Please take a minute to help keep us online.
To preserve our independence, we are not funded by any political or industry groups, and we do not host ads. Wind Watch relies entirely on user donations, every penny of which goes directly to keeping the web site running.
Stripe:  |
PayPal/Venmo:  |
Powerful ally: Wind opponents hail election of local activist as head of real estate board
Credit: By Heather Wright | www.sarniathisweek.com 13 August 2012 ~~
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
For months, Grand Bend Realtor Doug Pedlar has been voicing concerns about property values near industrial wind turbines. Now, he has a larger podium to speak from.
Pedlar, who researched just how much homeowners lose when wind farms set up shop next door (about 30 per cent) is now the president-elect of the London/St. Thomas Real Estate Board. One of his first tasks was an eight-minute YouTube video about wind turbines and property values.
Pedlar says the London/ St Thomas board has been very worried about the issue, even pressing the provincial real estate association to speak to the province about the matter. “We’re quietly working away at this,” he says.
But the volume is going up. The YouTube video had 500 hits in the first weekend and other real estate boards are posting the information session on their website. And Pedlar is pleased.
“The unfortunate thing about it is people are just not aware of what is going on,” he says. “If you don’t see them, if they’re not in your face, you don’t know.
“The thing that I’m really afraid of is not just the property values but the perception of going to an area filled with turbines,” says Pedlar, fearing people will discount living in rural areas because of the turbines. “I drive through Chatham-Kent (the municipality with 300 turbines either built or on the books) and I get a sick feeling…it is not the most pleasant thing in the world.”
Pedlar plans to continue talking about the damage industrial wind development can cause. “I’ve done my presentation 15 times, I don’t think I’m going to give up now.”
That pleases Dave Griffiths, the spokesman for Bluewater Against Turbines. “We’ve had so many people saying it is not going to affect property values at all and now we have a large group saying, ‘Oh yes it does!’” says Griffiths saying it is especially powerful coming from a larger urban area.
“The more people we have on the bandwagon the better.”
This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.
The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.
| Wind Watch relies entirely on User Contributions |
(via Stripe) |
(via Paypal) |
Share:
[ Short URL: https://wind-watch.org/news/?p=26904 ]
