August 27, 2019
Ontario
Ontario
‘The buzz is killing you, all day long’: Melancthon family loses lawsuit against Dufferin Wind over power lines
By Alexandra Heck | Orangeville Banner | www.orangeville.com
By Alexandra Heck | Orangeville Banner | www.orangeville.com
A Melancthon family who claimed they were impacted by hydro lines alongside their property has lost their case with the Local Planning and Appeal Tribunal.
Frank and Fari Davoodian filed an appeal with the provincial body in 2017.
The couple purchased their 28-acre property in 1991, which runs alongside the old rail line, where Dufferin Wind Power Inc. later erected a power line.
The pair argued that the line reduced the value of their home by $275,000 and caused significant personal distress.
The Davoodians run R&P Farms, which formerly had a restaurant in Alliston and sold produce and honey.
They initially claimed that the company owed them $500,000 in damages because the power line resulted in business loss as well.
The Davoodian family reduced their claim during the hearings, stating that their home valuation was affected by the construction of the power line.
“What is left to be determined is whether the matter would be actionable but for the statutory authority of whether the damage resulted from the construction,” read the decision made by Blair Taylor.
“The buzz is killing you all day long,” said Frank Davoodian as he testified in the hearings that his wife had been driven away from the home because the hydro line and construction of it impacted her health.
He said there was a constant buzzing from the line and could see what he described as a “blue torch” coming from the line.
“There is buzzing all the time, all day long,” he said.
Taylor dismissed the claims about health impacts because there were no medical records as evidence. He dismissed the claims from Davoodian and his real estate appraiser, Ben Lansink, because their arguments were inconsistent. Davoodian focused on the buzz of the power lines, while his appraiser spoke of the visual obstruction of the poles.
The claim was dismissed entirely.