SHAFTSBURY — Divisions in town opinion affected the formulation of Shaftsbury's first-ever Enhanced Energy Plan, which will become part of the Town Plan when approved. The held the first of two public hearings on the plan after its regular meeting on Monday. The second public hearing will be held on Sept.
23. The plan, prepared by Bennington County Regional Commission and the Shaftsbury Planning Commission between Sept. 2023 and Feb.
2024, "summarizes energy use in Shaftsbury and what kind of changes will need to be made in that energy use and energy production in order to achieve the state goal of 90 percent renewable energy by 2050," said Select Board Chair Naomi Miller. "So, each town as well as each region has taken on the burden of adjusting our own energy production and consumption,” she said. Miller gave a synopsis of the plan at Monday's hearing.
The Planning Commission made recommendations that are scattered throughout the document. "These include constraints associated with solar facilities and wind turbines," she said. “No solar facilities will be permitted in which the solar panels cover more than 20 acres of land, and no wind turbines will be permitted greater than 40 feet in height,” the plan states.
“Having sat on the Planning Commission, as most of this was going forward, I can just say that the commission's effort throughout the process was to cut an immediate line in the middle between the two sides of this issue," Miller said. "This town is tremen.