Better Plan, Wisconsin

The wind developer in our area is developing projects in different parts of our state and also in Illinois. The representative of the company, Curt Bjurlin, seems to care less that our local government wants to have a say about what happens in our community. He seems to care less that residents would like safe setbacks which protect our health and safety, our property values and peaceful nights. Our community asks for a set back of 2640 feet instead of the 1000 feet his company wants. Because of this, he and his company plan to override the wishes of the local residents and government and go to the PSC. He and his company believe they have what it takes to take what we have. Do they?

Please attend a critical public hearing on July 3rd, 7:00 PM at the Magnolia Town Hall, (county road A, west of 213) where the town board will be voting on an ordinance that will give us safe setbacks. Mr. Bjurlin has attended several of these meetings and perhaps he will be there on Thursday to let us know why he believes his corporation should have say over the people who live here. He, of course, doesn't live in our community. Nor does he live in Calumet County where the company he represents is trying to do the same thing. In fact, our guess is he doesn't live in any of the communities that will be affected by his company's style of wind development against local people's wishes.

The following article appeared in Milwaukee's "Daily Reporter"-- (click here to read it at its source) 

Even though EcoEnergy Engineering LLC may not have to abide by a Magnolia Township ordinance on wind-farm development, town officials are determined to speak up on behalf of their residents.

And they have a lot to say.

EcoEnergy wants to build a 100-megawatt project that could cover anywhere from 7,000 to 8,000 acres, but the town's Planning and Zoning Committee just passed an ordinance requiring a half-mile setback distance from homes and businesses. The ordinance will go before the Town Board July 3.

"In an ideal scenario, you want strong and broad support from the local community," said Curt Bjurlin, Wisconsin project developer for the Elgin, Ill.-based company. "We still want to hear everything they have to say."

Since the Magnolia project looks to break the 100-megawatt mark, the Public Service Commission, not the town, will make the final call on the project.

"Maybe we're doing (this ordinance) in vain," said Town Chairwoman Fern McCoy. "But I think wind farms should be regulated in accordance with health and safety, and we would like to see developers follow our rules."

McCoy said the ordinance is a direct result of EcoEnergy proposing a wind farm in the area.

Trempealeau County last year set a one-mile setback distance from homes, schools and businesses. Developers argued that left them with no available space. And while a bill was pushed through the Legislature earlier this year to give the state final say in setback distances and location of wind farms, that legislation never made it to the governor's desk.

"Wisconsin is a difficult state to site wind turbines in," Bjurlin said. "I think it has a long way to go before it will be where Illinois or Iowa is, and that has a lot to do with getting state and local governments to be able to work together."

Difficult though it may be, Bjurlin said it doesn't deter developers from looking at Wisconsin.

"We're slated to become the world leader in wind energy production by the end of this year," he said. "But we still have a long way to go. The federal goal now is to get 20 percent of our energy produced by wind by 2030.

"Wisconsin is going to be key to that."

That's fine, said Town Supervisor David Olsen, but it doesn't mean people want to see turbines just anywhere.

"I have a feeling people don't want to be 1,000 feet from a 400- foot structure that moves," he said. "The whole issue is just finding open areas where there is no development."

Olsen said the ordinance the town has now stipulates residents and neighbors can agree to shorter setback distances. But in the wind-friendly parts of the state, Bjurlin said a lot of open, undeveloped space is difficult to come by.

"And half-mile setbacks aren't going to help things," he said. "We'd probably have to look at state legislation that takes a whole new look at how to site turbines."

McCoy said if the town works to keep turbines from coming too close to people's homes and the PSC reverses that call, he will be glad the town advocated for its residents instead of giving in to wind developers.

"We live in the community," he said. "We understand. We answer the phone calls when something is wrong. Does the PSC or the state help someone out right away if something's wrong?"

It's not just the turbines: Photos of wind farm substation being built in Fond Du Lac County, Summer of 2007

Wind farms bring with them an unexpected industrial landscape.

Farmer's fields see a lot of damage from big machinery

Did this farmer know what he was getting into?

