The Preble Town Board heard from constituents Monday regarding a possible moratorium on wind farms and other “wind-energy systems.”
No vote was taken on implementing the delay, which Town Attorney Donald Armstrong said if approved, would halt development of wind-energy systems for approximately 270 days. Board members indicated a vote is likely to be taken when the board meets on the second Monday in February.
Only two speakers commented at the public hearing. One, Daniel Clausen, said he had read an article saying that some towns have calculated the heights of some turbines, and decided that landowners living within a certain number of feet of a turbine are entitled to rebates from the town.
He couldn’t remember the community or communities involved, Clausen said, but he asked Preble’s board to consider a similar approach if it eventually allows a wind farm to be developed.
Town board members officially have no opinion on whether wind turbines “are good or bad,” Supervisor James Doring told the audience of about 30 people. The possible moratorium would enable the board to learn more about wind turbines and other issues involving wind farms before it decides whether to allow them.
No wind farm to date has been proposed for the town of Preble, Doring said. But he said Code Enforcement Officer Rick Fritz has told board members that a company developing a wind farm in the Tully Valley and town of Otisco in southern Onondaga County plans to submit an application to Preble to operate a wind farm.
A Massachusetts energy company, Palmer Capital Corp., has proposed installing 27 turbines “600 to 680 feet in height.” A group organized in 2024, Southern Hills Wind Watch, says the wind farm would affect Tully, Lafayette and Otisco.
“This action has the potential for being dangerous to people and property, and will impact us all in the area,” according to an anti-wind farm handout that group member Corrine Hust distributed Monday. “The commercial wind-farm industry often operates without significant guiderails.”
The group has scheduled an open house about the wind-farm issue from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Jan. 29 at Tully High School.
