Barnstable residents asked for a public meeting on offshore wind. About 360 showed.

Editor's note: This article was updated to reflect other attendance estimates and clarify the total number of acres Avangrid has an option to buy in Marstons Mills.

Residents got a chance to air questions and concerns about Avangrid's Park City Wind and Commonwealth Wind projects at a community meeting held Monday night in the performing arts center at Barnstable High School.

Based on the number of programs that were taken, at least 360 people appear to have turned out for the gathering, though other estimates by several attendees put the number at more than 500. No official count was taken.

The Town Council scheduled the meeting in response to a petition they received last month requesting an open meeting under section 8-9 of the town charter to discuss the projects. The petition was signed by 518 residents.

Centerville resident Bob Schulte, one of the petitioners, said the group — also including Centerville residents Sandy Jones, Joanne O'Connor, and Chuck Tuttle — was pleased with the size of the turnout and the questions that were asked.

The three-and-a-half-hour discussion was moderated by Harwich town moderator Michael Ford, an attorney asked to run the meeting in response to the petitioners' request for a third-party presider.

At the outset of the discussion, Town Manager Mark Ells emphasized that the town is not a proponent of the projects, and officials would do their best to answer questions. While representatives of Avangrid were present, including the company's Vice President of Development for Offshore Wind Ken Kimmell, they were not given the opportunity to address the audience.

"This was a meeting with you and us," Council President Matthew Levesque told the assembly, explaining the Council members were looking to collect as much input as possible from residents ahead of a meeting the board is planning with Avangrid executives sometime next month — he mentioned that dialogue is likely to happen at the Council's Nov. 16 meeting, and will include issues the residents brought up Monday night.

Concerns have swirled around Avangrid's proposal to bring power transmission cables from its 804-megawatt Park City Wind and 1,232-megawatt Commonwealth Wind projects ashore in Barnstable — the projects are planned for lease areas in the shallow Outer Continental Shelf waters south of Martha's Vineyard. The company is looking to bring cables ashore at Craigville Beach (Park City Wind) and Dowses Beach (Commonwealth Wind).

Deliberations related to the projects are presently on pause in Barnstable after the company recently announced plans to back off from its previously negotiated power purchase agreement with Connecticut utilities for Park City Wind. The company earlier this year similarly terminated its power purchase agreement with Massachusetts utilities and is now among developers bidding for a new contract under the state's fourth offshore wind procurement round.

The hope is to negotiate new agreements under better, more affordable terms for both projects. Talking to the Times via a Microsoft Teams call, Kimmell on Tuesday morning said the company is looking into doing one bid for all of its power capacity through the tri-state offshore wind procurement partnership recently announced by Gov. Maura Healey and her counterparts in Rhode Island and Connecticut.

The effort to negotiate new contracts comes amid global and national economic turmoil that's buffeted the offshore wind industry, from supply chain problems, to added expenses tied to the war in Ukraine, inflation and rising interest rates.

Will Barnstable renegotiate a host community agreement with Park City Wind?

In Barnstable, the Council recently withdrew permission for Ells to continue negotiating a host community agreement for Commonwealth Wind, and voted to postpone officially signing off on certain easements for Park City Wind, until each project's status is resolved.

Ells on Monday noted that the proposed landing site for Commonwealth Wind at Dowses Beach, which has inspired robust pushback from residents who say the estuary is too fragile, "was chosen without consultation with the town." Opponents of this landing spot spoke out about their concerns during Tuesday's meeting.

Ells said the town recently responded in detail to the draft environmental impact report related to that site and noted "our comments clearly state that the town does not support the Commonwealth Wind project at this time" — a statement that earned applause from the audience.

The Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs issued a certification on Oct. 10 related to the draft report and Ells said Avangrid is expected to address the issues it raises before a final environmental impact report is issued. Ells told those at Monday's meeting that the town will review the document closely and take advantage of the opportunity to comment.

He expects the town's input does have weight, and it behooves the company to listen, but ultimately, "the majority of what they're proposing to do falls outside our authority to approve or deny."

While Ells pointed out the town has limited jurisdiction, he said it does have power to ask for actions and benefits beyond what the state and federal regulations require by negotiating host community agreements.

It was not clear Tuesday night if the town could try renegotiating the host community agreement it's already drafted, but not yet signed off on, for Park City Wind — something residents asked about in light of the company's bid to renegotiate its power purchase agreement.

