Facing a proposed five-turbine wind farm on Little Equinox Mountain, Manchester, VT initiated a citizen engagement and visualization process to help citizens understand, discuss, and make informed decisions about the impacts of wind development.
Manchester, Vermont’s Town Plan recognizes the visual importance of the area’s mountainous terrain, and also supports the development of renewable energy facilities. A proposal by Maine-based Endless Energy Corporation to build a five-turbine wind farm on Little Equinox Mountain has put the Town Plan to the test, initiating lively debate within Manchester and neighboring communities about which should come first, scenic ridgelines or renewable energy, and is this even the right question to ask?
The Orton Family Foundation and Placeways, LLC developed a customized application of CommunityViz software to help the community visualize the wind development and evaluate the scenic and other impacts of the proposed wind facility. Working with the Town, the Village of Manchester, and the Consensus Building Institute, the Foundation helped design and implement an ambitious citizen engagement process to support informed, equitable and collaborative decision-making that balances the protection of scenic resources with renewable energy production.
The process incorporated a series of informational meetings on topics related to the proposal (e.g., site planning, ecology, power generation, economics and aesthetics), a facilitated priority-setting meeting, and a Wind Forum incorporating 3D visualization, roundtable discussions and keypad polling. Project partners believed that the process in Manchester could provide a model for other communities grappling with the many challenging issues raised by wind power proposals.
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