Presentation Cohocton Public Hearing Windmill Local Law #2 by CWW

Presentation Cohocton Public Hearing Windmill Local Law #2 by CWW

Passing Windmill Local Law #2 would be a grave error for the Town of Cohocton. Any Councilman that would vote for the adoption of this ordinance will bear the responsibility of the harsh consequences that will take decades to recover. The evidence that this law was drafted to meet all the desired requirements of UPC is undeniable. The public safety has been sacrificed for corporate greed. We are told that landholders can scar the landscape because they want to extract extra income from an industrial project because they control the votes on the Cohocton Town Board. We are also told that the Zigenfus administration can push through this ordinance, written by a law firm that masquerades as working for the Town, but paid for by UPC, because Jack and Wayne rule the roost.

Well what about the looking out for the ordinary property owners and residents? Without increased setbacks and protective site locations, residents will be condemned to the horror of an unbearable existence among a forest of monster machines. Jack and Wayne will vote for their UPC patron. So it is up to Mr. Wise and Mr. LeVesque to voice their objection to save our town from adopting a law that guarantees law suits into the indefinite future.

What we need to do NOW is to scrap Windmill Local Law #2 and sit down and write a law that is consistent with our Comprehensive Plan. A Moratorium is needed NOW. What is the all fired rush to judgment to pass a law designed for the first developer that pushed their way into town? Now that a second developer has announced intentions to do a project, would it not be prudent to sit down and create an open process to write a model windmill law? The deception and secrecy used to formulate Windmill Local Law #2 is the reason that Cohocton is in turmoil.

Everyone in town knows it is about the money! So all we need to know is how many and how much has been paid or promised to buy votes? Passing Windmill Local Law #2, as it is written, will prove that UPC bought Cohocton. Do the right thing and reject this law.
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The environment will be the biggest loser if this Town Council approves Windmill Local Law #2. No doubt wildlife will suffer a huge negative impact, but area residents will suffer even worse. Do you care about people or are you so taken up with the idea that shadow flicker is the image you want for Cohocton?

Property owners will suffer massive losses if industrial turbines higher than the Xerox tower are allowed and erected next to the homes of residents. Once the viewshed is given over to industrial towers, the value of our property will drop like a rock. This law will be the cause of great harm and financial hardship to everyone, but what will happen to homeowners when they can no longer sell their property? The Town of Cohocton will be the target of lawsuits that will far outspend any income from a PILOT program.

Low frequency noise is a health hazard that will make life unlivable. Pregnant women will have their offspring placed at serve risk by the ill affects of this continuous noise. God did not create nervous systems to be condemned to man made industrial machines. Our well being is a natural birthright! Windmill Local Law #2 is an ordinance that is made for the benefit of the UPC developer. Why are you about to pass this law when the setbacks are so close to our homes? At the very least all setbacks should be from the adjoining property lines, not dwellings.

Also why are these setbacks not the same distance from all public roads? Shouldn’t the traveling public have the safety protection from the greatest ice throw distance when they drive on Cohocton roads? Of course they should, so why is the Town Board ready to pass a law that obviously ignores this primary public safety need?

We MUST have a Moratorium, if you are unwilling to defeat this law. Start over and write legislation that will resolve these glaring failures in Windmill Local Law #2. Follow the spirit of our Comprehensive Plan, or undertake that a new master land use plan be updated before adopting any industrial wind turbine zoning changes.
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I’m mad as hell and I won’t take it anymore! This Town Board has acted with immense irresponsibility by allowing this awful Windmill Local Law #2 to be written. Why was an outside law firm used and why is UPC paying the legal fees for this legislation? This stinks to high heaven! Every resident of Cohocton should oppose this Board if they pass WLL #2. It sure looks like more than the leaseholders are being paid to get the UPC project approved.

