Wind Energy Committee seeks aid in drafting law

MORRISTOWN — The Wind Energy Committee is looking for more involvement from experts and neighboring towns to help craft a law to regulate the creation of wind farms.

A meeting held Wednesday to discuss the proposed wind ordinance drew nearly 40 residents from Hammond. The meeting left committee members with more questions than answers, so they decided to begin looking for information and ideas from wind experts and officials from the neighboring towns of Hammond and Oswegatchie, according to committee Chairman Peter A. Paquette.

"There are a couple specialists in the field that we're going to try and schedule meetings with to get a little better understanding," Mr. Paquette said. "If we could be there as a group to get the facts, then we can make a more informed decision."

The main issues that need to be explored are noise levels and setbacks, Mr. Paquette said.

The proposed law in Morristown suggests setbacks at 500 feet from the nearest property line, public road, wind district boundary, wetland or body of water. It also requires that turbines be 1,000 feet from any home and at least 11/2 times the height of the turbine from any above-ground utilities.

Not all residents feel comfortable with these setbacks, committee members said.

"With wind energy turbines, the question comes up, for instance, whether or not ice can be thrown from the turbine, so we need to investigate the safety standards," Christopher Coffin said.

The proposed law also suggests a noise level of no more than 50 decibels measured at the nearest residence. Mr. Coffin said the board has begun to look into basing the noise regulations on ambient, or background, noise levels. The same type of ambient-noise-based standard has been proposed in several other towns.

At the meeting, the board reviewed about half of the 30-page draft law and altered the wording on several issues, such as making sure wind farm operators would be responsible for decommissioning costs, committee members said.

Mr. Paquette said the committee will meet again soon to review the second half of the draft law.