December 30, 2020
New York

IDA board reviews second PILOT application for Blue Stone Wind Farm Project

By Paul Beam | WICZ | Tuesday, December 29th 2020 | www.wicz.com

The IDA board is once again looking at a payment in lieu of taxes application for the Bluestone Wind Farm Project.

The project has had many protesters against it for the entirety of it’s inception, and this evening the IDA Board allowed the public to comment on the project as they look at a new PILOT(payment in lieu of taxes) application for the project.

The newest application reduced the 30 year pilot to 20 years.

Southern Tier locals for and against the project brought up the pros and cons of the wind farm proposed for the Windsor and Sanford area.
Issues like the environmental impact, the change in property value, and the potential jobs were all brought up.

Jason Garnar, Broome County Executive, commented during the public hearing “Right now the county is off 30 million dollars in revenue due to COVID… we are down 6 to 7 million dollars in sales tax and the state s withholding about 23 million dollars from us and we need every amount of revenue that we can get to fight this pandemic and build up our infrastructure…”

Anne Lawrence, Co-Chair Broome County Concerned Residents, said “it’s not a question on whether or not Broome County is open for business… I appreciate that there will be short jobs and I also appreciate that we need to find a solution to cover budget gaps… As a result of all the COVID disasters we have all suffered… But again this project is not a solution and to make it a COVID related issue is an emotional short term appeal that we should not fall for…”

The IDA board held a special meeting to vote on the application after the public hearing. The board voted 7-1 in favor of the new PILOT application.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2020/12/30/ida-board-reviews-second-pilot-application-for-blue-stone-wind-farm-project/