Richmondville’s Zoning Board of Appeals will wait to issue a written decision on Reunion Power’s request for another year on its wind testing tower.
Opponents of the extension had hoped for a ruling at the ZBA’s meeting last Tuesday.
But with two of its five members missing for most of the meeting, Chairman Bruce Loveys said he wanted to wait till all of them had a chance to review the data presented in detail.
“There are some very closely argued points here,” Mr. Loveys said. “I want to be able to consider it in some depth. I want it [the decision] to be a good one.”
At issue is whether the permit for the 197-foot meteorological tower Reunion erected on the David Huse farm, which expired May 1, should be extended for another year so the Vermont-based company can collect more wind data.
Mr. Loveys defined the ZBA’s job as “very narrowly focused:” Has Reunion demonstrated the need for an extension for what would now be 10 months and has it demonstrated proof of hardship.
“The tower is there,” he told the crowd of about two dozen people. “The question is: Can it stay?”
Bob Nied, co-director of Schoharie Valley watch, argued no, calling it “strictly about an issue of zoning.”
“There is no project,” he said, “something everyone has argued from Day One. If there is no project, how can it [the tower] be ‘incidental’ to a project,” as required in the Town of Richmondville’s zoning code.
Mr. Nied also argued that proof of hardship isn’t something that can be self-induced.
“A hardship is not wanting to make more money,” he said. “Reunion Power has stated from Day One…that they expected a year [of data] to be enough.”
Mr. Nied and fellow co-SVW director Don Airey also took Reunion to task for letters from three experts presented at the ZBA’s last meeting in support of the permit extension.
All two of the three experts are principals in Helderberg Consulting Inc., along with Reunion’s Sandy Gordon, Mr. Airey claimed, while the third is a principal in a group “paid by Reunion Power to analyze data.”
“These are letters from colleague in the same industry,” Mr. Airey said. “There’s almost a ‘buddy factor’.
Mr. Airey suggested that instead of either denying the permit extension and requiring Reunion to remove the tower or approving the extension and allowing it to remain, the ZBA consider a third option: Find that it doesn’t comply with zoning, but not require its immediate removal.
SVW would have no problem with the third option, Mr. Airey said, and would even agree not to sue for the tower’s immediate removal.
Mr. Gordon bristled at that, calling it a “threat.”
He also defended Helderberg Consulting as a “loosely-associated group of people who came together to learn more about wind”; they are not incorporated, he said, and there are no officers.
In addition to the meteorological tower in Richmondville, Reunion has also erected a second tower to record data from a slightly higher height at the Marian Walker farm on Fulton Hill road in the Town of Fulton.
The hearing drew only a few comments from the crowd.
Ray Rivard, who moved from Cherry Valley to Seward because of the wind controversy there, said any wind project in Richmondville also supports other towns.
Gene DeMarco, Richmondville’s codes officer, however, argued the difficult decision on wind turbines in Richmondville “should be reserved for the people of Richmondville.”
The Town of Fulton is expected to discuss wind at its next town meeting, Monday, July 14, 7pm, at the town barn on Bear Ladder Road.
Also, on Tuesday, July 23, at 7pm, there will be a special meeting at the RVES building for Richmondville’s Town and Planning Boards and Setback Committee.
Anntonette Alberti, vice president of Commercial Program Development for Tetra Tech out of Saratoga will talk about both the permitting and regulation sides of wind development.