Citing concerns over noise, air pollution and truck traffic, residents of the Turkey Creek Golf and Country Club say they want the biomass plant shut down.
On Monday, the community’s homeowners’ association sent a letter to the Gainesville City Commission asking the city to shut down the Gainesville Renewable Energy Center, which is privately-owned and has a 30-year contract to sell power to the city.
“We are not faulting the good intentions of the Gainesville City Commission in approving the biomass plant as a fuel source alternate to fossil fuels,” the letter read. “By this letter we not only voice our serious concerns as articulated above, but ask that you shut it down, conduct more research as to whether placement anywhere in Gainesville is viable without risk to human health and the environment and, if alternate placement is not viable, scrap it and replace the trees removed during construction.”
Residents of the community of more than 1,000 homes have been sending emails of complaint over noise from the plant since August.