December 1, 2012
Ontario
Ontario
Turbines impact property values
Bayshore Broadcasting Corporation | November 29, 2012 | www.bayshorebroadcasting.ca
Bayshore Broadcasting Corporation | November 29, 2012 | www.bayshorebroadcasting.ca
(Huron East) – Appraisals expert Ben Lansink of London has told the Huron East Administrative Committee that rural residential property values fall when either turbines are erected, or transmission lines are cut through the landscape.
He was addressing the committee, which determines the agendas for regular meetings of Huron East Council on Tuesday.
Lansink has done two studies in Ontario townships where wind farms have located.
He says adjacent residential property values fall between 25 and almost 60 per cent.
The appraisals expert say the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) is technically correct in saying property values haven’t been affected by nearby turbines– its data is four years old.
Lansink says this is an issue that will get bigger when MPAC’s 2012 statistics comes on-line.
He says in the case of Melancton Township anyone who bought one of the adjacent homes had to sign a waiver.
The appraiser warned that one residence along the Bluewater Highway was rendered uninhabitable by dirty electricity leaking from the adjacent power-lines.
He says the property was sold at a loss to a conservative Mennonite family who will occupy it without a grid connection.
Lansink has testified in cases before the Supreme Court and his studies are two of only twenty in the world.
He says a study prepared for the Canadian Wind Energy Association has concluded there are no negative effects to rural residential valuations.
The expert warns that the presence of turbines will preclude other development, and these owners could then sue if they found their rights infringed.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/12/01/turbines-impact-property-values/