COUDERSPORT – Potter County Planning Commission members took
steps to regulate the construction of wind turbines in the county
Tuesday night during a lengthy meeting.
After hearing arguments from supporters and critics of the wind
energy industry, planning commission members passed an ordinance
that would require that turbines be located a distance of at least
seven times their height from adjacent properties.
In the case of the approximately 80 turbines proposed by
international energy giant AES Corp., in northern Potter County,
each extending an estimated 415 feet in the air to the tip of the
blade, the machines would have to be at least 2,900 feet from the
nearest property line.
Setbacks were a major concern voiced by members of Save God’s
Country, a citizens’ group formed to fight the location of an
unregulated wind turbine plant in Ulysses and Hector townships.
Wind energy companies are also eying Hebron Township, north of
Coudersport, and Homer and Eulalia townships, south of the borough,
to build turbines that would generate electricity from the
wind.
Planning commission members have wrestled with setbacks and
other proposed regulations for several months. Starting in
September and continuing on Tuesday, they approved a series of
amendments to the county’s Subdivision and Land Development
Ordinance to control wind energy facilities.
The commission will continue to tinker with the amendments at
its Nov. 13 meeting before submitting the new ordinance to the
Potter County Commissioners for adoption.
During Tuesday’s meeting, planning commission chairwoman Wanda
Shirk repeated her contention that the agency needs to find middle
ground.
“We do not want to over-regulate,” she insisted.
Opening the floor to public input, the planning commission heard
from Tammy Perkins, a Fox Hill resident who said turbines are being
targeted for property near her home.
“We urge you to protect the people who are going to be affected
directly by these turbines,” Perkins said. “I am worried about the
welfare of my family and about the impact this is going to have on
our property values.”
Her concerns were echoed by another northern Potter County
resident, Ivan Lehman, who said he is not opposed to wind energy as
a concept.
“But I am against letting them be put in at the sacrifice of the
adjoining landowners,” Lehman said. “It’s wrong not to protect the
other people.”
Coudersport area resident Gary Buchsen countered the planning
commission also has a duty to protect the rights of the property
owner who might be able to benefit financially by leasing land for
turbine construction.
Another Coudersport man, Stanley Goodwin, who owns land in the
Dutch Hill area, said he has already moved forward with surveys and
other steps to lease parts of his property for wind turbines.
“It’s going to mean a lot of money to me, and I’ll spend that
money in this county,” Goodwin said.
Joe and Marcia Lagrua of Eulalia Township, who had attending a
speech by U.S. Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., the night before, said
the planning commission should be wary of restricting alternative
energy development.
“We need to develop other types of energy for the good of our
country,” Joe Lagrua said. “As a landowner, I should have the right
to do whatever I want.”
Planning commission members spoke of their duty to protect the
health, safety and welfare of county residents. The motion to add
the seven-to-one setback ratio to the ordinance passed by a 4-0
vote, with John Nordquist, Mitch DeLong, Rance Baxter and Bill Dean
in favor.
Shirk did not cast a vote. Planning commission members Bill
Hunter and Marshall Hamilton were absent.
After the meeting, members Save God’s Country expressed
appreciation to the planning commission for adopting stricter
setback requirements than originally drafted.
They said they’ll continue to press for stronger regulation of
the wind energy industry, based on their concerns about potential
damage to underground water resources, damaging health effects,
noise pollution and other factors.
