Thursday, June 28, 2007

Letter to the Cohocton Planning Board by Bonnie Palmiter

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE, the Town of Cohocton Planning Board is holding a special meeting on June 27, 2007 immediately following the scheduled public hearings, to continue with its review and consideration of the special use permits, site plan applications and the FEIS (Final Environmental Impact Statement) which were submitted by Canandaigua Power Partners, LLC and Canandaigua Power Partners II, LLC.

In my opinion this is very irresponsible of you to put a rush on this project, it is not two projects but one, UPC has acknowledged this to the PSC. There is no exact sites for these turbines, Chris Swartly state this project is still a work in progress, you have not once been able to show the exact map of where these turbines are going, nor have the transmission lines been placed in any one location, two times they have been moved, and still not stated where they will be located. Until a final map comes into play I don’t see how you can go forward with a FEIS.

If you were at the Town Board meeting last Tuesday, you would have heard Jack having a problem signing a contract for Tom Simons to do road work,(Tom being an employee of this town, not an out of state, out of country employee) Jack needed dollar amounts not blanks, Mr. Levesque, Mr. Wise and Jack stating that they couldn’t sign a contract they weren’t going to give him a blank check (yet that is what you are doing with UPC).

My point being, I am a resident of this town, have been for 28 years, and I have a problem with you signing contracts, special use permits, site plans applications, final FEIS giving UPC, Canandaigua Power Partners, Canandaigua Power Partners II a blank check to our town to change things along the way as they see fit, their track record to date, just with meteorological towers, is without following the laws we already have in place right now. You are allowing foreign owned companies to come into our town and do as they see fit with you, the planning board’s permission. This is irresponsible and not without liabilities to this town.

Putting a 6 month moratorium on this project is the responsible thing to do, wait till all court rulings are in, and get a finished and final map to where the turbines, substations, and transmission lines are to be placed. This meeting tonight should stand without any decisions made to get all the lose ends securely put in order, allowing the residents of Cohocton to truly believe that you are looking out for the best interest of this town, not the best interest of UPC.

PLEASE FOR ONCE, ACT RESPONSIBLE AND WITH A CONSCIENCE

Bonnie Palmiter

No comments: