Lower Township rescinds windmill law
LOWER TOWNSHIP – Stiff northwest winds come across the Delaware Bay all winter and hammer the Villas, where homeowners with windmills have been taking advantage of the free natural resource.
But Township Council this week decided to rescind a 1981 ordinance that made it easy to erect a windmill and plans to draft a new law with more regulations.
Residents are warning council not to make those regulations burdensome or costly.
“The common person won’t be able to afford it,” said Debbie Johns, of Woodland Avenue.
The 1981 ordinance allowed residents to erect windmills after getting a simple permit, and Johns warned council not to force residents to go through the building boards and pay the thousands of dollars in fees that usually entails. This is money spent with no guarantee of approval.
With all the rebates that are offered, a residential-style windmill is within range for blue-collar workers here, especially because of those winter winds.
“My electric meter goes backwards,” said Robert Kaeser, who recently installed a windmill at his Beachwood Avenue home.
Robert Olivio, who constructed one on his Woodland Avenue property and now markets them, said the location is ideal.
“Windmills are like real estate. It’s location, location, location. Lower Township is uniquely located to take advantage of winter winds which come across the bay,” said Olivio.
Johns, who is Olivio’s neighbor, said the windmill is not noisy and is aesthetically pleasing.
Joe Crecca, of JBS Solar and Wind in North Cape May, cautioned council not to take a step backward. Crecca was the dealer who was going to install a 116-foot windmill on Bayshore Road that would have dwarfed Olivio’s 45-foot tower. The project, which was withdrawn after neighbors complained, led council to rescind the 1981 ordinance at a meeting Monday night.
“This was a commercial property, not a residential one. The fall zone accommodated a situation where it fell. There was a lot of misinformation about this,” Crecca said.
Olivio noted that the law in place worked. The 1981 ordinance limited windmills to a height of 75 feet, and that is why Crecca’s job required a variance and a review.
“I still think it works to accommodate most of the residents and most of the properties in Lower Township,” Olivio said.
While some proponents of wind energy worried that council won’t even propose a new ordinance, council members said it will be done and done quickly. Councilman Tom Conrad said the Lower Township Planning Board will review possible ordinances first. Councilman Wayne Mazurek said a windmill ordinance should be ready for a vote in February.
“We’re not burying this by any stretch of the imagination,” Mazurek said.
Some residents thinking about constructing windmills came to the meeting to get information. They did not want to make a big investment until council decides the rules.
The township has been a southern New Jersey leader in windmills. A 20-killowatt windmill operating at Schellenger’s Landing is one of the oldest in the state. Olivio has 15 people in Lower Township and Middle Township in various stages of putting up windmills.
“It is unfortunate when misinformed constituents reign supreme over what has become commonplace in most industrialized countries, that is, the benefit of renewable energy,” wrote Crecca in an e-mail to The Press of Atlantic City.
By Richard Degener
Staff Writer
5 December 2008
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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