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Supervisors to consider appeals of wind turbine, radio tower projects
Credit: Anne Ternus-Bellamy, The Davis Enterprise, www.davisenterprise.com 9 December 2011 ~~
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Translate: FROM English | TO English
The Yolo County Board of Supervisors will take up two contentious construction issues at its meeting Tuesday: Proposals for a radio tower near the county landfill and a wind turbine planned for the Cache Creek area.
The board will hear an appeal of the planning commission’s approval of a one-year extension to a previously approved use permit for a 356-foot-tall radio tower located near the Yolo County Central Landfill.
The Davis City Council last week unanimously voted to oppose Results Radio’s construction of the tower, which would be used by Davis stations KDVS, 90.3-FM, and KMJE, 101.5-FM.
The board of supervisors first approved the tower in September 2010, and then approved a one-year extension to the conditional use permit in October, but the decision to extend it was appealed by Eileen Samitz, a microbiologist at the UC Davis William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital.
The board will consider the appeal Tuesday.
According to a staff report that the Davis City Council approved at its meeting, the proposed tower would create a potential bird strike hazard due to its close proximity to wildlife habitat areas and bird migratory routes, and would decrease nighttime visual quality.
In addition to the radio-tower issue, the board of supervisors also will conduct a public hearing Tuesday on the wind turbine that CEMEX, an aggregate producer on Cache Creek, wants to place at its gravel mining plant near Madison along Interstate 505. The turbine would provide one megawatt of electricity to the gravel mining operation.
Critics say the 335-foot-tall turbine – with flashing lights for aviation – would be an eyesore in the area, not to mention noisy. Critics also worry about the birds and bats that could be killed by the turbine.
According to Zamora resident David Long, “the wind turbine has the potential to substantially degrade the existing visual character and quality of the scenic riparian area of Cache Creek and its surroundings.”
He likened the turbine’s placement ”in a riparian corridor that concentrates wildlife” to “putting a huge blender in the middle of one of our freeways.”
At Tuesday’s meeting, supervisors will hear an appeal by residents of the planning commission’s approval of the turbine and its finding that an environmental impact report is not needed.
The meeting begins at 9 a.m. in the board chambers, Room 206, at the County Administration Building, 625 Court St., Woodland.
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