Most of these contracts are good for 30 to 40 years. Would you sign one?

Did this farmer know they'd be cutting trenches diagonally across his field?

 Did he know they would put turbine access roads where ever they liked? The contract lets them do this. Did the farmer read the contract?

From sworn public testimony given at the Tazewell County (Illinois) Zoning Board of Appeals Hearing, May 1, 2008 by Michael McCann, a licensed real estate appraiser.

(Download the entire transcript of the of Mr. McCanns testimony by clicking here)

Q: Are you licensed to practice in Illinois?

[Mr. McCann] A: I'm a licensed appraiser, certified general real estate appraiser, which is the highest of the three levels of licensing of the State of Illinois

Q: How long have you been working as an appraiser?

A: For 28 years with experience appraising virtually all types of residential and commercial property.

(Mr. Mc Cann  goes on to describe the types of properties he's worked on over the course of his career-- they include residential, commercial, industrial, farm, and many other types of property along with the types of clients who have hired him including law firms, government bodies, lenders, private individuals.)

Q: Have you ever been asked to evaluate the affects of a perceived negative trait upon the value of residential real estate plots?

A. Yes, I have.

Q: In what circumstances?

(Mr. McCann goes on to describe different circumstances he's evaluated)

Q: How about the effect of wind turbines or a wind turbine facility?

A: I have had a few occasions to evaluate wind turbines, yes.

Q: An you were asked in this case to evaluate the potential effect of the Rail Splitter Wind Farm on residential property in Tazewell County, correct?

A: That's correct.

Q: What methodology did you follow in arriving at your conclusions?

A. Well, I used the methodology that was best suited to the information that is available, since this is still a relatively new land use in Illinois. But again. with review of the proposed Rail Splitter Wind Farm Project, you know, including you know, the location of the project overall, the number of turbines, the height of the structures, and the orientation with respect to the nearest homes. So I also inspected the project area, reviewed the project map, and again the proposed turbine locations. I also made a curb site inspection of each of the objector homes that I'm aware of that have been -- have been retained by your firm.
       And beyond that I reviewed MLS listings and sales data for homes in Lee County for properties within or immediately adjacent to Mendota Hills, an existing wind farm which is a smaller, I should say not as tall of towers or structures or turbines as what's proposed here.
       I also researched the final conclusions of a prior case study property that had been on the market for a very extensive period of time. The last time I looked at one of these proposed facilities and found the ultimate conclusion of how that property was in fat impacted by being basically surrounded by these turbine facilities.
      Beyond that, I also made a literature review including the REPP report, which I believe has been referenced in this hearing prior to me being here, as well as reports contained in appendixes eight and nine to the application. And then I incorporated the market trends that exist for residential properties adjacent to these facilities into a probable value impact on homes in the Rail Splitter Project.

(Mr. McCann goes on to explain the methodology he used, and Illinois law concerning appraisers and the standards they must uphold)

Q: What are those standards?

A: An appropriate methodology has to be used, and the methodology has to fit with what is available in the market. Sometimes current sales analysis is used if it's available, and sometimes in like a case like this, trying to find the effect of the use in question, wind farms on property values, just studying the actual property value trends in close proximity to such a facility versus further removed plots that have no such impact or that would be so minimal as to be immeasurable, you know, several miles out from such a project.

Q: And you've reviewed Horizon Wind Energy's [wind developer] application for Special  Use permit in this case?

A: I have, yes.

Q: Page 22 of the application refers to property values, have you reviewed this section of the report?

A: Yes, I have.

Q: And the section also refers to appendixes eight and nine in the application, right, you mentioned those before?

A: Yes, I did.

Q: In the REPP report, is that right?

A: Yes.

Q: What is the REPP report?

