WTC report presented to Hamlin board

WTC report presented to Hamlin board

The Hamlin Wind Tower Committee (WTC) came together at the July 30 Hamlin Town Board meeting and gave its recommendations to the town board.

Close to 90 people attended the meeting, Town Supervisor Dennis Roach said.

Concerned that pending state legislation pertaining to power plant siting (Article X) would preempt local control, the town board, at its July 9 meeting, asked the committee to complete its research and deliberation and present its findings at the July 30 meeting.

“The town board has been criticized for having to move up the deadline for the committee’s work, but based on the information we have in our hands, we have to do what’s best for the town and that is to get regulations in place,” Roach said.

The July 30 meeting was not a public hearing so the community’s comments were not invited.

Roach said that DeRue told the board the committee really didn’t have ample time to complete its research. “They presented us with an executive summary of their research,” he said. “We haven’t had time to digest the information contained in the report but it contained recommendations for most of the issues raised.”

Three members of the committee, Mark Reeves, Linda Morey and Stan Lyons, filed a minority report along with the committee’s report, Roach said. “The minority report outlines the areas in which the three who authored it are not in complete agreement with the other members of the committee,” he said.

Reeves said, “I’m disappointed that no one but Linda (DeRue) and her co-chair were allowed to speak at the meeting. The committee had objectives, we answered those but our group (Reeves, Morey and Lyons) had points that we disagreed on that were in the summary.”

The recommendations in the report concerned setbacks, number of towers, and Roach said at an initial look, the recommendations in the report were consistent with other towns’ regulations. “One of the biggest differences I saw was that the committee’s recommendations for set backs were more restrictive than most other communities in this situation,” he said. “The information the committee gave us is valuable and reflects the enormous amount of work it put into it.”

Set backs for wind towers across the state average 1,500 feet. The WTC recommended set backs of 2,600 to 4,000 feet.

“Bottom line, the town board should proceed with haste to develop regulations for wind towers that are in the best interests of the town,” Reeves said.

Roach said he charged the town board to come back to the August 13 meeting with a report and to be prepared to discuss the next steps. “There will be a series of public hearings before any changes are made,” he said. “This will not be a quick process - we are looking at two to three months before any decisions are made.”