A number of residents on Tuesday night raised questions about the appropriateness of landing so much power on public beaches and routing it through historic residential areas and small business zones, instead of going with a more planned, consolidated approach and bringing them ashore at existing industrial or military sites.

Landing cables at former power plant in Sagamore not an option yet

Some suggested bringing the cables ashore at the former power plant on Cape Cod Canal in Sagamore would be more agreeable. Kimmell on Tuesday addressed that with the Times, saying under present ruling by the state Department of Public Utilities "that option is not available to us" because the plant is expected to be used as a backup power provider in the event of catastrophic energy emergencies.

Kimmell said the company had a face-to-face meeting with the plant's owners recently and discussed this "very diligently." The hope is to get the state policy changed, and perhaps the option could be available for future projects, he said.

Ells said the town is also interested in "trying to advance those discussions at the state level," and while that it's not a solution this point, "it may be in the future."

Susanne Conley, a member of the Save Greater Dowses Beach effort, on Tuesday night suggested the town has control over the proposed landing at Dowses Beach through Article 97, a state regulation that "declares the conservation of natural resources a public purpose and provides that land or easements subject to Art. 97 shall not be used for other purposes or disposed of without a two-thirds roll call vote of the Legislature."

Chuck Tuttle, one of the lead petitioners who called for Tuesday's meeting, agreed, and wants to see the town explore this more, "as opposed to, 'yeah we don't know how to put that to work.'" He said people need to email the state Energy Facilities Siting Board to express their opposition to the Dowses Beach site.

"If they get 500 emails, 1,000 emails from us, that's going to get their attention," he said. "They need to hear you in Boston."

What about large substations on Cape Cod?

Residents on Tuesday also shared concerns about the need for large substations further inland that are proposed to route the power on its way to the New England grid.

Sandy Jones, of Centerville, asked town officials if they knew Avangrid has an option to buy 13.43 acres in Marstons Mills at 3640 Falmouth Road, four or five acres of which are next to Mill Pond and abutting Acadia Drive and "clearly would be an area for a substation." Ells said he was not aware of this but would look into it.

Among other concerns, residents also questioned how the projects could affect property values for homes and businesses along the power cable route, how small businesses may be compensated by construction-related disruptions if the projects move forward, whether or not the town is getting enough monetary benefits as a host community, how to ensure restoration of streetscapes and avoid impacts on trees and adjoining foundations, how potential leaks could affect the sole source aquifer the Cape depends on, the long-term effects of electromagnetic fields on the health of people and animals, whether the town is prepared to deal with emergencies such as explosions and fires, and security of the offshore infrastructure.

Some residents spoke up in support of the offshore endeavors. Russell Norris, of West Hyannisport, was among them. Although his neighborhood dealt with construction for Vineyard Wind for two years, he said now there are new water and sewer lines and roads that were left "in better shape than before."

"I really see the long-term benefits of this as being more significant," he said, noting he expects the cost of energy will decrease in time, besides the benefit of helping to reduce the Cape's carbon footprint and addressing climate change that, "if left unchecked will wreck havoc on our beloved Cape Cod."

"At the same time," he added, "I believe local communities like ours should have input in complicated issues, like routing and siting."

Lawrence Brown, of Centerville, also talked about the overreaching goal to address climate change issues and said he hopes a plan can ultimately be agreed upon, and serve as an example for the rest of the nation to follow. Right now he sees the various conflicts as a collection of actions that could only serve to demonstrate how to keep clean energy from happening.

"I don't want to see alternative energy die in this country a death of a thousand cuts," he said, noting if action isn't taken, beloved landscapes like Cape Cod that exist on the frontier of climate changes will suffer.

Town Councilor Paul Cusack, precinct 5, said he thought Tuesday's meeting was a success.

"I feel like we've really dug into some important details in a healthy and transparent way," he said, adding he thinks it was "a big step in the right direction" to restore some sense of trust.

Kimmell said he felt it was "a good opportunity for the town council to hear from people."

"They heard from a wide range of voices," he said, noting, "I was encouraged by the fact it wasn't monolithic. There was some opposition but there were a lot of people in support."

He said the company is looking forward to setting the record straight on some of the discussion, which he felt, "no disrespect, was repeating misinformation and alarmism."

Heather McCarron writes about climate change, environment, energy, science and the natural world, in addition to news and features in Barnstable and Brewster. Reach her at hmccarron@capecodonline.com.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Barnstable talks offshore wind: What did residents have to say?