A: Well, the REPP report is essentially an industry publication-- as opposed to something made by an appraisal firm or an objective third party. As I've learned in the past, it is essentially a study that was done at the behest of  and financed by the wind power industry.
     What it purports to show is an encompassing study of plot values in wind farm locations, for example, in the I-10 corridor near Palm Springs, California, LaQuinta. I have actually visited that particular location and found that what the REPP report is purporting is  highly inaccurate really because it was describing 25 thousand plot sales that had been reviewed, many of which were in that area and -- well, it's purporting to value for the effect of a wind farm, or really multiple wind farms, on residential property values.
     Even in that study it recognizes that 70 or 72 percent of the properties aren't even within a view shed of these wind farm facilities.
    My personal visit out in the area revealed that it's a very rural and desolate area. The more I saw other than--- and at that I-10 corridor, other than a variety of different generations of wind farm and turbine facilities, some smaller, some larger, some old and rusty and out of commission, and some fairly modern ones, was that there was not a single residence in sight anywhere along that corridor.
    In fact, I had family that has a property in the Palms Springs area and that's why I had the occasion to visit that particular corridor and I found it to be an inappropriate location unless you are trying to value for the impact of wind farms on grazing land.

Q: Does the REPP report review or include any properties located in the State of Illinois?

A: It does not.

Q: You have mentioned the word 'view shed'-- the Board probably already knows, but explain that to us.

A: It means different things to different people, but the way I use the term, if you are in close enough proximity that it actually impacts your view as opposed to being such a great distance that it can merely be seen from a great distance. I use view shed in a more confined use of the term. Properties in this case that are in the view shed are certainly located within the project footprint, covering quite a few sections, I believe nine different sections in Tazewell County, as well as properties in close enough proximity, say within three/quarters of a mile to a mile that-- it's a daily occurrence as opposed to being on the other side of 39 when you're looking at Mendota Hills.
    And you know, there is some locations that these windfarms can be viewed from as much as five miles away, and in one of the other appendixes there are two different locations cited that the wind farms in Texas and elsewhere can be seen from as far as eight or 24 miles away. While that is certainly visible, I wouldn't really call that view shed in the sense that it has any potential for impact on property values.

Q: Do you think that the REPP-- do you have an opinion as to whether or not the REPP report is in any way relevant to the effects of wind farms in Illinois?

A: I do.

Q: And what is your opinion?

A: It's irrelevant.

Q: And why is that?

A: Well, it again draws on locations which are outside of Illinois, it does not reflect the local market or even a comparable market. It reflects Palm Springs property values at a point in time when values were spiking, you know, to six hundred thousand, million and a half, multi-million dollar properties. far different than what we find along Litwiller Road or Boynton Road in Tazewell.
       These are not rural residential properties, these are estates, in most cases with walled little communities, and each house, for that matter most of them, have at least six foot and in some cases eight foot walls around the houses.
      It again uses data that does not have the potential to reflect any impact on the property values as a result of wind farms because of the lack of view and lack of proximity.

(Mr. McCann and Mr. Spanos continue to discuss the wind industry's REPP report on property values and other studies including studies since 2006)

Q: Do we have any more information today than what was available in 2006 with regard to property values and the effects of wind farms?

A: Yes, we do. It's still an area that needs considerable study and really should be funded to be done in a very objective and empirical manner, but it might take some time because, frankly, a lot of the polls immediately adjacent to these facilities [wind farms] just don't sell, they get pulled off the market, or an example we are going to go through in a few minutes, sits on the market for nearly three years prior to selling at a discounted price,

Q: Now, you mentioned before that this is isn't your first wind farm that you have been involved with, correct?

A: That's correct.

Q: When you first were asked to do a property value study with respect to a wind farm, what kind of information was available at the time?

A: Well, really just literature and information like this REPP report.

Q: was there much in the way of sales of there that you could look at and compare?

A: There really wasn't much. There were some sales that occurred before or during the planing stages of wind farm facilities, but the ones that are most relevant really reflect what property value trends are once the project is constructed, not when it's merely proposed or there is an application pending, such as this matter.

Q> Is there more information available today?

A: Yes.

Q: And why is that?

A. Well, passage of time, and it ash, the market is starting to catch up with the actual impact of these facilities.

Q: And specifically, are you referring to any wind project?

A: I am referring to the Mendota Hills project in Lee County.

Q: Is that one of the older wind projects here in Illinois?

A: Yes, it is.

