Sunday, July 21, 2013

Clayton board to take a stance on Cape Wind




Alexandria Bay, NY

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013



By Pamela McDowell, Staff Writer

Clayton – after having mulled over a presentation made by Cape Vincent Wind Project business developer Paul Chandler at its June 26 meeting, the Clayton Town Board has decided to voice its opinion regarding the wind project.

Namely, that the turbines, which are expected to be just short of 500 feet high, will have a negative aesthetic and visual impact on residents of Clayton and the St. Lawrence River islands within the town boundary.

British Petroleum is proposing that some of its turbines be constructed within clear view of the areas of Clayton, particularly near Route 9.

The board has authorized a letter to be sent to the New York State Public Service Commission stating, in essence, that the town of Clayton supports home rule, rather than a state override of local laws under Article 10, but that the board does not necessarily endorse the Cape Vincent zoning law, since it would allow turbines relatively close to the river and town line.

In a related matter, Supervisor Justin Taylor said that he has not had any contact within the past few months with Iberdrola Renewables, the wind company that is proposing a project in the towns of Clayton, Orleans, Lyme and Brownville.

In preparation for the state's review process, the board may hire a professional consultant to be sure that positions and opinions coming from the town of Clayton, either for or against elements of the project, are accurately presented to the power commission, with little chance of misrepresentation.

During the discussion, Councilman Chris Matthews commented, "It's awful that we have to create a wind law in which we have to be careful that, if we’re too restrictive, the state will override the law."

Iberdrola has intentions to build a wind project south of the pole bill that would include approximately 48 turbines.

In other business, Supervisor Taylor announced that Kristi Dipple, director of the Clayton Local Development Corporation, will become the interim director of the Clayton Improvement Association as well. The duties are similar: promoting and seeking grants in Clayton.

The councilmen will inspect the piping beneath the floor of the ice arena at Cerow Recreation Park to get a firsthand look at improvements needed.

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11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Clayton town board doesn't necessarily support the Cape zoning law because it only has a two-mile setback from the river instead of five miles. Isn't that sweet of them!

Meanwhile their wind law provides little protection for those Town of Clayton residents living close to the wind overlay district or DePauville. Cape's law on the other hand is designed to protect residents, particularly those closest to any proposed wind development.

This comment from Clayton officials shows they are catering to residents along the river and could give a squat about those in the middle of Iberdrola's proposed Horse Creek wind farm. They better rethink their position.

Anonymous said...

Yup!

Anonymous said...

Perhaps Clayton had better take a look at the Herkimer County lawsuit. Iberdrola sued by 63 people because of the same bad information that they are giving Clayton.

Anonymous said...

Bottom line-neither Clayton ,nor Cape vincent's zoning law is adequate, because neither one prohibits industrial turbines. All this posturing about whose law is better is ridiculous. Typical Cape-Clayton childish bickering. " we're better than you are" na n' nah, n' na nah!!

Grow up, get together, ban the damn things, tell the state to take a hike. Then you'd have something to brag about!

Anonymous said...

That won't happen. There is a strong force out there that is attacking the zoning efforts of both towns, claiming they are anti wind ! The wind industry sets up stuff like that to wear us down. They even claim we should be ignoring Art. 10 when Clayton should be setting up a committee like the Cape to achieve what they have achieved in teaching the PSC why this area should be protected.

Anonymous said...

8:09...Strong force, I don't think so. Other than on the web you never see or hear of any in the actual meetings here. Nice try Bp and Iberdrola.

Anonymous said...

When the Cape was crafting its zoning law the green shirts said nothing. They were hoping that the Town would ban wind development or make is so restrictive that a Siting Board would override the law as being overly burdensome.

To suggest a ban is to play into the hands of BP, their green shirted leaseholders and supporters, and every other damn fool who uses their gonads in place of their brains!

There was never a single individual in human history who was spared at the gallows for protestations that "You can't hang me, you have no right!" Yeah, right - Kaboom!

Anonymous said...

"British Petroleum is proposing that some of its turbines be constructed within clear view of the areas of Clayton, particularly near Route 9"

So if BP and Iberdola have their way, Clayton, Depauville and Grindstone Island will be looking at Turbines during the day and synchronized blinking lights at night.

Isn't this like paving over Paradise and putting in chain of parking lots.

Justin and his Board need to lead the effort to protect the Saint Lawrence Valley...Cape Vincent is doing this....It's not too late to
wake up and protect your Heritage.

Justin your job is protect the Health, Safety and Welfare of the Town of Clayton.

Your Job is to lead the Stakeholders not to wash your hands of this responsibility

Jenny, your job is to promote Iberdrola.

So Justin, pause and listen to your Better Angels.

Anonymous said...

Bp is very clever in that way. Get someone to hollow "Ban them !" Ignore the PSC?" The zoning law sucks!"

What kind of fools do they think live in the Islands.

Anonymous said...

9:12 AM ~ Yup!

Anonymous said...

"They even claim we should be ignoring Art. 10 when Clayton should be setting up a committee like the Cape to achieve what they have achieved in teaching the PSC why this area should be protected."

Teaching the PSC? Wow !, Who needs to get over themselves?