December 9, 2010
New York

New Hartford begins discussing wind farm regulations

By COURTNEY POTTS and ROBERT BRAUCHLE, Observer-Dispatch, www.uticaod.com 8 December 2010

NEW HARTFORD – The Town Board on Wednesday said it’s looking into regulations that would come into play if a developer were to propose constructing a wind farm in the town.

Town Board member Donald Backman said prior to the 6:30 p.m. meeting that the town’s zoning laws do not adequately regulate the use of wind turbines. At the meeting, he was selected to look further into the matter, Town Supervisor Patrick Tyksinski said.

“Basically we talked about, do we want to start looking at something to be proactive in this area?” Tyksinski said. “Councilman Backman actually is going to take the lead on that and try to look at some legislation in some of the other towns in New York state.”

Tyksinski said he expected Backman would have at least preliminary findings by the board’s next meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 22.

Zoning laws often regulate the distances turbines must be set back from neighboring properties and roads, the height of the turbines and the amount of noise emitted from the blades.

Tyksinski said the issue eventually will pass to the town’s Zoning Code Committee for further review.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2010/12/09/new-hartford-begins-discussing-wind-farm-regulations/