December 19, 2006
New York

Beekmantown considers moratorium extension

The town may also consider an extension of the one-year moratorium on all wind projects.

“This is a very complex issue,” said Michael Morales of the Beekmantown Wind Advisory Committee. “Based on the discussion that has taken place, (town Councilman) Jim Garden thought that I should give you guys a heads up.”

Garden, who died Dec. 6, had been a liaison between the committee and Town Council. The moratorium – passed to halt projects until a law can be written – ends March 27.

“Some of the committee members have said they’d like to see the moratorium extended a few months,” Morales said.

They have been working on a comprehensive plan since the inception of the committee; one portion of that was examining other municipality wind regulations.

“We’ve seen other towns have rushed into this,” Morales continued.

He said the committee would like an attorney to look over the law and have it examined by Town Council members. This process would likely take more than three months, he noted.

“I would find it hard to believe that we could put together an adequate local law by March 27,” Relation said.

Any time that passes after the moratorium term ends would put the town in the same position it was in earlier this year, Relation said, when WindHorse Power LLC made its proposal for a wind-turbine facility.

To protect against this, the town has to draft a moratorium extension with help from its attorney.

(excerpt)

By Lucas Blaise
Contributing Writer

pressrepublican.com


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2006/12/19/beekmantown-considers-moratorium-extension/