The following letter was sent by FHMNA President Dave Buzanoski, with Board input and approval, by email to all members of the Select Board regarding their Executive Session Agenda item tonight (3/14/22) to “consider the value of Mayflower Wind Electric Cable easements”, etc. Copies were emailed to the Town Manager, Town Clerk, Planning Board, Zoning Board, Energy Committee, Town Meeting Members and the Chamber of Commerce.
March 13, 2022
Regarding Mayflower Wind’s intention to onboard their power cables at landing sites in Falmouth Heights, as stated on numerous occasions, the FHMNA is supportive of clean energy and the benefits of the same.
The issue is, however, that bringing a locally unnecessary, commercial / industrial undertaking through a densely populated residential setting defies logic on many counts. It’s clear to many in the community that Mayflower’s cable route choice is about minimizing the cost of traversing from beach to substation.
Mayflower professes the project is to have minimal disruption and impact on the community, and while a noble concept, we feel their intentions in this regard are not with the best interest of Falmouth in mind. Due to the sheer magnitude of this project, under no circumstance can this be considered to be of minimal disruption and impact.
In a recent webinar (3/3/2022), Mayflower presented an animation of their construction intentions with respect to Worcester Park. The first block of Worcester Park would be completely excavated; at first, for the Directional Drilling and pulling of the three (3) x 13.8-inch power cables and one (1) communications cable, and then the burying of at least three (3) “Transition Vaults” in which the cables will be connected.
The inside dimensions of each transition vault, according to filings, will be sixty (60) feet long x twelve (12) feet wide x nine (9) feet high. Three (3) vaults of this size would occupy over 720 sq/ft each x 3 = 2160 sq/ft, which is the equivalent of burying a reasonably sized Cape Cod style home in the first block of Worcester Park. This is itself outrageous.
Each onboarded power cable would be split in the transition vaults into three (3) circuits of 5.5-inch cables and fed into a 5 over 5 duct bank of 8-inch conduits. In addition, Mayflower advises there would be at least three (3) “Splice Vaults”, of thirty (30) feet x eight (8) feet located in the grassy area of the Northern end of Worcester Park, and then sets of 3 every 1/3 to 1/2 mile thereafter.
During the webinar, Mayflower then confirmed the trench to bury this duct bank would be thirteen (13) feet wide x eight (8) feet deep the length of Worcester Park, then under the roadway of Worcester Ct, Jones Rd, and Gifford St all the way to the Lawrence Lynch substation, or to Cape Cod Aggregates, if the alternate site is used.
Some trees in Worcester Park will have to be removed to accommodate this invasive project, and no replacement trees will be able to be planted over or near the vaults or duct bank. Even the root systems of some of the existing remaining trees will be disturbed and subject to toppling in the next Nor’easter.
Mayflower has also confirmed their intention to utilize the paved Falmouth Heights Beach parking lot as the staging area for this phase of the project and estimated they would use same for 2 to 3 months during the offseason window of October to May.
Again, this is hardly of minimal disruption and impact on the residents, community, and local businesses. Further, I can assure you that year-round residents of Falmouth Heights do not consider October to May to be an “offseason”.
I have recently visited the Vineyard Wind’s horizontal directional drilling site underway at Covell’s Beach parking lot in Barnstable and I cannot imagine such a construction site taking place in Worcester Park or Central Park. Drilling apparatus, backhoes, dump trucks, piles of sand / gravel / fill and stockpiles of pipe is hardly a small undertaking. Additionally, for the Vineyard Wind project, the contractor Lawrence Lynch is also utilizing a large area of the Cape Cod Mall parking lot as a staging area for miles of conduit. I would encourage Select Board members to take a short trip to Covell’s Beach to view this construction site for themselves.
Mayflower boasts of community involvement and support, however, we feel this is nothing but a Trojan Horse, once they get approval, the town and its leadership will lose all leverage; Mayflower has deep pockets and scores of attorneys on staff. The town should not let the client steer our ship; it’s time to take back the helm.
In our research we have come across the town of Wainscott, NY, a small town on the eastern end, south shore of Long Island, NY which has nearly the identical
challenge that we face here in Falmouth with a wind provider. Clearly, we are not alone in the new world of developing offshore wind farms and their onboarding of power cables to the national grid. This however is another point altogether, with the number of offshore wind projects in various stages of development there should be a well-planned, coordinated effort to bring cables ashore at existing industrial locations and not rushed into residential communities on an individual case basis. In Mayflower’s recent webinar, they confirmed that they had collaborated with the other 6, or so, other offshore lessees south of Martha’s Vineyard as to the arrangement and placement of the wind turbine arrays.
Why has Mayflower and the other lessees not made an effort to coordinate the routing of their power cables to designated industrial sites along the coast?
If you have time, we encourage you to visit Wainscott’s website at “wainscott.org”. Their home page summarizes their position quite well. Then scroll to public comments (pages 1-20); I think you will see the similarity we have with Mayflower and perhaps gain some further understanding of what both communities and others are facing.
There is much to consider here for the citizens and taxpayers of Falmouth.
We understand the town has hired an independent consultant to examine EMF levels, and health and safety issues related thereto. The impact of such an installation is far greater than just EMFs. Zoning regulation exemptions,
homeowners’ peaceful enjoyment, the legal rights of abutters, complicated rolling detours, permanent disruption of an iconic gem of the community, negative impact on residents and local businesses, water contamination, PCBs, noise levels, safety of pedestrians and residents during construction, fire safety, beach erosion, destruction of Worcester Court Park vegetation, and the list goes on.
With respect to local businesses, after having managed to survive a multi-year sewering project, and the past two COVID19 years, another multi-year disruptive project of this size may very well put a number of these enterprises along the cable construction route out of business. One such business owner along the route has already shared exactly these concerns with us.
Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, we contend that this project is of little or no benefit to the Town and even less to the Falmouth Heights community. During Mayflower’s recent webinar they were asked about the benefits to Falmouth and their reply was “a host fee and the opportunity to be involved in the project”. A replanted Worcester Park excluding some trees is little recompense.
Then for what, a huge “Hosting Fee”?
Our town should not be for sale or lease.
We would seriously hope that the Select Board shares our concerns regarding this project and will be in position to do the right thing for the residents of Falmouth and to work towards getting Mayflower to consider alternative sites with little to no impact on the community.
Thank you,
Dave Buzanoski, President
Falmouth Heights – Maravista Neighborhood Association