Wind panel readies presentation

LAFARGEVILLE — The Orleans Wind Committee will give the Town Council a rundown on its thoughts on flicker, setbacks and noise at a meeting Monday night.

The committee, meeting Tuesday night, discussed how technical to be and what form to present its possible recommendations in.

"I think they understand the issues but don't understand the technical lingo involved," member William DiTrinco said.

Member Patricia A. Booras-Miller said, "The council understands ambient. These guys have been to presentations — they know this."

The committee will give the council brief presentations on flicker, setbacks and noise, explaining the reasoning behind the prospective recommendations.

"What we have got to do is make it safe for our town — that's what we are supposed to do," Darryl Hyde said.

Some of the members were not prepared to give written recommendations on those three items next week.

"I don't want it to get so technical," Ms. Booras-Miller said. "We don't have the recommendations to give them."

She said recommendations on changes to the town's zoning law on wind power development have not been finalized. But the committee needed to focus and complete the writing and editing of recommendations on the three issues.

"This can go on for a long time if we don't come up with an end date," Ms. Booras-Miller said. "We want to see this local law seriously considered by the council."

Others disagreed that a clear date was possible.

"We can't set a date — we had set a target for the end of June," Chairman Stephen Bingeman said.

But, he said, he thought the first issues considered were basically set.

"I myself am to the point where we could give them noise, setbacks and flicker," he said. "There is more in here that we have to go over that is part of health and safety," he said.

Member Judy E. Tubolino said she didn't want to give the board anything final unless everything were included.

"Their statement was, 'If we are going to make changes, we should do it all at once,'" she said.

Mr. Bingeman said, "We are presenting the first three at the July meeting, but we need to go into other things in order to make it safe all the way around."

The committee will hold its next meeting at 7 p.m. June 9 at the town offices.