August 12, 2012
New York

Wind law passes in town of Lyme

www.wwnytv.com 11 August 2012

“The proposal set backs are ridiculously restrictive,” said one town of Lyme resident – one of many to comment during a public hearing at the Three Mile Bay fire hall Saturday.

It was the Town of Lyme community’s last chance to speak to officials before a vote on a controversial wind law.

Residents on both sides of the issue had something to say:

“I’m tired of fighting the big corporations that get money from our government, your taxes, in order to put these things in place,” said Betty Lou Kishler.

“You decided to write your law to zone wind out of Lyme based on a survey that was improper and tainted by dishonesty,” said Julia Gosier.

After residents had their turn, it was town council’s turn to discuss it.

Eventually they voted to pass the law which restricting wind turbines to a half mile from roads, town lines, state parks, and wildlife areas. Turbines will also have to be two miles from Lake Ontario, the Chaumont Bay and Chaumont River.

Officials debated increasing proposed restrictions on noise levels for the turbines before voting, but decided against it after listening to resident’s concerns.

“This is the Land of Free Speech and I think people should have the right to at least express their opinion,” said Town of Lyme Supervisor Scott Aubertine.

The passage of this law marks the end of a five year process.

“I think the law is extremely stringent. I’m not so certain it will hold up under scrutiny as we move forward, but it does reflect the hard work of the planning board,” said Dan Villa, Lyme Town Council Member.

While officials were pleased to get the law onto the books, they say the battle over wind power is far from over.

“We the people of the Town of Lyme have spoken and if the state wants to come in and tell us otherwise, we’ll be glad to stand up to them,” Aubertine said.

Whether or not that happens remains to be seen, but officials here say they’ve done just about everything they can when it comes to regulating wind power.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/08/12/wind-law-passes-in-town-of-lyme/