Livingston Co. holds hearing on wind farm turbines
FLANAGAN—Wind farm developers made their case for developing a new project in Livingston County on Monday night as hearings for the Minonk Wind Farm began.
About 50 people came to Flanagan Community School to hear a presentation from Gamesa, a Spanish wind farm developer seeking to develop a 100-turbine project in Woodford and Livingston counties.
A total of 25 turbines will be built in western Livingston County. The hearing Monday was for the Livingston County Zoning Board of Appeals to learn about the project in order to form a recommendation for a special use permit.
No action was taken Monday night. The hearing is scheduled to continue today at the Flanagan school, 202 E. Falcon Highway, at 6:30 p.m. The hearing will pick up as county officials will question Gamesa, followed by members of the public, along with testimony.
The zoning board will then take all of the information and consider making a recommendation to the County Board. Once a recommendation has been made, it will be forwarded to the Livingston County Board for a final vote.
The project was originally being developed by Navitas Energy, based out of Minneapolis; however, Gamesa recently acquired that company.
Several officials testified that the project will bring 100 to 150 temporary construction jobs along with eight to 12 full-time jobs. It will also pay about $469,000 in county property taxes each year.
Officials also said that the project would not be detrimental to local animal life, meets regulations from the Federal Aviation Administration, does not affect property values, complies with state noise guidelines and are safe in during periods of maintenance.
“These things are designed to be safe and secure,” said Tim Vought with Gamesa.
Another who testified was Elmer Rhoads, of Steward, who is a farmer and has been living around wind turbines for a number of years. He said that they have been proven to be beneficial.
“The wife and I thought about what this could do for the community and what it could do for the country,” he said. “So we decided to do it.”
By Tony Sapochetti
Pantagraph
24 November 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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