Q: SO it makes sense that over time you would have a little more data there since they have been there a little bit longer: is that right?

A: Yes, that's correct.

Q: Have you reviewed any other studies with respect to wind to wind farm effects on property values that have haven't talked about?
 A: Well, I have reviewed a, in the past some information about an assessor's sale ration study in Wisconsin.

Q: What did the study show?

A: Well, it showed property sales were, actually adjacent to an existing wind farm there, were a significant percentage lower, 15 to 20 percent lower, if I remember correctly, or maybe as high as 27 percent in closer proximity to what the baseline or assessed values were, as differentiated  from the other properties in that country that were selling at much closer to, you know, a 1.0 factor to the assessment  ratio..
    
Q: Doesn't the public's perception of a negative trait or a perceived negative trait with respect to something like a wind farm have an effect on property values?

A: Well, it certainly can, if it's a perception that sticks or if there is an aversion to selling-- or excuse me--- buying properties based on unknowns and fears and lack of guarantees and so forth, when it's an unknown quality, there is fear, and those kids of perceptions can certainly be a factor in the buy?sell decision.

Q. You have heard some testimony and talk today about health issues, environmental issues, et cetera, are those the type of issues that can have a negative effect on property values?

A:To the extent the people react to them by selling out lower or not buying at all of holding out for a discounted price, yes, it certainly can be a factor.

Q: In your research have you found that there is a significant portion of the general public that has a general negative perception of wind farms or property around wind farms?

A: Not jut in my research, but also in the research cited in appendixes eight and nine. There is a variety of studies referenced in those tow appendixes that cite various surveys of communities and assessor's offices, and so forth , and there are several references to peoples perceptions along that line, yes.

Q: All right, let's talk about the appraisal that you did.
There is a map of the properties and wind turbines, did you go out and look at any of these properties?

A: I went out and looked at all of them, up and down all the roads in the immediate area, and specifically stopped and looked at each of the properties that are your clients.

Q: What was the next step then in your appraisal?

A: Well, do you want me to go through the m real quick?
 [Mr. McCann shows slides of the properties and gives brief descriptions of each]

Q: Let me ask you a question about this picture. Does this depict where a wind turbine will be as part of the plan, or according to the plan a wind turbine is going to be placed somewhere in this picture?

A: Yes. From the best of my recollection, it will be behind that stand of trees that are standing in the side yard, the easterly side yard of the Taylor residence.

Q: And will that tower  will be visible over that stand of trees?

A: I believe it's going to be-- it will be 389 feet tall to the tip of the blade, and you have to be standing right up next to the trees for that to provide any effect of screening.

[ more description of slides showing potential turbine locations in relation to the Taylor home and other homes that will be affected by the windfarm and then slides of houses adjacent to or in the Medota Hills wind farm project.]

A: What do you know about this house, Mike?
Q: I inserted that slide in my report, a basic description of the property. It was new construction completed in the fall of '05. It's a three bedroom, two bath home on a five acre lot, carved out, nice lot that had a couple of mature trees on it.
    The house has hardwood floors in the living room and dining room, and a fireplace, sliding glass doors. [more description of the house] two car garage also an outbuilding that is 52x48 with water and electric. It's in the Paw Paw school district.
     [more about the house]
      The property sat on the market for about 840 days, having gone through several different realtors before a sale was finally accomplished at 275 thousand dollars. 28 months, 849 days is--- let me put it this way, it is a marking time that a relocation company just would not deal with at all.
    [more about the house, and then about other houses in or in proximity to the Mendota Hills wind farm]

... even the other properties, just in homes located in close proximity to Mendota Hills were experiencing marketing times in excess of 300 days, 400 days as this one, the end result was 840 days, and a discount from the original asking price of just under 17 percent of 55 thousand dollars.

[....]

Q. Did you learn since you prepared this report any additional information with regard to the home sales in Lee county?

A: Well, in Lee county what I did learn was there was, for many of the homeowners in close proximity to Mendota Hills facility, that when the new assessment came out they brought in considerable testimony to the Board of Review from a number of property owners claiming that they could not sell their homes and bringing in evidence of having listed the properties and with no success.

