By Chris English
SCHOHARIE COUNTY — The Schoharie County Planning Commission has given its blessing to a new wind energy facilities law for the Town of Jefferson.
By a 6-3 vote at its Monday, Feb. 3 meeting, the SCPC recommended approval of the new set of regulations. If approved by the Jefferson Town Board _ perhaps as soon as its Feb. 13 meeting _ the new law would replace one dating from 2010.
The recommendation for approval from the County Planning Commission Monday night came on a motion from member Kathryn Saddlemire and not before much discussion on wind energy, which has been a hot topic in Jefferson for awhile.
The SCPC had reviewed the new law in May and sent it back to the Jefferson Town Planning Board with recommendations for several modifications, including spelling out requirements for height of wind turbines and many other items. It appeared the revised new law was headed in the same direction until Saddlemire's motion to recommend approval.
"It's a definite improvement over what they have now," Saddlemire said of the revision. A majority of County Planning Commission members ended up agreeing with her.
Town of Jefferson Planning Board members Richard Irwin and Bob Glas attended Monday night's county meeting to plead the case for the revised new law the two men said they and other town planning board members have been working very hard on.
"We have a set of regulations, we're trying to make them better," Irwin said.
Much of the discussion at the Feb. 3 meeting revolved around general opposition to large industrial wind turbines possibly coming to Jefferson or anywhere in Schoharie County, even though the proposed new Jefferson law _ if approved by the town board _ appears to pave the way for that possibility.
A company placed a test tower at a location in Jefferson quite awhile ago, an indication to many that a specific plan for a wind turbine facility is coming.
"We don't have a project before us," Irwin said at the Feb. 3 meeting.
Town of Blenheim Supervisor Donald Airey, who lives close to the Jefferson-Blenheim border, attended the Feb. 3 county meeting to speak against industrial wind turbines and request that the SCPC recommended disapproval of the revised Jefferson wind energy law.
"When industrial wind comes to a town, the outcry is predictable," Airey said. "Sadly, that is a well known pattern. Nobody wants to live within 1,000, 5,000 feet of an industrial wind turbine. I commend the Planning Board in Jefferson for working so hard on this. (But) this new law will work for a developer. It will not protect the residents who live nearby."
County Planning Commission member Rebecca Leggieri questioned Airey on what other options landowners had _ for example a farmer who can't make a go of farming _ for getting income from their land.
At one point, Airey said that even a solar facility would be preferable to industrial wind facilities, even though he has spoken against a large solar facility in Carlisle/Seward that appears to be close to getting a final permit from the state's Office of Renewable Energy Siting.
"Solar would have a lot less far reaching impacts," Airey said at the Feb. 3 meeting.
Earlier in the meeting, County Planning Commission member Ted Werner spoke about how he felt the revised new wind energy law went against the Town of Jefferson's comprehensive plan and how the industrial wind project he feels will be proposed will be a detriment.
"It will have serious negative effects on all the adjacencies," Werner said. "This is a selfish move and this law basically enables it."
Those attending the Feb. 3 meeting seemed to favor smaller, non-industrial wind energy set-ups.
"The way this law is written, you're opening the gates for large scale," County Planning Commission member Jim Buzon said. "I don't mind if two neighbors want to get together and put up a wind turbine and get their power off it."
Werner, Buzon and SCPC member Dolores Benedict voted against recommending approval of the new Jefferson Wind Energy Law.
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