The Town Board recently agreed to collaborate on a letter to the state attorney general asking his office to intervene in a conflict between a Naples property owner and a company that plans to build a wind farm in Prattsburgh.
The board wants the attorney general to require that windmills be set back far enough from the town line to allow Naples homeowners full use of their property.
John Servo, president of the citizens group Advocates for Prattsburgh and owner of several properties on Knapp Hill in Naples, asked the board to take this step to try to prevent Ecogen from building five 400-foot turbines within 489 feet of his property line. The turbines are scheduled for construction next year.
The neighboring town of Cohocton, where First Wind is completing construction of a wind farm, passed a local law requiring towers to be at least 1,500 feet from a residence. While the town of Prattsburgh has no minimum distance for tower placement, setbacks for the Ecogen project, established through an environmental impact study, ranged from a minimum of 489 feet to a maximum of 1,375 feet, with year-round residences placed at the higher end of the spectrum.
Servo argues that the Prattsburgh turbines would diminish the values of neighboring homes and create noise and safety issues. The turbines planned near his home would prevent full use of his property, he added.
By putting the turbines near the town line, town Supervisor Frank Duserick agreed that developers force Naples residents to limit the use of their property. “It’s reverse zoning,” he said.
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