January 7, 2008
New York

Burke puts 90-day hold on new wind law

More than 120 people squeezed in to the Burke Town hall Thursday night to air their opinions about the town of Burke’s draft of the proposed wind law, and attorney CJ Madonna proposed a moratorium on the proposed wind law as a stop-gap measure in case of any changes.

The town council voted unanimously to place the 90-day moratorium. Town councilman Jim Otis made the motion and David Vincent seconded it.

Extra chairs were brought out to accommodate, but people were still standing along the back wall when the meeting came to order. The public was then allowed to present 3-minute-long comments, starting with Burke residents and moving on to out-of-towners.

Some residents were in favor of the wind turbines. For instance, Bill Wood said property taxes in Churubusco had been reduced 32 percent and then another 10 percent recently due to the. wind turbines.

“Like it or not, you will all benefit from a stabilized tax rate,” Wood said.

Martin Vincent, who works for Noble Power, pointed to the jobs created
by the wind turbines.

“It’s great to have a job here 10 miles from home,” Vincent said.

Others were strongly opposed to the wind turbines. Calvin Martin of Malone read a letter from Ken Tacy’s attorney Cathi L. Radner of Miller, Mannix, Schachner and Hafner, LLC of Glens Falls. It asked that members of the board with an alleged conflict of interest in the law governing wind power recuse themselves from the voting process.

Radner said that David Vincent would allegedly receive easements from Noble Power, and Arnold Lobdell would allegedly receive easements from Jericho Rise Wind Farm.

Then Radner requested that Vincent and Lobdell as well as any conflicted memhers of the zoning board abstain from any further votes concerning the wind energy

Malone town councilman Jack Sullivan read a statement from the Malone town board requesting that no wind turbines be sited within a mile of any Malone resident.

Josh Jock
jdjock@mtelegram.com

Malone Telegram
Jan. 4, 2008


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/01/07/burke-puts-90-day-hold-on-new-wind-law/