The West Tisbury planning board last week voted without dissent to endorse a new bylaw aimed at regulating the size and location of future wind turbines in town. The three-page bylaw was drafted by a special subcommittee and approved by the planning board last Monday.

The bylaw will now go to town voters at the annual town meeting in April. An earlier version of the wind bylaw was shelved at last year’s town meeting so the planning board could take more time to work on it.

Members of the subcommittee last week explained the inherent difficulties in drafting a wind turbine bylaw on a small Island where protecting scenic vistas is a priority.

“It’s a bit of a juggling act,” explained Tucker Hubbell, who is also a member of the town zoning board of appeals. “The bottom line is people are going to see these things. The whole point is to stick it up in the air — so yes, it’s going to be in people’s viewsheds,” he said.

He continued: “Are the boards going to take some flack? They probably will. Is this whole process subjective? It definitely is . . . some people are probably going to complain about having to look at [wind turbines]. You almost have to expect that.”

The intent of the new bylaw is not to discourage people from building wind turbines, but to encourage them to build in a responsible manner.

“This makes it possible for someone to build one of these [turbines], while also giving a modest amount of restrictions and protections to the other people [that live] nearby,” said David Douglas, chairman of the planning board.

The new bylaw would allow wind energy systems by special permit in all districts of town. The minimum setback would be equal to the overall height of the turbine, from the center of the tower base, plus 10 feet from the boundaries on the site where the turbine is located.

The law would require all property owners living within 1,000 feet to be notified of public hearings on wind turbine proposals, and property owners would be required to remove a wind turbine if it fails to produce a quantifiable amount of power during a period of 365 days, or is designated a safety hazard by the town building inspector.

Under the bylaw, complaints about excessive noise from a wind turbine will go to the zoning inspector who may examine the turbine to see if it is producing excess noise. There are provisions n the bylaw for correcting any violations of allowable noise limits.

The issue of noise from wind turbines generated the most discussion last Monday; board members debated whether the new bylaw went too far on the issue, or not far enough.

Sander Shapiro, a member of the wind bylaw subcommittee committee and town energy committee, said the group relied on Massachusetts General Laws to define allowable noise limits, currently set at 10 decibels.

He said the parameters are admittedly broad.

“It does not say for how long or when that noise should be measured, it just says an adequate survey must be done. The [state law] was originally written for commercial wind turbines, it has not really been tested in court . . . and there is no requirement by the state that says there must be testing before hand, only if there is a complaint,” he said, adding: “It could be the middle of the night with howling winds, and you might not hear anything because of the ambient noise . . . it’s usually louder when the wind is not blowing as hard.”