Published: November 13, 2007 11:14 pm      

Adams Township leaders OK wind farm

SALIX — About 30 wind turbines will be coming to the hills over Dunlo after Adams Township supervisors approved the Krayn Wind Corp.’s request for the Highland Wind Farm.

The approval Tuesday at the supervisors’ regular meeting followed a final public hearing on Krayn’s conditional use application under the township’s zoning ordinance.

Supervisors are required by law to grant the conditional use if it complies with the zoning ordinance and is not “substantially injurious to the public interest,” Solicitor William Barbin said as the hearing opened.

Although about 14 visitors were in the room, no one responded to Barbin’s call for anyone who wanted to testify, either for or against the turbines.

“If no one wants to make a statement, then we’ll close the hearing,” Barbin said.

The quiet meeting was in contrast to the first Sept. 17 hearing – when a line of residents spoke of their concerns about the wind farm.

Most expressed concerns about reduced values for their property near the proposed turbines, but Barbin noted the supervisors only can apply the existing regulations on the project.

Barbin said in September that he and township engineers have reviewed plans and didn’t find any violations of the township’s wind turbine regulations enacted in 2006.

Testimony at the September hearing may have satisfied residents, helping them understand the township government’s limitations when it comes to development on private property, Barbin said Tuesday.

Designed on an abandoned strip mine, Highland Wind Farm will be a model of how wind energy projects can assist communities and transform brownfields into clean energy, said Andrew Golembeski of EverPower Renewables Corp. of New York City.

“The project has been very well received,” Golembeski said.

“We think it’s a great project for the community. We didn’t expect to have a negative hearing.”

Construction will begin in the second quarter of 2008.