NEWBURYPORT — At 292 feet tall, there's nothing in the city that comes anywhere near the height of the wind turbine that Mark Richey wants to build at his woodworking factory in Newburyport's industrial park.
It's almost twice as tall as the spire on the landmark Unitarian Universalist Church on Pleasant Street, which at 159 feet towers above the city's skyline.
The turbine has all the permits it needs, but homeowners near Mark Richey Woodworking are starting to rally against the 600-kilowatt turbine on the Parker Street property. They've appealed the permits to Superior Court.
"Many neighbors of the Back Bay are opposed to it," said Andrew Morris, who lives in the neighborhood. "We felt left out of the process."
The industrial park and the Back Bay neighborhood are separated by a few hundred feet, with Route 1 cutting a swath between them. Neighbors are concerned about the impact such an unusually large structure would have on them — concerns such as the whirring noise it will generate, safety, low-level vibrations, and the unusual visual effect called "flicker" that wind turbines create when the afternoon light hits them.
Earlier this year, the City Council adopted a new ordinance that states a wind turbine must be 300 feet from the nearest residential zone. No home is closer than 800 feet, but neighbors say the turbine is too close to their neighborhood, as well as surrounding businesses.
Lisa Mead, the attorney for Richey, declined to comment for this article last week, citing the current litigation. Richey did not return several phone messages.
During discussions with the Planning Board, Mead said the proposed location is appropriate for the site and the turbine will be located away from the bike and walking path and public way. The turbine will be 213.36 feet to the hub, and the blades are 78.74 feet long, for a total height of 292 feet. A beacon on the turbine's tower will flash 20-40 times per minute.
For those looking to get a sense of the turbine height, right next to Richey's property there is a 180-foot-tall cellular tower.
The turbine will meet manufacturing operation maintenance requirements, meet the city's noise standards and EPA standards, and will "blend in with the sky," Mead told the Zoning Board of Appeals, according to meeting minutes posted on the city's Web site.
Morris, 47, a member of the Back Bay Neighborhood Association, a group formally fighting the turbine, said more should have been done to involve neighbors and the whole community — such as a citywide public forum — due to the project's size.
The city granted Richey approval to put up the turbine in August in the form of a special permit. In September, two neighbors filed a complaint with Essex County Superior Court to overturn the Board of Appeals decision.
Scott and Caroline Blackman of 16¬½ Hill St., and Daniel and Sheila Twomey of 16 Hill St., argue that procedural protocol was not followed by the applicants and the application should have been denied.
If erected, the turbine would be powerful, producing about 1 million kilowatt hours a year, which will help power the 80,000-square-foot woodworking shop in the city's industrial park.
"This is not, 'are we going to allow two fans in the neighborhood?' This is drastic," Morris said.
Neighborhood concerns
Morris said the neighbors' concerns span from the close proximity of the turbine to residences and businesses to the Rail Trail, safety and noise.
A stay-at-home father, Morris said he has done research on wind turbines, finding data that shows turbines can fall down, sending the rotors flying a distance away. In her testimony to the Zoning Board of appeals, Mead said the turbine can withstand hurricane-force winds.
"If that happens at that location, think of what the damage is," Morris said.
Other worries stem from ice falling from the turbine and what would happen if it catches on fire — a helicopter would be needed to put it out, Morris said. If hazardous chemicals are located in the industrial park, a fire could be "catastrophic," he said.
"Safety has to be No. 1," Morris said. "I think you really have to think about something this big, and potentially dangerous, and disruptive of people's lives. You really need to get community support."
With other issues, such as noise — "apparently they're as loud as a jet engine," Morris said — as well as "turbine flicker," which in the waning hours of spring days causes a shadowy flicker effect on some nearby properties, and the idea of "wind turbine syndrome," the term for a clinical phenomenon, researched by Dr. Nina Pierpont, that argues people living close by industrial wind turbines are affected by the low level vibrations. Pierpont argues that the vibrations cause people to suffer to from headaches, stress, dizziness, sleeplessness, memory loss and loss of concentration.
In testimony before the Zoning Board, Mead and other experts hired by Richey addressed some of the issues Morris raised. They argued ice would not fall more than 75 feet from the base of the tower, and that the sound of the tower, at worst, would correspond to the sound level of "rainfall on foliage," and would be heard only on Hill Street.
Neighborhood left out
Morris, who has solar panels at his house, said the neighbors aren't opposed to renewable energy, but said the city should have included the neighborhood in the process more.
He's taking his case to the local and state leaders, writing letters voicing his opposition to the mayor and City Council, the governor, Congressman John Tierney and Sen. Ted Kennedy. He plans to circulate a petition throughout the city and is working with other neighbors on a Web site and video for the cable access station.
Nan Cook, an abutter on Hill Street, says she lives in what would be a "high flicker zone" if the turbine goes up.
"The location is too close to properties," Cook said. "I think there's a hazard relative to any large industrial pieces of equipment. These things are more than 50 tons, and there are accidents. I think these things are just too big for the city of Newburyport.
"I'm in favor of green energy, and I'm in favor of wind turbines. But I believe they should be sited properly to minimize the health and safety risks to all the residents of Newburyport."
Morris questions if the turbine would set a "bad precedent" in the city, pointing to the height — 300 feet tall. "These things aren't pretty. They're big and ugly. Newburyport is a tourist destination. I personally think it's going to be ugly to have a historic city and have this ugly wind turbine sticking up."
"'You never see a wind turbine location in a residential area," Morris said. "If it goes in, it sets a precedent for a whole bunch more to go in. I think it's going to ruin the neighborhood, and I'm not the only one. A lot of people do. We're very upset about it."
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