Turbine maker to meet Glenmore board 

A Suamico developer will take his request for seven wind turbines to the Glenmore Town Board on Tuesday.

The town plan commission gave Tom Mattson of Prelude, LLC, the preliminary go-ahead on April 17 for five of the seven turbines he wants to erect on land in Glenmore.

The commission didn’t approve two of the seven turbines because another wind-energy company – Emerging Energies/Shirley Wind LLC of Hubertus – said the proposed locations of the two posed potential conflicts with some of the eight turbines they plan on building on land in Glenmore.

Mattson went before the plan commission twice because the first time, commission members found the maps and details he provided about the turbines unclear. As of Friday, he had not provided new maps to the town, according to Town Clerk Lana Ossmann.

The matter has been a hot one for Glenmore. Some residents have expressed concerns about decreasing property values, stray voltage affecting children and animals, noise pollution, liability and what would happen if either of the wind energy companies went belly-up and left the turbines standing. To alleviate some of those fears, Emerging Energies volunteered a $20,000-per-turbine security deposit for removal of the turbines, should they fail to perform to the expected standards.

Emerging Energies played a key role in the formation of the wind-energy systems ordinance. Principal Bill Rakocy said he and his partners, who have engineering and marketing backgrounds, attended town meetings for more than six months before Glenmore adopted the ordinance in December 2006.

By Lee Reinsch

Green Bay Press Gazette

Issue recap

Glenmore’s been busy the last few months. Here’s a recap:

# On Feb. 26, resident Jeff Jens submitted a petition to the plan commission signed by more than 100 residents asking for a three-month delay while an environmental impact and health study can be done.

# On March 12, the plan commission tabled Prelude’s first request for seven turbines, asking for clearer details.

# On March 26, the Glenmore Town Board green-lighted a 30-year permit for Emerging Energies to build eight wind turbines on land owned by four families.

# On April 2, the town enacted a six-month moratorium on new wind energy systems to give the town a chance to rework its ordinance and to study health and safety issues related to wind turbines. The moratorium stated that only “projects approved by the Town Board prior to inception of this ordinance” may proceed.

# On April 17, the plan commission gave the green light to five of Prelude’s seven proposed turbines.

# On May 7 , the board changed the wording of the moratorium to include “applications received but not currently approved,” which means Prelude, which had its application in to the plan commission but not the Town Board before the moratorium was enacted, is unaffected by the moratorium.

# Also on May 7, the three-member board unanimously approved a five-year renewal for two wind turbines operated by Wisconsin Public Service.

# On June 5, the town will hold a public hearing to make adjustments to its wind-energy ordinance.

greenbaypressgazette.com

21 May 2007