MARS HILL – During one of the shortest Town Council meetings on record, Mars Hill councilors approved on Monday night the creation of a tax increment financing district on property where a wind power company plans to build more than two dozen windmills.

In a 4-to-1 vote, town officials supported the creation of the development incentive district, which would cap taxes for Bangor-based Evergreen Wind Power LLC at no more than $500,000 for the next 15 to 20 years.

With the Town Council’s support, Evergreen plans to spend about $54 million to locate 28 wind turbines on Mars Hill Mountain, though a core group of local residents is opposed to the project.

The TIF district would provide the company with a fixed figure for financing purposes as it moves forward on the project. Because it would not be recognized by the state as part of the town’s valuation, it also would keep the town’s county taxes and state education revenues stable. If the district is approved by the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development, town officials plan to use the $500,000 to lower the mill rate.

About 20 residents attended the Monday night meeting, though none spoke regarding the TIF district for Evergreen, according to Mars Hill Town Manager Ray Mersereau.

The town manager said Tuesday that council chairwoman Penny Rideout offered to take comments that were not made during a public hearing held last week about the TIF district.

“You could hear a pin drop when she opened it up for new questions or comments from the public,” Mersereau said.

Town resident Terry Hamm-Morris said Tuesday that she did not speak during the meeting because “there wasn’t any point in it.” Hamm-Morris is one of about 70 to 80 residents who has joined a residents’ group opposed to the wind turbine project. She said residents were told that town councilors were doing their job as elected officials – making decisions for the town as residents’ representatives.

Town officials previously told residents that they could not vote on whether the company should be allowed to come to town because it effectively would mean telling private landowners what they could or could not do with their property. Evergreen has a lease agreement with several local landowners allowing the company to construct the turbines – expected to create 42 megawatts of power – on about 150 acres.

“To us [the residents’ group], we feel we were never kept in the loop and were never asked if we wanted it,” Hamm-Morris said. “Now we’re stuck with it and we’re not happy.”

The group believes that even if town officials had no legal obligation to ask town residents if they wanted the project on Mars Hill Mountain, they still should have done so out of a moral or ethical obligation.

Mersereau said the town has held public hearings and has received much public comment on the matter since the project came to their attention in April 2002. He added that until recently, the town has received no negative comments at Town Council or planning board meetings.

The residents’ group was expected to meet on Tuesday night to discuss its next course of action in the wake of the council’s decision.

As the group ponders its next move, town officials are beginning work with representatives from Evergreen and Northern Maine Development Commission to create a town-developer agreement, which the town will submit with its TIF application to the state DECD office when it officially applies for the TIF district. Mersereau expects that the town-developer agreement will be completed in time for the council’s next meeting.

If the document is approved, Mersereau hopes the town will have its completed TIF application to the DECD office by mid-January.