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The $3,000 Portage Township will reimburse Washington indicates the good working relationship among localities in the Mainline, Ray Guzic, a Washington supervisor, said on Friday.
"I think I can speak for all three of the Washington supervisors and to Portage Township.
"We owe them a big thank-you," Guzic said.
The settlement, approved by Portage Township this week, should end a year-old boundary issue that surfaced after Portage officials said they were short-changed by Gamesa Energy USA developers of the wind farm. Three of the turbines are in Cambria County and two in Blair County.
Gamesa's reading of the county line had two of the turbines originally believed to be in Portage Township over into Juniata Township. Along with it went the $3,000 per-turbine fee the municipalities receive annually as a host.
After Washington also questioned the placement of a handful of turbines, the Portage and Washington townships hired a land surveyor and the county line - long disputed in the two townships - was walked by experts.
The results were favorable for Portage, but brought no change for Washington.
Guzic said his township paid "somewhere around" $3,000 for its share of the survey and is pleased to learn it was not money lost.
In talks which included Babcock & Brown, the new owners of the wind farm, it was decided that Juniata would keep $12,000 in host fees it received for the two turbines in 2006 and 2007.
The accord was opposed by former Portage Supervisor Richard Olshavsky because the township lost money in the deal.
But Supervisor James Kovach said it is the best resolution to allow everyone to move forward.
The agreement keeps the municipalities out of court and the annual installments coming to Portage Township. The payments should total about $180,000 for the two turbines over the projected lifetime of the wind farm.
Portage Township solicitor C.J. Webb said, "This agreement should finalize things."
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