The Holland Town Board, in the initial stages of writing a law on wind farms in the town, may adopt a moratorium on such entities as early as next month.
Wednesday, the board unanimously approved a public hearing for 8 p. m. Dec. 10 to impose a moratorium on wind farms until a local law regulating them has been adopted.
Eleven months ago, the board organized a subcommittee to investigate the sometimes controversial source of power. Since then, the group has studied various town ordinances to create a law that will suit the town.
Wednesday night, Town Attorney Ronald Bennett was asked by Supervisor Michael Kasprzyk to review the subcommittee’s work for proper legal wording.
Though no projects in the town have been proposed, the supervisor said the committee’s work has been prompted by the proliferation of wind farms in neighboring towns and the controversy they bring with them.
“All of our neighbors to the east — Sheldon, Java, Wethersfield — have projects going on. To the south of us, Sardinia said they don’t want to deal with it. I want us to be prepared, if we’re approached,” Kasprzyk said.
He said the Town of Eagle in Wyoming County has embraced the wind turbines while Farmersville has enacted a moratorium until officials rework their code book.
As the vanguard of the green movement, wind farm proposals are controversial, with some seeing the giant wind turbines as “an abomination of the landscape,” Kasprzyk said.
“So far I haven’t heard anyone against them in Holland, but maybe that’s because there’s no proposal on the table,” he added.
A public hearing on the new law, which will set the terms and conditions under which a wind farm can operate in Holland, is tentatively scheduled for January.
No comments:
Post a Comment