Working with the City

I have heard and seen many comments about how I need to work with the city to accomplish my goal of harnessing the wind.   I did try.  I called city hall and the planning/zoning administrator told me there was no need to visit my site, that we could do everything over the phone.

I was dumbfounded.

I frequently visited properties when I was on the planning commission and city council to ensure that I was able to take into account any real life issues associated with people requests.  The previous city employee who held the same position was known to peruse the city as needed for such matters as well. 

I knew, because of my previous experience, that the city codes were lacking and would need some work to adequately address the renewable energies market.  I figured that I would help kick-start that process in Orono as well as other cities and that I could help with the expertise I have developed over the years.

To my surprise, I was told that I would need to go through a long and expensive petition process to change the ordinance to allow renewable energies. Why should I have to tie up my investment and wait for what could be years to see if they say "yes" or "no"?  Especially when they have no ordinances controlling the issue other than the right to gain access to solar energy in 3 different places in the Orono city code.

Therefore, they have already declared renewable energy as a right of the property owner, but I need to wait and see if wind is acceptable?

The city should be there to help me accomplish my goals, not to erect expensive roadblocks and arbitrarily deny me access to the renewable resources of my property.

                                                        
                  So I submitted my building permit application.........



GreenMan