Thanks to all who wrote. Your points are well taken. However, the point
of the commentary on the trackers was not to disparage photovoltaics
and/or a shift to alternative forms of energy. The point was that it
should not be happening in a void. It should not be happening without
some sort of plan or some guidelines.
In the early 1980s planners in Warren, Waitsfield and Fayston came
together with Sugarbush to form one of the first intra-municipal
planning bodies in the state: the Mad River Valley Planning District.
The planning district was created because planners were concerned that
development (ski area and otherwise) would happen without an overall
vision and without coordination and - well - a plan.
At the time, there was a great deal of concern that The Valley might
develop like Killington or Stowe and that the rural character (including
its open agricultural lands and rural viewsheds) would be compromised
or lost.
The planning district was and remains an amazing success and critical
planning tool for the Mad River Valley. It became a model for other
communities in Vermont and is often held up as an example of how
communities can control their own destinies through the planning
process.
If photovoltaic trackers are going to be installed in many places
throughout The Valley it seems reasonable to expect that such systems
won't be installed without some nod to local zoning and local town
plans.
No other type of development or anything that will have such an
immediate and significant impact on the open land in the Mad River
Valley would be allowed to occur in such a haphazard fashion. Just
because alternative energy is green does not mean that its delivery
systems should be exempted from the same rules that govern commercial
and residential development.
It is critical that we, as a community and a nation, shift our reliance
on fossil fuels for energy. But it is just as critical that we do so
with some foresight and planning.
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