June 9, 2006
Cohocton Town Board
15 South Main Street
Cohocton, NY 14828
Re: Local Law # 2
Dear Town Board Members:
I am opposed to the above named law for the following reasons:
1. This law allows for the introduction of Industrial grade wind turbines without making sufficient provision for the impact of this introduction.
2. This law as proposed does not include sufficient provisions for a pre-paid non refundable application fee sufficient in amount to cover any and all costs to the Town for necessary studies and reviews measuring all possible impacts to the Town prior to approval of the special use permit.
3. Each one of these turbines is a H.A.Z.M.A.T. event just waiting to happen. We as a Town do not have the necessary emergency response equipment to respond to the liabilities these industrial towers expose us to from fire, contamination from oils, mechanical structural failure, etc. No study has been commissioned or accomplished to see what we as a Town need to do to equip our emergency response teams to handle the increased load of these undeniable exposures.
4. Because these Industrial turbines will be allowed to be so close to residential homes and people, the Town needs to have the ability to defend these homes and people from damage, injury and loss of life from the installation and possible failure of these industrial machines. Because these industrial turbines will be increasing our risk of fire, structural failure and chemical contamination, a sufficient study needs to be accomplished by contractors for the Town with full recommendations included as to what changes needed to be in place to our current emergency response system.
5. Sufficient bonding is not provided for in this proposed law #2. A letter of credit as protection to the Town from liability is inadequate. A letter of credit in a Bankruptcy situation is worthless. A cash Bond to cover any and all liabilities needs to be stipulated in this law.
6. A defend and hold harmless clause must be included in this law holding the Town harmless from all liability for personal injury and property damage from all fines, costs, penalties, liens, attachments, suits, claims, causes of action, expenses and attorney fees caused by the Applicant and its employees, agents, and representatives or those of its subcontractors, that may be incurred as the result of the proposed installation of said wind turbines.
7. This law in its current proposed form allows for the placement of wind turbines 100 ft. plus the maximum structure height from a neighboring property line while also calling out the requirement that these turbines be 1500’ from a dwelling. This results in the scenario that the Town, through this law, and the leaseholder, exercise restrictive control on other people’s property by not allowing the neighbor to build a dwelling on his own property if it will be closer than 1500’ from the wind turbine. Please see the example below.
8. This Town is not prepared to receive the impact of these industrial machines. We as a Town need to declare a moratorium on these turbines, seek proper counsel on rewriting our laws to properly place the financial burden of analyzing an applicant’s special use permit request for these industrial turbines squarely on the applicant, delegate out the necessary research to qualified engineering firms of our choosing and wait for their unbiased reports.
9. Neither our Town Board nor our Planning Board is qualified to measure the impact of this project by themselves. Outside help is needed from unbiased experts of our choosing.
10. Our Town Board and our Planning Board need to get back to work on the Town and Village Business while delegating this high-tech research surrounding these wind turbines out to qualified firms after collecting sufficient funds from the applicant to do so.
Sincerely,
Robert C. Strasburg II
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