FOUNTAIN SPRINGS - If Tuesday's Butler Township supervisors' meeting was any indication, the controversy about placing wind turbines in the township is not going to blow over any time soon.

For about two hours, the supervisors heard arguments from a standing-room-only group of residents who made it clear that the windmills are not wanted, mainly citing health concerns as their reasons.

In order to allow enough time and have enough space to accommodate local residents and people from neighboring communities, the supervisors decided a public meeting will be held in a larger room. The date and location will be announced, officials said, adding that they will seek to have representatives from Broad Mountain Development Co., which plans to construct the wind turbines, attend along with township planning commission and zoning hearing board members.

The proposed project is to construct 27 wind turbines in the township on 1,300 acres in and around the Fountain Springs area by BMD, which is a Jack Rich family company.

Attending the meeting to represent BMD was attorney Martin J. Cerullo. William Parulis of WJP Engineering, the consulting firm retained by the township to review the proposed plan with regard to the township's subdivision and land use ordinance, also attended. WJP was hired to do the preliminary studies since township engineer, William Anders, works for Lehigh Engineering, which has been retained by BMD, though Anders is not directly involved in the wind turbine project. Lisa Karavage, chairwoman of the Butler Township Planning Commission, also attended.

Supervisors Chairman Kevin Kowalick fielded questions from the residents, as did code enforcement officer Tom Squires, who took some heat for issuing a permit to BMD early in 2008 allowing a structure higher than the 35-foot height limit on the land in question. Although issuing of the permit was within his authority, Squires but was asked repeatedly about the permit.

Durin the give-and-take, it was discovered that BMD had constructed a meteorological tower to study winds in the area, with the information to eventually be used in the wind turbine project. Several residents said they could see the tower.

Kowalick and Squires said that while BMD had the height permit, it had not received a building permit from the township to place anything on the property. Kowalick told Cerullo that the tower must be dismantled and removed immediately, adding that township solicitor Christopher Riedlinger would begin the legal paperwork after the meeting to have the tower removed.

Kowalick said that for every day BMD is in violation, the company could be liable for a fine of up to $500 plus court and legal costs.

Early in the meeting, the supervisors approved an extension request by BMD for its project plans that will be reviewed by the planning commission. Kowalick said the 90-day extension was necessary to approve or the BMD 'plans would have been automatically approved.

"The extension gives everyone enough time to get answers, listen to the public's concerns, and make the determination on how to move," Karavage said. "They're preliminary plans and they're in a holding pattern. They're not going anywhere. And we, the planning commission, will not move on it until we're comfortable that these questions are answered and we're all on the same page. We are not going to move forward and make recommendations to the supervisors to move on this. If the 90 days come and go and we can't make it, then we'll have to talk about readjusting it altogether if we are not, as a whole, comfortable with the betterment of our township and our people. That comes first."

She stressed that the comission only makes recommendations to the supervisors. She also said there are zoning issues that would not be part of the planning commission's authority, but would come under the purview of the zoning hearing board.

Even though each wind turbine is expected to cost about $3 million, the actual appraisal according to state guidelines (Act 157) will be $80,000. The estimated tax revenue to the township will be about $21,000 annually.

"If we have to approve them, we're certainly not going to do so because of the money," said Kowalick. "We have a budget of over a million dollars. Believe me, $21,000 is not going to help our township."

"The advertisement (for the public information meeting) will state what we're going to do, what the purpose of the meeting is," Kowalick said. "Hopefully, we'll have an orderly meeting and discuss this intelligently. We'll let Mr. Cerullo's people answer the questions. You may not want to hear what they have to say, but at least we'll give them the opportunity ... and you'll have the opportunity to do the same."

Kowalick said if the supervisors need a good foundation to stand on if the project is rejected.

"We need a legal reason to reject the plans and we have a good start here tonight," Kowalick said.

Township resident John Karavage said it is important that residents from the surrounding municipalities be informed about attending the public meeting, especially teachers and students in the North Schuylkill School District who will be in the school buildings in the general area of the proposed wind turbines.