The Schoharie County Planning Commission signed off on changes to Jefferson’s 2010 wind law, Monday, agreeing it wasn’t perfect, but far better than what it’s replacing.
After hearing Jefferson Planning Board members Rich Irwin and Bob Glas explain changes they’d made to the existing Wind Energy Facilities Law—for starters, it’s gone from 14 pages to 31, Mr. Irwin said—the CPC approved it, 6-3.
“It’s a definite improvement over what they have,” said Schoharie Planning Board chair Katherine Saddlemire.
“Yes, it’s not a perfect law,” even after more than two years of work, agreed Mr. Glas, “but it’s what we have before you and it’s better than we have,” paraphrasing, ‘Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.’”
Not everyone agreed.
Don Airey, chair of supervisors’ Energy Committee and in Blenheim, a next-door neighbor to what’s already a MET—wind measuring tower—on North Road, Jefferson, argued the law will only open the door to industrial-scale wind developers.
CPC member Ted Werner of Fulton agreed, calling a “selfish act by the Town of Jefferson. Everything in it is in conflict with the Comprehensive Plan.”
In May 2024, the CPC rejected revisions to Jefferson’s existing wind law, citing a long list of concerns.
Among them: Setbacks, height, density, shadow flicker, light, noise, bird strike, road impact, lowered property values, and its failure to balance the law against the Comprehensive Plan.
Monday, the CPC could have accepted the law—which they did—accepted it with modifications, accepted it with amendments, or rejected it.
Any of those decisions could have been over-ruled by a supermajority of the Jefferson Town Board.
It should be Jefferson’s decision, said CPC member Rebecca Leggieri, again pointing to the obvious work put into the rewrite.
Among the issues the revised wind law addresses are use of professional experts, escrows and fees, liability insurance, transfer requirements, density, and complaint resolutions, Mr. Irwin said, and in fact their Comprehensive Plan supports renewable energy, he said.
“There’s nothing selfish about it, other than to strengthen our existing regulations,” he said.
Mr. Irwin said he’s neither for or against wind, he said, “But I am a very strong advocate for property rights.”
Mr. Airey also applauded the Planning Board for the work put into the revisions.
“They were tasked with an impossible mission,” he said.
“But there’s no way around it: A wind law is a mechanism for permitting wind development,” an impact that will be felt towns, and even counties away.
Mr. Irwin said there are no applications for an industrial wind project before the Planning Board.
Some CPC members pointed out that if any do, they’ll have to come before them.