NOTE FROM THE BPRC RESEARCH NERD: Please come to the public hearing Thursday, July 3, 7pm at the Magnolia Town Hall to support the wind ordinance that gives us a safe setback of 2640 feet. Just 90 minutes of your time on Thursday evening can save our community from 30 years of having to live with 400 foot tall industrial tubines 1000 feet from our homes.  

Better Plan, Rock county agrees with every word of the following testimony which was made part of the public record during the town of Union's public hearing concerning the large wind ordinance. We thank the community member who spent the time to research it, write it, deliver it, and allow us post it.

Special Note from the BPRC Research Nerd:Please attend this Thursday's meeting at the Magnolia Town Hall, July 3, 7pm to support the adoption of an ordinance with a minimum of 2640 foot set back from homes. (Many of us think it should be further!) Please tell your neighbors and friends that just 90 minutes of their time could save our community from 30 years of 400 foot tall wind turbines 1000 feet from our homes. The wind industry will be sending corporate representatives, lobbyists, lawyers, and all manner of people who stand to gain from putting up 67 forty story tall wind turbines in our community. Their message thus far has been: "We have what it takes to take what you have." Those of us with everything to lose need to be at that meeting no matter how much we'd rather be grilling bratwurst and enjoying ourselves on the eve befoe the 4th. Please come to the meeting an let your support for a safe setback be known to the town board.

And now, some excellent testimony from a resident of the town of Union: 

I want to get back to the basics of noise as it relates to wind turbines.  There have been a lot of numbers and distances talked about, 35dBA, 38dBC 1000’, 1150’ 2640’.  It is as simple as this.  If the head of your bed faces an outside wall your ears are no more that 3 ft. from the outside of your home.  Your ears are always on they never sleep.
The wind developer and power provider would like to have you believe that they can raise the noise level outside our homes by 4 times or more and we will not notice it, wake up, or be annoyed by it in the middle of the night.  Wind turbines turn off and on at night, they rotate to follow the wind, and they speed up and slow down all night long.  All this while we are trying to sleep.  Remember all this noise 3 ft. from our ears in a quiet bedroom.  They want you to believe that we won’t be annoyed during the day when we are outside.  The constant noise described as being next to a large airport.  The swoosh and thump every time a blade passes the tower.  The motion of the rotating blades.  The shadow from the blades crossing your yard at 150 MPH.  If our power provider had any concern for our health, safety, and welfare they would never recommend a setback less than 1 mile from a customer’s home.  The noise limits and setbacks they propose are irresponsible and dangerous.
Sleep deprivation is a well documented health risk.  It can be the cause of a multitude of medical problems.  Annoyance causes adverse health effects.  The idea that people get used to noise is a myth.  Even when we think we have become accustomed to noise, biological changes still take place inside us.  Noise well below the levels usually associated with hearing damage can cause regular and predictable changes in the body.
The excessive noise produced by wind turbines is easy to explain.  The predicted masking effect of the wind used in computer modeling is not happening.  Light nighttime winds cannot cover up the noise produced by the turbines.  The noise created by the wind blowing and the low frequency turbine noise are not similar.  One cannot mask the other.
At a recent meeting one of the Plan Commissioners reminded the other board members of the responsibilities of writing an ordinance.  One item that is considered important was being able to enforce the limits that are required by the ordinance.  The task of enforcement of noise regulations will quickly out distance the ability of local government and law enforcement.  Better to be conservative now with larger setbacks from homes to reduce the risk of compliance failure.
 I encourage the town government to consider the ½ mile setback recommended by the wind committee to be the absolute minimum required to protect citizens.

