Thursday, January 13, 2011

Wind foes thwarted townwide noise study

CAPE VINCENT — In an ironic turn of events, Planning Board Chairman Richard J. Edsall disclosed Wednesday that it was the opponents of wind development — who forced the board to adjourn its November meeting prematurely owing to vocal and physical protests— who killed the new townwide sound study they have been fighting for.

At an unusually calm Planning Board meeting Wednesday, Mr. Edsall said he had persuaded board members, at town Supervisor Urban C. Hirschey's request, to pass a resolution at the Nov. 10 board meeting to hire an independent, third-party consultant to collect sound data on the ambient noise around town.

"When I went to the meeting that night, I was fairly certain that I had four votes to vote for a sound study as long it was done in the next 45 days," Mr. Edsall said. "That was the night the public didn't allow us to have our meeting. So we never got to bring that up."

Mr. Edsall said that he met with Mr. Hirschey, who made some "convincing arguments," several days before the meeting and that he called every board member to persuade them to approve the study.

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