December 1, 2006
New York

CV extends moratorium

The Cherry Valley town board last week voted to extend a moratorium on development for 45 days.

The moratorium, which had expired the week before, was adopted to give the town a chance to put in place a local wind ordinance before Reunion Power submits its site plan application for its East Hill Wind Farm.

The board conducted a public hearing on the extension in which all the comment was in favor, according to town supervisor Tom Garretson.

The extension will keep the moratorium in place until Jan. 5, 2007, said Garretson.

On Monday night, the board conducted another public hearing, this one on changes to the local law that would create the wind ordinance.

The changes to the local law were suggested by the town attorney Lynn Green. Those changes, Garretson said, were primarily an effort to clean up the language of the law.

Comment during the hearing was limited to the changes in the law.

Garretson said the earliest there would be a vote on the local wind ordinance would be the town board’s meeting Dec. 14.

Reunion Power’s project manager David Little has said in the past the noise standards and setbacks contained in the ordinance are prohibitively restrictive and would kill the project. [an error occurred while processing this directive]

In the meantime, Reunion Power planned to hold an open house Wednesday to discuss benefits that Cherry Valley may receive if its proposed 24-turbine wind farm is built on East Hill.

Previously, Reunion proposed reducing people’s electric bills by 25 percent if the project is ultimately approved. Representatives from NYSEG Solutions will be at the open house to discuss the electricity discount program.

Other benefits for town and county residents, including a proposed payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement, will be discussed, Trieste said.

Reunion also has launched a program to pay $2,000 a year to the neighbors of parcels where wind turbines would be sited, an initiative that was praised Monday by project opponent Nicholas Pressly.

“I think this is a good compromise by the company,” said Pressly, a member of the Cherry Valley Advocates.

If the town adopts a wind ordinance that protects the community and Reunion is able to reach agreement with people who would live near the turbines, as well as landowners who will have turbines on their property, Pressly said, then his objections to the project would be minimized.

Cooperstown Crier Staff Report

coopercrier.com


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2006/12/01/cv-extends-moratorium/