January 31, 2007
Wisconsin
Wisconsin
The town Planning Commission gave its OK to a Milwaukee-area company’s request for a conditional use permit to build an eight-turbine wind farm.
Shirley Wind LLC of Hubertus, a division of Emerging Energies, wants to build eight 492-foot-tall turbines on several parcels of property owned by four families in Glenmore.
The sites on land owned by Mark Mathies, 5982 Fairview Road; Dan Mathies, 4157 Shirley Road; Dan and Tina Zeamer, 3384 School Road; Rodney and Sue Leiterman, 4611 Shirley Road; and several parcels on Glenmore Road.
Each landowner requested permission for two turbines on their property.
Shirley Wind would give more than $2.1 million to Brown County, Glenmore and homeowners within one mile of the project over the 30-year tenure of the project. The homeowners – about four or so – would stand to receive a total of $900,000 combined over 30 years, distributed equally as a “good neighbor gesture,” said representatives of Shirley Wind.
But those who live nearby but not within a mile stand little to gain and everything to lose, said resident Jeffrey Jens of 6187 Dickinson Road.
“I’m sick of them shoving this down our throat,” he said, adding that he intends to voice his discontent at the Feb. 26 public hearing. Jens was among a group of residents who said they felt their property values would plummet.
In February 1998, two 600-kilowatt turbines were built on a farm on Shirley Road, a quarter-mile east of Morrison Road in Glenmore, at an installation cost of $2.1 million. The experimental, two-turbine project was intended to provide enough clean, renewable electricity to serve about 450 average Wisconsin homes a year.
At least one of the turbines has been out of order for several months, residents said.
Jens said that contrary to Shirley Wind representatives’ claims that the 24-kilowatt project would produce less sound than an average conversation, the two turbines in Glenmore are noisy.
“It’s not nice to have to open your door and hear that all of the time,” he said.
The matter will go to the Town Board for final decision on March 5.
By Lee Reinsch
lreinsch@greenbaypressgazette.com
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/01/31/glenmore-wind-power-plan-advances/