REMINDER: April 10, 2023 Annual Town Meeting to vote on Article 15; FHMNA Letter emailed to all Town Meeting Members

FALMOUTH ANNUAL TOWN MEETING
MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2023 at 7:00 P.M. Doors open at 5:30 P.M.
MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM, LAWRENCE SCHOOL
113 LAKEVIEW AVENUE, FALMOUTH, MA 02540

See below to read the letter sent by the FHMNA Board of Directors to ALL Town Meeting Members on or about 3/29/23.

See Town website for links to the “Articles with Recommendations” and the “Warrant Booklet” given to all Town Meeting Members.

See FHMNA website post “Article 15 Indefinite Postponement Recommended by the Select Board” for details.

Article 15 reads, “To see if Town Meeting will vote in favor of allowing offshore wind developers the right of entry to conduct soil investigations and studies to assess the feasibility of horizontal directional drilling in Town-owned parcels. This right of entry to conduct physical investigation agreements will grant offshore wind developers only temporary access to conduct said investigations and studies. Any offshore wind electric cable landing on or siting of facilities on any Town-owned property must be approved by the Select Board or other Town bodies with jurisdiction over such matters.

The Agreement will allow the Town to better assess the feasibility of an interconnection with offshore renewable energy projects that would facilitate the decarbonization of the Massachusetts electric grid and assist the Commonwealth in achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 consistent with state climate law and the Climate Emergency declared by the Town of Falmouth in 2020. On petition of Alessandro Bocconcelli, Linda Bowers, Rosemary Carey, Eleanor Ling, David Mark Welch, Scott Mueller, Matthew Patrick.

RECOMMENDATION (Select Board): Indefinite Postponement”

TO ATTEND: Appear any time after 5:30 P.M. on April 10 at the Memorial Auditorium at Lawrence School on 113 Lakeview Avenue. Guests, including both Falmouth residents and non-residents may attend and to sit in the balcony of the auditorium but only residents of Falmouth may speak.

TO WATCH ON FCTV: Watch locally on Channel 15 or DVR for later viewing.

TO STREAM LIVE ON FCTV: Click here on Monday night at 7:00 P.M.

TO WATCH AT A LATER DATE: Go to YouTube.com and search for “Falmouth Town Meeting April 10, 2023”

Letter sent by the FHMNA Board of Directors to ALL Town Meeting Members:

Vote “NO” on Article 15
and
Do What’s Right for the Town of Falmouth

In December 2022, the Select Board determined that soil testing for cable landfall sites on town property by SouthCoast Wind (Mayflower Wind) was not in the best interest of Falmouth and its residents. Since that time, a group has filed Article 15 in an effort to overturn the Select Board’s decision at the upcoming Town Meeting on April 10th.

  • Article 15 is an “invitation” for companies like SouthCoast Wind (aka Mayflower Wind/Shell Oil) to use its arsenal of resources to bypass our local government.
  • Article 15 allows all wind farm developers to soil test in any precinct of Falmouth.
  • SouthCoast Wind, LLC has filed residential zoning exemptions with the state, thus turning residentially zoned into industrial areas without town approval.
  • SouthCoast Wind, LLC also seeks the town’s assistance in obtaining relief from Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution that establishes a right to a clean environment including its natural, scenic, historical, and aesthetic qualities for the citizens of the Commonwealth.
  • SouthCoast Wind, LLC has taken 8 months to answer a partial list of questions that were asked by the public in June of 2022.
  • SouthCoast Wind, LLC has yet to file a new plan to the state which was promised in the fall of 2022.
  • Current proposed electrical substations, consuming some 26 acres, will be located in one of two areas in Precincts 2 & 6 and directly near our town water supply.

Clean energy is an important factor in saving our land and homes for future generations, but it needs to be done intelligently and with the input of the public under the guidance of our elected officials. Alternative sites should be explored and all discussions concerning the plans of wind farm developers need to be transparent. Decisions and negotiations should be in the hands of Falmouth’s elected officials with input from an informed electorate and not in the board rooms of billion dollar foreign companies.

Put the Decision in the Hands of Our Elected Officials
Vote “NO” on Article 15
Thank you!