Washington Township puts limits on wind turbines; Law targets height, location and number per property
Washington Township, Lehigh County, officials see wind power as a potentially clean and affordable source of energy.
They also worry that it could be ugly and unneighborly.
Earlier this week, township supervisors voted to limit where residents can set up wind turbines on their properties and restricted their height. The new ordinance also limits turbines to one per property, and requires the energy from them to be used only by the owner, although excess power can be sold back to PPL Electric Utilities.
With the board’s vote Tuesday, Washington Township joined several other Lehigh Valley communities seeking to control how wind turbines and other clean energy gadgets are set up on properties. Penn Forest Township in Carbon County adopted an ordinance in November 2007. Residents in Longswamp Township met Tuesday to urge their planning commission to ease restrictions on windmills.
Washington Township Supervisor Abe Ahner said he worried that wind power might become a hot fad, making the giant fans ubiquitous. Then, in a few years, they might be abandoned for another energy source.
”With the energy crisis we’re having today, people are jumping the gun and are willing to try anything,” he said. ”We need to control it.”
Tuesday’s meeting drew more than 25 people, including Troy Markell, who hopes to build a small wind turbine on his property. He said he thinks his turbine would be small and practically unnoticeable.
”It looks just like a flagpole with a fan on top,” he said.
But Ahner envisions something much more imposing.
”You guys ever been out to California and Texas and see these? They’re horrible looking,” he said.
Turbine dealer Mark Kohn said he thought Washington Township’s regulations ”really limited people.”
Residents argue that their private wind turbines are much smaller than the two- and three-story turbines that are designed to power whole communities. They also say they agree with several of Washington Township’s regulations, including one that limits the height of turbines, so that, if they fell, they would not land outside the property line. The township also requires turbines to be painted a neutral color such as white or gray, and have no lights other than those that might be required to warn planes. They also must have voltage warnings and not interfere with radio waves.
The biggest sticking point in the ordinance for many residents, including Markell, is the township’s requirement that the turbines only be located in backyards. Some say their backyards are not suitable for turbines, because of trees or light winds. They want the right to build the turbines in their side yards as well.
Supervisor Joshua Friebolin said he might be willing to rewrite the law to allow for side yard turbines. For now, though, residents would have to apply for a permit.
By Andrew C. Martel | Of The Morning Call
5 September 2008
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