PERRY -- The proposed Dairy Hills wind farm application has been declared null and void.
The Town Board voted 4-1 on Wednesday to stand by the deadline set at its March meeting. The board also voted unanimously to enact a 12-month moratorium to revisit its wind energy law.
A public hearing on the moratorium has been set for 7:30 p.m. June 2. Location has been tentatively set for the Perry Firemen's Building in the Village Park.
Horizon Wind Energy announced in October it was freezing the Dairy Hills State Environmental Quality Review process due to uncertainty over the project.
The Town Board set a 30-day deadline at its March meeting, asking the developer to state in writing if it wished to continue the SEQR process. The company replied at the last minute that it wished to keep the project on hold.
The moratorium will allow the town to re-examine and potentially change its wind energy law, Town Supervisor James Brick said. That could include new height limitations if the town chooses.
Councilman Gerald Sahrle said the moratorium could also be extended if necessary. He and his wife Valary were founding members of Citizens for a Healthy Rural Neighborhood, which opposed the project.
The nullification of Horizon's application is the latest step in an often-grueling, five-year process which has caused much controversy in the town. But board members were reluctant to say it's the end.
"You've got to give us some time, I think, to digest it," said Councilwoman Tracy Rozanski when asked for her reaction. "And I don't know if it's faded away."
"Maybe we should have set a time limit to begin with, but who knows?" Sahrle added. "It's hindsight."
Brick said the Town Board felt it should be in control of the process and not Horizon. He said the DEIS is a town document.
Brick was the single Town Board member to vote against nullifying Horizon's application. He said this morning that he favored leaving the project in abeyance if Horizon wanted.
Towers weren't being put up, and maybe something could have been worked out in the future which would have allowed some sort of wind farm option, Brick said. He believes the nullification is pushing Horizon out.
"If they want to leave, they can leave, but this way we're driving them out, and I don't agree with that," he said.
The Dairy Hills Wind Farm was proposed in 2005. It was subject to a major revision last year which reduced its size from 60 to 38 turbines.
Horizon officials said they were just learning of the Town Board's decision this morning and were not in a position to comment.
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