Updated Dec. 1 to correct maximum of proposed wind towers

By CRAIG FREILICH

HOPKINTON – The Town of Hopkinton Wind Advisory Board meets tonight to work on the town’s local law for dealing with wind power development.

The meeting, at 7 p.m., will be in the old town hall, as earlier meetings in the new town hall proved too popular to accommodate all those who wished to attend.

Avangrid has been signing leases for their proposed the North Ridge Wind Project wind farm in Parishville and Hopkinton, according to people who have been keeping an eye on county records.

One major concern of people such as Luke Dailey and Gary Snell, Sr., who have been attending the board’s meetings and discussing the issues, is a proposed tax break for Avangrid, which holds all U.S. operations of Iberdrola S.A. of Spain, a major producer of renewable energy.

Some property owners, including a group calling themselves Concerned Citizens for Rural Preservation, are concerned that a reduction in the tax the company would be responsible for would just put more of a burden on school districts, town boards and their taxpayers.

The company proposed in 2010 to connect 100 megawatts of power from 40 wind generators to a line owned by National Grid between Colton and Nicholville. The power would come from wind generators atop masts as high as 500 feet erected in fields between State Routes 11B and 72 in the towns of Parishville and Hopkinton.

Francis Barney, chairs of the town’s planning board, also chairs meetigs of the wind advisory board.