Town of Portsmouth

Town of Portsmouth Awarded $25,000 State Grant for a Feasibility Study on Wind Energy.

The Town of Portsmouth Rhode Island requested the grant for a feasibility study to develop a wind energy project on Town of Portsmouth land. The grant, from the Rhode Island State Energy Office, was awarded based on a competitive solicitation issued by the State and will be used to assess the potential for the installation of wind turbines at either or both of Portsmouth High School and Middle School. This study will include site selection for an on-site wind power project in Portsmouth at one of two school sites for the first town-sponsored wind project and will collect information needed to implement this project including: (1) Available wind resource; (2) Electric loads; (3) Technical feasibility including interconnection; (4) The perception of citizens to form an outreach information plan to secure citizen support; (5) Regulatory requirements; (6) Financial feasibility; (7) The best way to secure private and/or public funding sources; (8) Identify a developer to install the wind turbine and (9) Select a wind turbine manufacturer and wind turbine model. This feasibility study and wind turbine installation is conceived as part of advancing a broader strategic plan to develop on-land wind power for Portsmouth and for the entire Aquidneck Island. This is just the first step in determining if investment in wind energy is the right thing to do for the community.

Richard Talipsky, Chair of the Portsmouth Economic Development Committee (PEDC), said, “The grant is a great supplement to the wind energy volunteer efforts of the PEDC’s Sustainable Energy Subcommittee. It will give us expert information and analyses to provide the town leadership a comprehensive, informed and balanced recommendation on which to base their decision to invest further in wind turbine installations. The study will include site physical, engineering and meteorological assessments and financial models. Surveys of the community will also be a large part of the study to gain a comprehensive view of what the people think about wind power. The hard work done by the PEDC grant proposal team, led by Gary Gump, involved hundreds of hours of volunteer effort and capitalized on over two years of research on the potential for wind turbines as a source of renewable energy for the town. Preliminary estimates of wind at the proposed sites and financial data indicate that the return on investment of a wind turbine could be over 80 thousand dollars per year. There are many opinions (based on fact and fiction) on the utility of wind power and our study will do its best to provide a complete and balanced report to the town and the State Energy Office based on facts and expert analyses.”

For more information on Portsmouth’s Sustainable Energy Initiative, e-mail Gary Gump (ggump1@verizon.net) or see the minutes of the Portsmouth Economic Development Committee Meetings.

Press Release - The Three S Property Acquisition

Portsmouth - The Town of Portsmouth and the Aquidneck Land Trust are pleased to announce that they have entered into an agreement providing for the sale of The Three S Corporation property on Sandy Point Avenue to the Town of Portsmouth for $500,000. The funds will come from the Town's Open Space Reserve.

Both the Town and the Land Trust stated that this was an important transaction that will insure the permanent protection of this valuable piece of land. Under the terms of the agreement, Portsmouth will acquire ownership of the 48-acre parcel subject to a conservation easement held by the Aquidneck Land Trust and a trail easement also held by the Land Trust for the portion of the Sakonnet Greenway Trail which will pass through and around the property. According to the conservation easement, the easternmost 15 acres of the property will remain actively farmed, or maintained as a meadow habitat.

The Town will utilize the remaining acreage as open, grassed athletic fields suitable for field sports such as soccer and lacrosse and has agreed to a series of conditions designed to insure that portions of the property will forever maintain its rural character. These include the obligation to repair and maintain the stonewalls along Sandy Point Avenue and a general ban on lighting and commercial activity of any sort. Amplification is generally prohibited. The Town will plant and maintain a 36' vegetated buffer strip along the northern and western edges of the property to insure that Sandy Point Avenue will maintain its rural streetscape. Parking will be confined to an area located several hundred feet south of Sandy Point Avenue in the center of the field. The only building that will be allowed on the property will be a small bathroom building that will be built of natural materials and designed to look like a farm shed. No items such as goal posts will be kept or stored out on the property during the off season.

The demand for playing fields has mushroomed in Portsmouth in the past several years. In recent years the steady growth of youth soccer coupled with the rapid expansion of lacrosse, other sports, and equestrian activities fully occupied existing space at Glen Farm and elsewhere, requiring the Town to look for additional land to meet its present and future recreational needs. The developable acreage at Three S will result in field space roughly twice the size of the Glen Farm Special Events Field. Portsmouth intends to develop the playing fields gradually with only 2 or 3 fields planned for construction in the next few years. The balance of the acreage will remain farmland until needed to meet the Town's future needs.

Town Council President Peter McIntyre said "It is has been a pleasure to work with the Aquidneck Land Trust on this project." ALT Land Protection Director Ted Clement said "The Land Trust is very pleased about its partnership with the Town of Portsmouth on this project because of the immense amount of public benefit that it will create such as the Sakonnet Greenway Trail, public recreation fields, the preservation of important agricultural lands and scenic vistas, and the preservation of a wooded section which is important for wildlife habitat and water resources. The Land Trust owes a debt of gratitude to the late Francis Silvia and his family, the original Three S Corporation owners, for their vision to protect the parcel in the first place by selling it to ALT. I think that this project will be long remembered and cherished as an important accomplishment for the Land Trust as well as the Town."

Portsmouth - The Town of Portsmouth and the Aquidneck Island Land Trust announced today that they had finalized the terms of an easement for the portion of the Sakonnet Greenway Trail which will pass through Glen Farm.

Glen Farm will be the northern terminus of the trail which, when complete, will stretch from the Glen to Wyatt Road in Middletown. In connection with the easement the Town has also granted the Land Trust permission to allow parking for trail users at designated areas in Glen Farm. The Land Trust will be allowed to install signage and an information kiosk concerning the Greenway Trail. The Town has also agreed to build and maintain crosswalks across Sandy Point Avenue and Braman's Lane.

Portsmouth Town Council President Peter McIntyre said that the Town Council was happy to work with the Aquidneck Island Land Trust on such an exciting project. "This will be a real asset to Aquidneck Island," he said.