BY ARIADNE WILL
The Pittsford Selectboard voted 4-1 last Wednesday to draft a letter opposing the Grandpa’s Knob wind project once the project’s developers come to the panel with additional information.
Chair Alicia Malay voted against the measure and wanted to send a letter in opposition to the project to interested parties immediately. She and Selectman Tom Hooker voted on an earlier motion to send a letter of opposition as soon as possible.
The project – which developers say will consist of a single turbine – received widespread criticism from Pittsford residents at a selectboard meeting in the fall.
Malay and others said at last Wednesday’s meeting that development of a wind turbine at the site would go against Pittsford’s town plan and the town plans of many other towns in the area.
The topic of sending a letter arose after Hubbardton issued a letter to area selectboards condemning the wind project and asking the surrounding selectboards to support Hubbardton in opposing the wind project.
Ed Bove of the Rutland Regional Planning Commission spoke under public comment at the meeting to inform the selectboard of changes to planning commission purview.
Bove said that Pittsford will hereafter be hearing from both the Rutland and Addison regional planning commissions with concern to projects that are funded through clean water service providers. Specifically, projects that have previously been funded by the state by way of clean water service providers will now be funded through regional basins.
Bove explained that Pittsford is situated in two basins: the Rutland Regional Planning Commission is responsible for the South Lake Basin, to the south, and the Addison Regional Planning Commission is responsible for the Otter Creek Basin, to the north.
Malay and others said at last Wednesday’s meeting that development of a wind turbine at the site would go against Pittsford’s town plan and the town plans of many other towns in the area.
Other Business
• Selectmen voted unanimously to direct an assessor’s errors and omission request to the Board of Abatement. The error involves a property that has been appraised as a three-bedroom house, though the property owners say they have built the house as a two-bedroom unit. Reassessing the house as a two-bedroom would lower the property’s value by $11,000.
Assessor Lisa Wright said she was unclear whether the property owners wanted the assessment listed as an error in the 2021 report or if they wanted to wait until next year to change it. Whether the errors and omissions request will be included in this year’s or next year’s report will be decided by the Board of Abatement.
• In a 4-1 vote with Alicia Malay opposed, the selectboard voted not to take any action on the solar project scheduled to be developed off Adams Road. Project developers filed for a certificate of public good in mid-November.
Concerns arose at a November selectboard meeting after it was revealed that the owner of the property on which the solar project is to be developed has put the property up for sale.
The property is also the location of a portion of Pittsford’s trail network.
• The selectboard heard an update on the hiring of a new town manager. Town Manager John Haverstock said that the application deadline for the position of Pittsford’s new town manager is Dec. 10 and that ads have been placed in regional newspapers, as per the recommendation of Rick McGuire, a consultant with the Vermont League of Cities and Towns. Haverstock said the town has already received at least a dozen applications for the position.