Turbine foundation being readied in farmer's field. Fond Du Lac county, Wi 

   Even though the facts tell a different story, people who stand to profit from industrial wind turbines continue to insist there is no problem with the noise and other troubles associated with living too close to a machine that is 40 stories tall with spinning blades that span wider than a Boeing 747. They tell us there is no proof that living 1000 feet from an industrial wind turbine is bad for you in any way. There is plenty of proof.
    We're reminded of the recent assertion of the tanning bed industry that there is no connection between tanning bed use and skin cancer despite the growing medical evidence that indeed there is big trouble. Even The U.S. government's National Cancer institute states "Women who use tanning beds more than once a month are 55 percent more likely to develop malignant melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer."
    Yet even now, even with the knowledge that they are hurting people, the tanning bed salesmen and the owners of tanning salons continue to insist that tanning beds are safe.
     We're told living 1000 feet from industrial wind turbines is safe too. Even with the known noise issues, known trouble with shadow flicker and other troubles, we're still being told it's is safe by the well-paid wind developers and by the land owners who will profit by hosting the turbines.
    They say it's safe and there are no problems, but people who are actually living in the shadows of these turbines right now have a different story for us. Last month two residents from the town of Byron, Fond Du Lac county drove all the way to Evansville to testify at the public hearing about what it's been like to live amid the turbines that went on line in their area just this last March. They came because they said they didn't want anyone else to have to live with what has happened to their families, their homes, and their communities.
    Money talks and talks and talks.
    Facts are facts.   
    At the last public hearing in the town of Union some of these facts were presented in the following testimony. We thank the un-paid citizen who did this research and took the time to bring it to the rest of us and make it part of the public record.

       In spite of what you may have been told, the same noise concerns in reference to wind turbine siting exist throughout the world, even Germany and Denmark. If you’ve heard the saying- where there’s smoke there’s fire, you might have to believe that -if there are common noise issues concerning wind turbines worldwide, there must be some truth in what people are saying.

After hundreds of hours of reading hundreds of reports from scientists, audiologists, doctors and physicists I’ve come to a conclusion. The so called new technology we’ve been hearing about has not reduced the noise.

The second international “Wind Turbine Noise Conference 2007” was held in France in September. Quote: “The conference aims to bring together the latest information on noise and vibration from wind turbines to give an unbiased framework from which future developments can be accessed”. The conference is chaired by Geoff Levanthall. I’ll just touch on a few of last year’s accepted papers.

 “Noise Pollution From Wind Turbines- Living with amplitude modulation, lower frequency emissions and sleep deprivation”, by Julian Davis and Jane Davis a registered nurse. This paper was written by a family in the UK who kept a diary about their life 3060 feet from the nearest wind turbine. The paper describes the nature of the noise with its pulsating character, the vibrations felt by the body and it’s intrusiveness, as well as the impact of the noise on them physically and psychologically. Most serious is the sleep deprivation and the ensuing adverse effects, and the inability to pursue or sustain normal family and social functions. Eventually after 7 months of sleeping at friends houses, they abandoned their home.

Another accepted paper, “Wind Farm Noise Regulations in the Eastern United States”, by Soysal and Soysal Department of Physics and Engineering, Frostburg State University Frostburg, MD. Conclusions; Sound generated by wind turbines has particular characteristics and it creates a different type of nuisance compared to usual urban, industrial or commercial noise. The interaction of the blades with air turbulences around the towers creates low frequency and infrasound components which modulate the broadband noise which create fluctuations of sound level. The low frequency fluctuations of the noise is described as “swishing” or “whooshing” sound, creating an additional disturbance due to the periodic and rhythmic characteristic”.


“Auralization and Assessments of Annoyance from Wind Turbines”, by Soren Vase Legarth, DELTA, Denmark. “The development of wind turbines moves toward maximizing the produced power by increasing size. In general- larger often means louder- and that gives rise to concern for people living near places for new wind turbine projects. Therefore focus also is kept on minimizing the emitted sound to make wind turbines more acceptable for the people living near them. Two primary attributes related to annoyance in wind turbine sounds are tonal components and the swishing sound from the rotating blades. The annoyance should be the key parameter when deciding where to build any new wind turbine park. Earlier studies have addressed this issue and identified perceptive attributes of the wind turbine sound that contributes to the overall annoyance.

