board of appeals. He first received approval last November, and again several months ago after changes were made in the plans.

Beaulieu’s business and neighboring homes are all situated in an industrial zone along Madawaska’s Main Street. The windmill project was said to be an acceptable land use in an industrial zone.

The Madawaska Board of Selectmen ordered the permit approval reviewed after a neighbor appealed to them last month. Andy Slowick, a Main Street neighbor of Beaulieu’s business, told selectmen he is concerned about safety and noise.

The town had checked with the Maine Municipal Association, which wrote that mistakes may have been made in granting the building permit. The association wrote that the planning board may have erred in granting the permit as an accessory use to the business. The Maine Municipal Association also raised the question of setback requirements.

Code Enforcement Officer Robert Ouellette granted Beaulieu a building permit after having project plans reviewed by the Madawaska planning board.

“He won’t stop construction,” Robert Bellefleur, a Madawaska attorney representing Beaulieu, told the Madawaska board of appeals Thursday night. “You will have to sue to stop him, because he has a legal building permit for the project.

“We are only here because of a few disgruntled neighbors,” he said. “I have a sneaking suspicion that this issue would not be here if Fraser [a Madawaska paper mill] was building such a project.”

Bellefleur was alluding to Slowik’s and Selectman Daniel Ahearne’s employment at Fraser. Ahearne was instrumental last month in bringing the project to review by the board of appeals.

“We are here because it’s a small-town businessman in the picture,” Bellefleur said.

Bellefleur also chided the Madawaska Board of Selectmen for sending the project to the board of appeals.

“They were unfair to you … and the code enforcement officer,” Bellefleur told the appeals board. “Let the selectmen sue to stop him if they want to.”

Slowik, who previously had presented a petition signed by 73 residents against the project, said Thursday night that he worries about ice falling off the blades and tower in the winter and about the noise the unit will make when it is operating. He also was concerned that the planning board approved the project without abutting landowners being notified.

Another of Beaulieu’s neighbors, Lawrence Sacre, also questioned the safety and noise levels of the structure.

“Who will be responsible if anything happens and someone is injured?” Sacre asked Thursday night. “I am living right next door to it, and I am concerned. The permit was given without any concern for the people living there.”

Beaulieu told the board of appeals that the noise level of the unit will be about the same as the noise of a car traveling down Main Street. He also said the unit automatically shuts itself down if ice builds up on the windmill’s blades.

The high cost of electricity and the uncertainty of electric deregulation which takes effect in March drove Beaulieu to look into construction of the $100,000 windmill. It will have a 100-foot tower, and carry three 24-foot blades, which make 65 revolutions per minute. Beaulieu believes the unit will furnish his business with 83 percent of its electrical power for 35 years.

Beaulieu acquired his building permit last November, but nothing happened until recently. He purchased and demolished a private home next door to his 634 Main St. business. The cement pad for the tower was built within the foundation of the old home.

Beaulieu said he currently uses about 160,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year at a cost of about $18,000. He believes the windmill will drop his electric bill to about $2,500 per year.

The generator and tower cost $67,000. With incidentals and construction, the total will reach about $100,000, he said. Beaulieu bought a Rhon tower, a tripod held in place by three underground cement piers.

Beaulieu said the unit needs wind speeds of 10 mph to operate, and the optimum wind speed is 26 mph.