July 14, 2015
New York

Town of Catlin bans windmills

By Matt Jarchow | Time Warner Cable News | Monday, July 13, 2015 | www.twcnews.com

CATLIN, N.Y. – The winds of Catlin are free to roam, still unharnessed by a Florida-based company’s proposed wind farm.

“There was no support within the town,” Catlin Supervisor LaVerne Phelps said of NextEra Energy’s proposal.

The Catlin town board has passed a new law essentially saying no to wind farms after years of changing directions.

“The local law is very restrictive,” Phelps said.

It regulates setbacks from property lines, sound from windmills, and compensation from a possible drop in property values. Residents weighed those worries against possible advantages of a wind farm.

“The landowners would have gotten some revenue,” Phelps said. “The wind-turbine company would pay the town company per year for the next 20 years.”

Town officials said no resident came forward for the wind farms, and the town reversed a law supporting them.

“The people didn’t want the windmills, said they would rather pay more taxes than have the windmills,” Phelps said.

While the new law does make it difficult for a wind farm to come to Catlin, town officials said it does not make it impossible. An energy company can still file a petition with the state, who could rule that law is too restrictive and grant an exemption.

NextEra officials said the company hasn’t looked at Catlin’s new law. Officials said they need to do so and evaluate the market for wind power before making a decision on what to do next.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/07/14/town-of-catlin-bans-windmills/