Explain why the Empire State Wind Energy developer is able to propose wind turbines without a PILOT, while UPC wants to pay the town, school district and county so little? People are asking, why is this Town Board so eager to do damage to Cohocton by passing this law? The conduct of Councilmen has been disgraceful. The School Board is getting ripped off “big time” by the PILOT and SCIDA has land as part of the UPC proposal. When will this Board disclose the exact amount of the PILOT or is it so low that it is a joke?

Why won’t this Board submit the reports from the “so called” independent environmental consultant Bagdon or is their work being approved by your Albany attorneys, who are paid by UPC? And you wonder why the Town of Cohocton is at great risk of lawsuits when your actions are the very reason that court case actions will be the end result of this foolish law!

Zigenfus and Hunt are leading the band all right, straight into bankruptcy! Dyckman gets his money from his leases, anyone wonder why the others are voting for this bad law? Cohocton have become a den of thieves and the Sheriff of Nottingham is operating way above his pay grade. Where is Robin Hood when you need him!

If you have any guts you will stand up to this UPC robber baron and do what is right for Cohocton. Declare a moratorium and scrap Windmill Local Law #2. Prove you are responsible office holders. But if you vote this law in, WE all will remember what you did and will never forget the shame you brought to our town.
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It makes no sense to pass Windmill Local Law #2 when so many deficiencies are evident in the law. After all these months all that can be said is that this law is being railroaded down our throats for the benefit of very few interests. Sure the landholders who have UPC leases want this law to pass. But why are you Board members so determined to reject any sensible attempts to write into the law needed protections for area residents. Cohocton will be changed for the worse forever when you approve the construction of these industrial turbines.

Every resident will see, hear and be haunted by a greed driven scheme to defraud and sell our primary natural resource and substitute it with a boondoggle that will steal our children’s legacy. What is wrong with this Board? Why are you unwilling to hear out the Empire developer when they offer a much more attractive project than UPC? Something is very wrong. Come clean and face the public. Tell us your real motivation to approve a law that has been modified from Windmill Local Law #1 to make it even more accommodating to UPC?

By passing this bad law, you are willfully making us the victims of your efforts to please certain landholders and a company that has refused to modify, add needed safeguards or scale down their development. In fact the UPC project has increased greatly the total Mega Watts capacity and now their larger 2.5 MW turbines will be 423 feet in height. The 500 foot limit in WLL#2, the ability to place industrial turbines anywhere in the town and with no limit on the number of turbines, Cohocton will become an industrial wasteland.

Vote down WLL #2 or pass a Moratorium to hear out the Empire proposal or demand that UPC revise their site locations. We need real protective setbacks, true public safety standards and a better money pay out to the entire community.
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What a mistake to pass Windmill Local Law #2. Without adequate liability assurance and insurance coverage, the Town of Cohocton is setting itself up for unending litigation. Everyone is at risk under this ordinance. Leaseholders will bear the responsibility of property liability. The Town opens itself up to investigations for breaking New York State laws or ignoring regulations. Taxpayers will be saddled with the burden of future un-funded decommissioning costs. Property owners will lose the use of their land without fair compensation or even be unable to live or sell their land or house.

Adjacent towns will have their local economy and tourist business hit with lack of visitors because of the horrid viewshed from industrial wind turbines. How many more examples do you need before you step back and reflect on what you are doing? All this insanity for such little money! Anyone with even an ounce of objectivity would need to question your motives for wanting to pass this law.

If you are so bent upon approving a wind project, tell us the reason you are so unwilling to negotiate with Empire State Wind Energy? Don’t insult us by saying it is too late to back away from legislation written to facilitate the UPC project! Compare the money pay out and the option, from Empire, to buy the entire project in the future, with the snow job that UPC is presenting.

Cohocton would confirm that it is an undesirable location for decades to come, if WLL #2 is adopted. Think before you vote, a Moratorium is the responsible action to take for all of the residents of Cohocton. I appeal to your conscience, your common sense and your duty to protect the entire community.