The Rural Voice, 2006-09, Page 32Landowners complain about wind project
On a quiet August night, the
giant windmills of the
Kingsbridge I Wind Power
Project surrounding the municipal
building Ashfield-Colborne-
Wawanosh turn slowly in the gentle
breeze, but inside the building's
council chambers there was far
more turbulence.
The crowd took up all the seats
in the chamber, all the standing
room behind and overflowed out
into the hall as neighbours of the
development north of Goderich
from Carlow north to Kingsbridge
came to express their displeasure
with the 22 glistening, white
windmills, each more than 250 feet
high, (the height of a 25 -storey
building), that now dominate their
neighbourhood. The meeting was to
discuss changes to the
municipality's zoning bylaw that
would require greater setbacks for
future turbines but many of those
present wanted to voice their
grievance about those already in
existence.
"I'd rather see 1000 metre set-
backs and stop you altogether,"
neighbour Ernie Marshall told
Susan Shaw, spokesperson for
Alberta energy giant EPCOR which
is seeking approval to proceed with
Phase II of the Kingsbridge project
which will add another 69 turbines,
creating electricity for 45,000
homes. "I'd sooner you stopped
right now until you correct it
(problems)."
Shaw admitted that faulty
gearboxes on 12 of the turbines are
creating noise above the allowable
provincial limit of 40 decibels,
measured at the windows of
neighbours. One of the turbines has
been repaired but still doesn't meet
the standard. Others would be
repaired, she promised.
But noting that gear boxes
always get noisier over time,
neighbour Steve Brindley wondered
how long the turbines would stay
under the noise limit even if they
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28 THE RURAL VOICE
were repaired to meet the standard.
For another protester it was the
density of the windmills near his
property that bothered him. "I'll bet
there are five on 50 acres," he said
of the property near his. He said his
property had been devalued by the
towering neighbours.
Reeve Ben Van Diepenbeek
asked Shaw if Epcor would be
willing to compensate landowners if
they proved their property was
devalued by location of the
windfarm nearby but she said
studies in New York showed no loss
of value because of location of a
wind farm.
Others complained about an
inability to sleep because of
flickering light coming in their
windows at night from the blades
passing the aircraft warning lights
on the tops of the towers. Shaw
promised the new towers would
have the minimum lighting required
by Navigation Canada.
Still others complained about
static electricity in the air that made
their arm hair stand on end. Some
claimed to have been made ill by
the turbines.
Limitations on future use on
forms that hadn't signed to host the
turbines was the concern of Mike
Lietch who worried that greater
setbacks work both ways,
preventing turbines from being
located near existing buildings now,
but preventing farmers from
building on vacant land in future if
a turbine on their neighbour's land
is too close to the location. With
some of the area's long, narrow lots
it could mean nothing could be
built, he warned.
For Van Diepenbeek and
council, it was awkward to deal
with issues such as health concerns
at a meeting that called to discuss
planning changes but several
attempts to return to the issue of
setbacks were greeted by those who
wanted something done with the
turbines already operating before
new ones are allowed.
The issue of setbacks is expected
to come back to the municipality's
September council meeting.°