Naples may prohibit wind farms

Town officials used South Bristol'slaw as their guide.
By TARYN ELIZABETH DOBBS

Messenger Post Correspondent

The ones we don't
want to see are the
wind farms that are
400 feet high.
Doug Pulver, Naples Planning Board chair

NAPLES — Naples could adopt a wind-farm law that effectively bans industrial wind farms such as those proposed in neighboring Prattsburgh and Cohocton.

Town Planning Board Chairman Doug Pulver said Naples took its cue from South Bristol, which banned wind farms in August 2003.

Wind farms to power a home or a business are fine, Pulver said, adding, "The ones we don't want to see are the wind farms that are 400 feet high."

A turbine as tall as a skyscraper and bearing a flashing light would detract from Naples' scenic vistas, which draw tourists and their dollars.

"We want to have alternatives (to coal- and natural gas-fired power plants), but we want to be careful how we do it," Pulver said.

The Town Board held a hearing on the proposal July 10 and sent the draft to the Ontario County Planning Board for review. The Naples Town Board could vote to adopt the law at next month's meeting, Monday, Aug. 14, at 7 p.m., unless the county board suggests further work.

Height restrictions would be 150 feet for residential towers and 220 feet for towers powering a business. The turbines for the proposed Prattsburgh and Cohocton wind farms would be 400 feet tall to the tip of the rotor.

Additionally, the output for turbines may not exceed 20 kilowatts for residential use, or 50 kilowatts for commercial operations.

Turbines would be limited to one per parcel of land. However, if a business can prove to the Planning Board why a second turbine is necessary, it may be approved.

Two wind-energy companies, Ecogen and Windfarm Prattsburgh, want to put up about 50 turbines each in Prattsburgh while UPC Wind Management LLC has proposed two separate projects with 41, and 17 turbines respectively in Cohocton.

Prattsburgh has no wind-farm law. Cohocton has a law that does not ban industrial wind farms but does put certain limits on them. For example, the law requires that a turbine be at least 1,500 feet from a residence.

At least a few turbines from the Prattsburgh and Cohocton projects would be visible from Naples.

Messenger Post writer Lenore Friend contributed to this report. Contact us at (585) 394-0770, Ext. 256, or at messenger@mpnewspa-pers.com.