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Home wind turbine has Vancouver neighbourhood upset
Credit: CBC News, www.cbc.ca 14 June 2012 ~~
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A plan to build a small private wind turbine behind a home in an upscale Vancouver residential area is being touted as a green innovation, but the idea just blows as far as some neighbours are concerned.
The home, currently under construction in the 3400-block of West 22nd Avenue, will have rooftop solar panels, while a ten-metre wind turbine is to be built beside the garage at the back of the property.
But neighbours Bruce and Gale Arnold and others say they’re going to fight against the construction.
“Looking east from our back window, you look straight at it,” Bruce Arnold said. “It will be right in the line of sight from our back window.”
Potential noise from the spinning turbine is also a concern.
“They keep saying it’s going to be below the ambient level, but they don’t know what noise it’s going to make.”
Gale Arnold said they’ve done research and found that a wind turbine should be built on at least one acre of land and hundreds of metres from any neighbour’s home.
Debbie Johnson said she lives right next door and she’s also unhappy.
“It’s 30 feet high,” Johnson said. “It’s a contraption. It looks ridiculous. You have to look at it, you have to hear it.”
Reaction surprises builder
It’s the first time a wind turbine has been proposed for a residential backyard in Vancouver, according to Jason Hammond, who is managing the homebuilding project for Odenza Homes.
Hammond said he’s tried to explain the concept to the nearby residents.
“I was actually quite surprised with the amount, the intensity of the negativity that we received from the neighbours,” Hammond said
Hammond said the turbine is a great green idea that will help a homeowner become more energy efficient.
Unconvinced, Johnson said she and the Arnolds are recruiting as many neighbours as they can to write letters to city hall opposing the turbine.
“It’s the craziest thing that has ever been proposed here,” she said.
With files from the CBC’s Terry Donnelly
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