S.T.A.R.T.

Typical baseline noise levels under moderately windy conditions (6 to 10 meters/second) are in the range of 32 and 38 dBA – that’s the typical background noise without any turbines present.  So if you go out and stand in a field on an average day in Machias or Yorkshire, that’s about what you’re hearing.  Anything below 35 dBA would be considered “silence” by most people.

 During very calm and still times, the baseline noise levels may get into the 20s (dBA).  These levels are occasionally recorded during studies to establish baseline noise levels in an area, and typically occur at night when things are completely calm.  During these periods, there will be very little, if any wind blowing and therefore turbines would either be idle or spinning slowly enough that they would not contribute much in the way of added noise. 

Noise is really a subjective matter.  Those inclined to be unsupportive of a project will hear noise differently than those supporting it.  There is certainly anecdotal evidence of people being bothered by the noise from wind farms but those complaints are usually noteworthy because they’re the exception, and not the general rule in projects.

Setbacks are often hard to conceptualize.  Rich Gerlach provided us with some interesting numbers that may help us all to understand the proposed setback distances.

Distance from the front of the Machias Fire Hall to Route 16: 350 feet

Distance from the fire truck hall to Route 16: 400 feet

The setback proposed from a residence to a turbine is almost 3 times (!!) the distance from the fire hall to Route 16.  This may be an excellent point to make if you address setbacks at the public hearing.

As we discussed at our meeting on Monday, we thought it would be a great idea to have an outline of what we were going to say to the board at the public hearing on Monday, March 9th.  We think that is important to follow this guideline to show unified support from as many landowners as possible.

Outline

1) State your name

2) Where you own land

3) How you use your property, i.e. full time resident, vacation property, etc.

4) State that you are a supporter of wind development, large and small scale.  You can mention that you are a member of START.

5) State other comments that are of specific concern to you.

Feel free to comment on this!