ROCKLAND — The Rockland's Energy Committee and the city’s Planning Board will hold a March 24 public forum and information session on the ordinance currently being developed to regulate power generation facilities in Rockland.

The forum will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Council Chambers at Rockland City Hall. It will begin with an overview by Woodard an Curran Engineer Dan Kelley of the types of power generation technologies that could be covered by a proposed ordinance, according to a release from the Energy Committee.

The proposed ordinance and an agenda of the meeting is to be released later this week, according to Energy Committee Chairman Larry Pritchett.

The forum will then move through the primary areas in the proposed ordinance revisions: (1) water usage; (2) noise; (3) cooling towers; (4) local air emissions; (5) safety; as well as (6) setbacks and buffers. Rockland City Attorney Kevin Beal will also summarize key provisions of the draft ordinance. Time will be allotted for discussion between each topic.

The forum will address the following:

In an ever changing energy market that now includes energy sources like solar, biomass, natural gas, biogas and fuel cell technology, what types of power generation facilities does a municipality need to consider when drafting local ordinances?

Depending on the type of power generation facility proposed, how should the city regulate key considerations like water usage, noise, local air emissions and safety?

How can the potential benefits and costs of local electrical power generation (i.e., generating power at or near the location where the power would be used) for a business or for a homeowner or for the community be weighed?

In January, Rockland’s City Council enacted a moratorium on the construction of new power generation facilities larger than 10 megawatts in size. The Council also directed the Planning Board, with assistance from the Energy Committee, to develop ordinance amendments governing power generation for the City Council to consider. The Planning Board will likely complete a draft ordinance for Council consideration by the end of March.

Three well attended public forums in 2015 identified a number of topics that warranted careful consideration. The Planning Board, with support from the Energy Committee, the City Attorney, plus engineers from Woodard and Curran as well as SMRT, has been carefully reviewing the City’s existing ordinances and developing new provisions. Before finalizing recommendations to the City Council, the Planning Board asked the Energy Committee to facilitate a public forum covering the primary aspects of the Concept Power Generation Ordinance.