Hillsborough officials introduce ordinance amendment for renewable energy source
HILLSBOROUGH — Municipal officials have introduced an amendment to an existing ordinance designed to allow the use of windmills to generate renewable power in environmentally safe ways in specific regions of the township.
The ordinance, approved in December 2007, permits small windmill systems to be developed on specified tracts of land — in the township’s agricultural, mountain and corporate development zones, as well as in the cultural landscape zone, which spans a portion of the Duke Estate — of at least 10 acres. The goal was to establish a renewable energy source for the township that would reduce greenhouse gases contributing to global warming.
The windmill systems need to be less than 100 kilowatts, a maximum of 100 feet high and placed away from property lines at a minimum distance of about one-and-a-half times the height of the windmill.
Now, the Township Committee is working to expand that ordinance to include vertical-axis wind turbine technology, also known as small wind energy systems. The vertical-axis wind machines are described as being smaller than normal windmills, having blades that run top to bottom. The most common type — a Darrieus wind turbine — appears to resemble two giant two-bladed egg beaters. The type of a vertical wind machine typically stands 100-feet tall and 50-feet wide.
The machines are small enough to stand on top of roofs and lighting posts, Township Planner Bob Ringelheim said. He also noted the machines do not attract migrating birds or are not used on towers exceeding more than 100 feet in height.
“By permitting these types of systems, we’ve put ourselves at the forefront of green possibilities,” Mayor Frank DelCore said.
The idea to amend the ordinance was launched following a presentation on the energy savings value of vertical-axis wind turbine windmills at the March 24 Township Committee meeting. Ringelheim, along with Business Advocate Gene Strupinsky and interested citizens then helped craft the proposed amendment for review by municipal officials.
“Reducing the carbon footprint is something we all hear about during environmental discussions,” DelCore told the public during Tuesday’s Township Committee meeting. “However, Hillsborough is working to actually make that a reality.”
The existing ordinance calls for anyone wanting to build the windmill to appear before the township’s Planning Board with photo simulations, showing how the systems would look on landscapes so the placement is viewed in the context of the entire view-shed — an area of land, water and other environmental elements that is visible from a fixed vantage point — to determine if it is compatible.
The proposed amendment to the ordinance is scheduled for a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. May 26 at the Municipal Building.
By Pamela Sroka-Holzmann
Staff Writer
1 May 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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