Agreement reached on Cape wind ordinance
CAPE VINCENT — Town officials reached an agreement on sound and setback requirements in a potential wind power zoning ordinance during a workshop on Saturday.
A compromise between existing language and more restrictive setbacks left the requirements for turbines that they be placed no closer than 2,500 feet south of Route 12E between the village and Clayton, and east from County Route 6; and no closer than 3,000 feet from the village boundaries.
The turbines would not be allowed to raise the sound levels more than 8 decibels above the background noise at non-participating residents' property lines.
Eight of the 10 members of the Town Council, Planning Board and wind committee present agreed on the requirements. But the dissenters, Supervisor Urban C. Hirschey and Councilman Brooks J. Bragdon, viewed the sound requirement as not protective enough.
William J. Elliot, senior consultant for Cavanaugh Tocci Associates, Sudbury, Mass., said he wasn't offering an opinion on an appropriate standard for the town, but giving information based on how people perceive sound.
"A 6-decibel increase is noticeable, but not likely to cause complaints," he said. "A 10-decibel increase will be twice as loud as before."
The 6-decibel increase is what is outlined by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
"I'm really reluctant to bring in a professional sound consultant and wander away from what he advises," Mr. Bragdon said.
The new setbacks represent an increase from the draft law originally formulated by the wind committee. That proposal had setbacks of 1,000 feet plus 1.5 times the turbine height from Route 12E from the village to Clayton and from the shoreline of Lake Ontario south of Mud Bay.
Mr. Hirschey had offered a more restrictive district for turbine placement, which was one mile south and east of Route 12E.
"It's 50 percent of the land mass and 15 percent of the assessed value in the town," he said.
Beth A. White, a proponent of wind power in the town who served on the wind committee, said, "We carefully discussed each of these setbacks as a committee last year. I just think we already have enough restriction."
The officials left the ability for developers to ask for easements from property owners next to parcels with turbines. The easements would allow the developer to place turbines at the same requirements for participating property owners. Those standards are 1,000 feet from a house and producing no more than 50 decibels of sound outside the house. The sound of a normal conversation runs between 55 and 65 decibels.
"Is 50 decibels reasonable?" Mr. Bragdon asked.
"If 30 is the established background sound level, 50 would be five or six times the sound level, which is a large increase," Mr. Elliot said.
The 50-decibel standard is found in zoning proposals through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
Town Attorney Mark G. Gebo is revising the draft according to Saturday's discussion. The Town Council or a group of officials may need to meet again before going to a public hearing and a review of a potential wind law by the County Planning Board.
