Limited Vision by Steve Trude

Back in the winter when I first saw the Cohocton wind turbine law, I knew that this law was against everything that I had worked so hard to build and dreamed of for the last 24 years. So many of us have done the same thing. It is not easy or cheap to live in Cohocton. We have all spent many hours to get to work. We have bought many vehicles to get us anywhere, with a lot of gas and oil changes.

We all knew that this was the price we had to pay to live in PARADISE.

I spent the next few weeks studying about wind technology and it's uses and effects. I read the zoning law and the Comprehensive Plan. It seems that the law was clear and we should be OK.

What I did not know was that the Town Board was so sold on this project they would do, say or try to pass any law to push the UPC projects through. I did not understand how the good people of a town like Cohocton could or would allow a project like this in our town.

Then I started looking closely at our town. Our Main Streets have only a few businesses. Our 390 Exit looks terrible. Our industrial sites sit mostly vacant with no jobs and little tax revenue. These are the necessities that keep a town afloat. The homes reflect this lack of income. The villages have had very little growth, and most of the building has been in the hills.

The lack of planning by our officials shows no vision for the future of our town or our children. This project as proposed will further stagnate the growth of Cohocton. The catering to one group of people, by our officials for so many years, has had a cumulative negative effect on our town.

And with this same foresight our town officials are doing it again. By all the back door dealings, they are setting themselves up for an even greater disaster and maybe the last stroke for the town.

To destroy our hills in a way that will limit any chance for a stable growth in the future is against our Comprehensive Plan and our zoning law. All this when the baby boom generation is looking to move to the hill's to retire with millions of dollars to spend and grow any community where they would desire to relocate.

To sell our town for so little money, for such a long period of time, lacks the wise foresight of encouraging sensible growth and stability for the future. We risk an end result of a real possibility of a $50,000,000.00 decommissioning bill at the end of the project.

The Town Board has done all of us wrong.

· By trying to circumvent the Comprehensive Plan and trashing our zoning law.
· By trying to pass a law that steals our rights to our property and the sanctity of our homes.
· Also to take our happiness, our lives and our safety is a sin.

We have worked our whole lives to come here to these hills to live in peace and harmony. Any Town Official that would vote yes to any current proposed UPC plan NEEDS TO GO! I know that the actions of our board in this proposed project will change our town forever.

Stephen Trude - President of Cohocton Wind Watch