FYI - this was the area that used to have the yurts for rent.
DIXVILLE NOTCH— The Coos County planning board Wednesday approved zoning and building permits to allow two temporary wind measuring towers on the Phillips Brook property.
Earlier this month the owner of the property, GMO Renewable Resources, announced it was withdrawing its application for a federal Forest Legacy grant to purchase an easement on the property. The timber investment group said it wanted more time to evaluate the potential for a wind power project on the 24,000 acre property.
The application falls under the planning board’s jurisdiction because most of the Phillps Brook watershed is in the unincorporated places of Odell and Millsfield.
Martha Staskas of Vermont Environmental Research Associates said a 60-meter high tower will be placed in the vicinity of Trio Ponds in the Odell. A 50-meter tower will be placed in Millsfield on Owlhead Mountain.
She presented to the board a letter from N.H. Fish and Game Wildlife Biologist Will Staats who reviewed the two sites to assess potential impacts to wildlife. Staats recommended allowing the project to move forward.
Staskas said instruments located at three places on the towers will collect data that will be transmitted via cell phone from the remote locations. She said the towers will not be installed until after winter and will remain up for at least a year.
“We’d certainly like to get a year’s worth of data,” she said.
The consultants, who also include Woodlot Alternative of Maine, have identified three additional sites for temporary meteorological assessment towers at different elevations. One of the sites is in Dummer and would require planning board approval there - the other two would go through the Coos planning board. Staskas said her firm will start with the two towers and will decide on additional sites after reviewing the data.
The Phillips Brook property had been rated the state’s top priority for fiscal 2007 Forest Legacy funding. The total project called for raising $4.7 million to purchase an easement that would prevent development of the watershed while guaranteeing traditional recreational uses of the property including snowmobiling, hunting, fishing, and hiking. Under the easement, active timber management would continue.
To finance the purchase, state officials and conservation leaders sought $3.5 million in Forest Legacy funds. The Society for the Protection of N.H. Forest had pledged to raise the required $1.2 million match.
In announcing they were withdrawing the application, GMO officials made it clear they hoped to go forward in the future with the easement. Since commercial structures, including generators, are not allow on easements acquired with Forest Legacy funds, they said they first needed to determine the acreage required for a potential wind power project.
The application was the only item on the agenda when the Coos planning board met Wednesday afternoon at the Balsams Hotel.
DIXVILLE NOTCH— The Coos County planning board Wednesday approved zoning and building permits to allow two temporary wind measuring towers on the Phillips Brook property.
Earlier this month the owner of the property, GMO Renewable Resources, announced it was withdrawing its application for a federal Forest Legacy grant to purchase an easement on the property. The timber investment group said it wanted more time to evaluate the potential for a wind power project on the 24,000 acre property.
The application falls under the planning board’s jurisdiction because most of the Phillps Brook watershed is in the unincorporated places of Odell and Millsfield.
Martha Staskas of Vermont Environmental Research Associates said a 60-meter high tower will be placed in the vicinity of Trio Ponds in the Odell. A 50-meter tower will be placed in Millsfield on Owlhead Mountain.
She presented to the board a letter from N.H. Fish and Game Wildlife Biologist Will Staats who reviewed the two sites to assess potential impacts to wildlife. Staats recommended allowing the project to move forward.
Staskas said instruments located at three places on the towers will collect data that will be transmitted via cell phone from the remote locations. She said the towers will not be installed until after winter and will remain up for at least a year.
“We’d certainly like to get a year’s worth of data,” she said.
The consultants, who also include Woodlot Alternative of Maine, have identified three additional sites for temporary meteorological assessment towers at different elevations. One of the sites is in Dummer and would require planning board approval there - the other two would go through the Coos planning board. Staskas said her firm will start with the two towers and will decide on additional sites after reviewing the data.
The Phillips Brook property had been rated the state’s top priority for fiscal 2007 Forest Legacy funding. The total project called for raising $4.7 million to purchase an easement that would prevent development of the watershed while guaranteeing traditional recreational uses of the property including snowmobiling, hunting, fishing, and hiking. Under the easement, active timber management would continue.
To finance the purchase, state officials and conservation leaders sought $3.5 million in Forest Legacy funds. The Society for the Protection of N.H. Forest had pledged to raise the required $1.2 million match.
In announcing they were withdrawing the application, GMO officials made it clear they hoped to go forward in the future with the easement. Since commercial structures, including generators, are not allow on easements acquired with Forest Legacy funds, they said they first needed to determine the acreage required for a potential wind power project.
The application was the only item on the agenda when the Coos planning board met Wednesday afternoon at the Balsams Hotel.
