Dear Global Wind, etc.
We received the review of your approved windfarm for Prattsburgh. http://www.prattsburghwind.com/about-rr-feis.php. Certainly we are tired of fighting and in that you developers and few landowners and politicians win. Hopefully others will continue the awareness to fight against large scale industrial wind development in Upstate NY. YOU obviously have the current politicians and IDA in your pockets. How did you do that so well?
We are relieved that you will not be putting turbines between Burke Rd. and Rte 53 near our home on Rte 53. That particular turbine would have LOOMED over our place by being just up the hill and would have totally interfered with the sunrise and moonrise there. The turbine's flicker affect and flashing lights would have ruined one of our property's strongest features even though the site was on a neighboring property on Burke Rd. That is how critical the impact of the turbine placement is and yet is so ignored. We know that we are extremely fortunate and the site change is strictly due to factors having nothing to do with the impact on our place. Sadly, it is hard to say "thank you".
We have our place for sale. We have an interested buyers who will NOT buy if the turbine was sited there. We have had other interested parties back out due to the windfarm plans here. We know of 2 buyers who backed out of offers on a Dillenbeck Rd.property (original offers of $225,000. and 230,000.) and 1 successful buyer on that same property for $185,000.00 (due to the wind farm impacting views). No value on viewshed? We beg to differ. Thank you developers and Steuben IDA! People came and built the lovlier homes and get-a-ways because it is so beautiful here. Too bad the town of Prattsburgh couldn't work harder on enforcing junk car and property laws - instead they just add wind turbines. Now thats some real "vision" for you!
Feedback from buyers and tourists is mostly negative due to the size and concentration of the turbine area in the region. Most (some are just adamantly opposed to windfarms period) were ok with smaller turbines in smaller windfarms (up to 20 like Fenner or 7 like Weathersfield). The opposition is that the county area will be covered with 100s of turbines making it an industrial area rather than a residential/recreational area. People buying trailer homes or low income properties seem unaffected. Buyers of "nicer" homes and properties are very off-put by the size of the Prattsburgh, ohocton, Italy windfarm area. Its not the green energy - its the way you are doing it. Geo-thermal and solar have their place as well - and maybe better choices in areas where tourism is the fastest growing "industry" and where migratory birds are in such abundance, variety and will be at risk.
Over the years, our town supervisor Harold McConnell, Jim Sherron from the IDA and the representatives of Global UPC and Ecogen repeatedly told us that there would only be 1 smaller windfarm due to the ability of the power grid to handle them. Lies, lies, lies. Now we have 2 approved windfarms for Prattsburgh with turbine sites over 100 in phase one. As if the IDA didn't know - right. Randy Kuhl told us we are "home ruled" in the state of NY. That is supposed to mean that the towns determine what they want or don't want. Lies, lies, lies. If that were true we could have voted on a referendum in Prattsburgh (they did for adult book stores and booze). If that were true, the Town of Italy wouldn't be fighting the law suit by Ecogen - who proudly badgers with big law guns to force the town to allow the windfarm and substation. Why is this allowed? Will business developers seize our lands under imminent domain for windfarms, strip malls or other projects that "those who know best" determine while stuffing their pockets with pork?
With consideration of the PILOT programs(payment in lieu of taxes HA! HA!) - one wonders just where the tax revenues will come from in the future. The windfarms cannot afford to pay taxes, the low income properties pay little or subsidized taxes, as well as the farmers are subsidized by tax dollars as well. The "nicer" properties (well kept family homes, retirement homes, recreational) support the tax base for the towns by paying a disproportionate share. Will the landowners loose their leased land in 15 years when they run out of payments and didn't use innovation and work to solve their money problems to pay taxes?
Oddly, many of us with improved properties received yet another increase in our share of the taxes, as well as increases pending for NYSEG electric (to support the windfarms). This formula for tax and revenue to the county of Steuben is flawed. It does not take a brain bigger than a walnut to see that the "green" is still tax money siphoning away to developers and political entities like our IDA's.
Lately, Congressman Kuhl "helped" an Ontario County bowling alley with a subsidized government loan (thank you taxpayers!) to help keep the business afloat. Like farming - what happened to good adaptable business practice or loose?. Since when are Americans just a bunch of politically supported free-loaders due to lack of sound innovation and solid business sense?
The same applies to our towns. If they can't survive by growth, innovation and adapting to change, why should a few landowners and developers cover our region with turbines that won't produce enough electric to pay for themselves?
Eventually, more NY residents will leave the state of disaster and you have helped make it that way by playing on rural ignorance, opportunists and desperation. YOU developers could have proposed smaller windfarms with better returns and better science for our area instead of being greedy for 100s of them here! YOU IDA's could consider just more than ways to keep your agencies from extinction due to lack of value. YOU supervisors should think of life here after your terms of office.
Thanks for the idea of wind energy - no thanks for shoving it down our throats in an area that should be preserved from such flawed science and huge negative impact. Sure, there are buyers for our properties that will come forward that are not offended by your plans, but we think that those of us who have had the blessing of living here without your turbines will have the best memories of all - beautiful hillsides, flocks of migrating birds and dark nights with the only twinkles coming from stars.
We are moving as soon as we successfully sell our home of 25 years and our tourist lodging will be gone. All due to the windfarms? no, there are other factors and include lousy politics, high energy costs and taxes. We would tough it out but there are better opportunities for us eslewhere - maybe Ontario County or even out to a well-managed state - out of NY. There is a long list and NYS is at the bottom. Why? If you aren't part of the solution - you are part of the problem. We really hope people vote out their poorly performing incumbents next election. They blew it last year.
As residents since 1973, we will finally, definitely and sadly, put Steuben County, and Prattsburgh - "In the Rear View Mirror".
Warm Regards,
Richard & Cynthia Cole
Riders' Rest - Falling Waters
"A Heartfelt Place to Connect in the Heart of Finger Lakes Wine Country"
E-mail: ridersrest@empacc.net
Phone: (607) 522-6100
Web: www.RidersRest.com
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