February 27, 2018
Ohio

New Philadelphia council to take up wind turbine regulations

Jon Baker, TimesReporter.com staff writer | Feb 26, 2018 | www.timesreporter.com

NEW PHILADELPHIA The city is one step closer to instituting regulations on future construction of wind turbines in New Philadelphia.

Mayor Joel Day told city council Monday that the City Planning Commission approved regulations on turbines at its Feb. 13 meeting. The regulations would be written as a new chapter in the city’s codified ordinances. Zoning and Building Code Administrator Mike Scolati and Law Director Marvin Fete wrote the regulations.

“It would restrict the construction of any future wind turbines to just industrial areas in the city,” Day said following the meeting.

There would have to be noise studies and a number of other technical things that anyone wanting to build a turbine would have to meet to get a building permit, he said.

The action comes following the completion of a wind turbine at the Schoenbrunn Inn and Conference Center on W. High Avenue in December.

If the new regulations are approved, they would have no impact on the Schoenbrunn Inn turbine because it would be grandfathered in. But if any modifications were made, they would have to be approved by the city, the mayor said.

The issue will be taken up by council’s Zoning and Annexation Committee on March 12.

Day also told council that he and Fete have been working with Jennifer Syx of InSite Advisory Group to revise the Community Reinvestment Area tax abatement agreement with Menard’s, which will be building a store on Bluebell Drive.

The revisions reflect new employment figures and construction dates, the mayor said.

Menard’s will have 40 full-time permanent jobs and 80 part-time jobs as originally planned, but the hiring will occur within 24 months of completion of construction. The original agreement said the hiring would be within 12 months. Hiring will begin in January 2019.

Construction of the facility will begin in the second quarter of 2018 and be completed by the third quarter of 2019.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2018/02/27/new-philadelphia-council-to-take-up-wind-turbine-regulations/