“Uncloaking the Nature of Wind Turbines Using the Science of Meteorology”, William K.G. Palmer, Canada. Conclusions: To prevent noise excesses from wind turbines being a constant irritant, calculation of the sound power levels for a wind turbine must consider the wind shear changes from day to night and from season from season. Wind turbine proponents must recognize that evidence does not support the widely made, but inaccurate claim that as turbine output goes up ambient noise caused by ground level winds prevents annoyance.

People’s testimonies in the US and all over the world in many cases living ½ mile or more from a wind turbine have reported that their family’s lives have been turned upside down. These people were surprised by the reality of not just the loudness by sound decibel levels but also the content of the noise from a wind turbine. They were led to believe the same thing you’ve been led to believe that, quote: “thanks to improvements in technology, noise is no longer the issue it was”. While a dBA limit is part of the sound limit for a setback from a residence, it’s only a guideline and necessary for regulatory purposes. A one size fits all average noise limit with a built in allowance for masking has everything to do with a certification test and quantity siting and nothing to do with Public Health and Safety. Recent studies have proven that the “tallness” of the modern wind turbines presents a new set of issues. Trust the cumulative reports of the French Academy of Medicine, the UK Noise Association, Dr. Amanda Harry, Frey and Hadden, G.P. van den Berg, Pedersen and Waye, Dr. Soysal, Rick James and George Kamperman who have actual data from operating windfarms, including the Fond du Lac project and who have studied the effects on people living with wind turbines. Please respect their findings and support setbacks of at least ½ mile or more.
 

What's eminent domain? And why should you care? And what happens when you have town board members who stop protecting their community and start protecting the wishes of wind developers? Ask the seven families in Prattsburgh whose land rights have been forcibly taken to make way for a wind farm.

Seven property owners in the Town of Prattsburgh must allow a wind farm developer to dig on their land.

That's because the town board voted to proceed with eminent domain Tuesday night.

Neighbors lined a street outside Prattsburgh town hall before the town board held its meeting to determine if they should use the power of eminent domain for a wind farm project. Several neighbors for wind farms held signs and wore green just to show their support for the project.

Town hall was packed inside with neighbors.

Officials voted three to two to proceed with eminent domain. That's when a government can force a property owner to sell their land for a project that benefits the entire area.

The move comes after seven property owners who, officials said, wouldn't give permission to have a cable be buried underneath a town road to connect the wind turbines.

Wind farm developer, First Wind, plans on building 36 wind turbines that look much like turbines already operating Cohocton. 48 properties in Prattsburgh would be affected by the project.

"I believe in clean energy and we now have an oil crisis in our nation, electricity bills are going up and everything is sky-rocketing." said supporter Joe Barkalow.

"I think small wind towers in conjunction with solar and hydro could be better than this project. I don't feel it will be beneficial for our community." said protestor Ruth Matilsky.

Town officials have been going through negotiations with First Wind since July of last year.

Board members were also expected to iron out legal issues involving two local school districts. Earlier this year, the school districts challenged a deal between the town and first wind. Districts are concerned about the loss of tax revenue because of the deal. Neither school district officials nor town officials would comment last night.

A NOTE FROM THE BPRC RESEARCH NERD: What can you do to keep this from happening in our community? You can begin by attending town board meetings, and one of the most important meetings you can attend is on July 3, 7pm, at the Magnolia town hall (county road A west of 213) This is the public hearing for Magnolia township's wind ordinance which includes a 2640 foot set back from our homes. The wind developers and others who stand to profit  want the setback to be just 1000 feet -about 350 steps. You don't have to be from Magnolia township to attend. The townships of Union, Center, Spring Valley and others in Rock County are all targeted for wind farms and unless you attend town board meetings, you won't know what's being decided until it's too late. Ask the seven families in Prattsburgh if they wish they had paid more attention to what was going on, and if they wished they had attended town board meetings, and if they wished, before they cast their votes they had made sure the people who ran for town board had no financial connection with something that was about to tear their lives and their community apart. The meeting will last about two hours. The wind turbines will be here for 40 years. Can you spare two hours on the evening July 3rd to help preserve our land, the future of our homes and families, and health of our community? Please come and let the town board know you want them to adopt this ordinance.