June 5, 2007
New York
New York
The Stamford Town Board adopted a local law to regulate commercial wind-energy facilities by a vote of 4-to-1 May 16, Supervisor Patrick Ryan said Monday.
Ryan said the vote was preceded by a presentation by Councilwoman Barbara Doyle, who voiced her concerns about industrial wind and called for a survey of residents.
Doyle was the only dissenting vote, Ryan said.
About 70 people attended the meeting, he said, and the crowd appeared to be about equally divided between pro-wind and anti-wind sentiments.
Ryan said the town board previously adopted a wind-energy law dealing with residential windmills.
In September, a wind-farm developer presented a plan to erect 34 turbines on the Moresville Range in Roxbury and Stamford, setting the desire for a local law in motion.
“The reason we enacted the law was because the town has no zoning and no comprehensive plan, so we were at the mercy of any wind-energy company,” Ryan said. “The law is an 18-page document that contains about 10 hoops that the wind companies are going to have to jump through.”
He said the purpose of the law is to regulate wind power but not to ban it.
Even if a wind-power company completed all of the requirements in the proposed local law, Ryan said, it would still have to complete the State Environmental Quality Review Act process.
As of Friday, he added, no applications to install a wind farm had been filed.
By Patricia Breakey
Delhi News Bureau
5 June 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/06/05/stamford-town-board-passes-law-to-regulate-possible-wind-farms/