After an hour-long public hearing on Thursday, Aug. 14, the Spafford town board unanimously approved a local law approving the erection of residential windmills.

Residents filled the Spafford Town Hall meeting room to speak their minds on the town's proposed regulation, a law that had already seen some revision. Many of those in attendance were in favor of the law.

"Windmills seem to have generated a lot of public interest," said Supervisor Webb Stevens at the beginning of the public hearing.

According to Stevens, following the first hearing, there were concerns about some of the wording in the proposed law allowing windmills for personal use. Added to the text of the law is that if a windmill "is not usable for a 12-month period it needs to be torn down and turned back to green," Stevens said.

There is a 60-foot height limit written into the law. However, if residents feel they need a windmill taller than the allowed height, they have the option to go before the zoning board of appeals to request permission and explain the reasons for a windmill taller than 60 feet.

Phil Peterson, a licensed engineer who lives on Nunnery Road, addressed the board, telling them, "I think what you're doing here is commendable."

According to Peterson, the 40 decibel limit the town has written into the law is "pretty quiet."

"I think when the wind blows my trees make more noise," he said.

While a majority of the crowd was in favor of the law, some residents expressed concern for the number of decibels the windmills will make and wording in the revised law regarding parcels of property.

Resident Frank Moran took issue with the decibel level as it is written in the local law.

"From what I've read, I think 30 decibels is what they recommend," Moran said.

The town's law states that "the level of noise produced during wind turbine operation shall not exceed 40 dbA, measured at the boundaries of all the closest parcels that are owned by non-site owners."

Councilman Ken Lieberman said the town performed a study in which board members rented a meter and traveled throughout the area measuring the level of noise coming from wind turbines from areas including the Town of Clay.

"We didn't register anything above a background noise," Lieberman said.
Despite Lieberman's testing for noise, Moran said he disagreed with having windmills in the community.

"I don't think they're good for the community. Any type of motorized device is going to break down," Moran said. "I think they're going to change the community tremendously."

One resident who spoke up regarding the term parcel said the term lacked a definition, leaving the term up to interpretation. While the law states that parcels of land will be limited to one windmill, some in attendance questioned subdividing land into several parcels to allow more that one windmill for personal use.

The board resolved to change the verbage of the law to state that a "subdivision that creates more than one parcel cannot be used for a windmill on each parcel as long as it is owned by the same person." According to Stevens, since the change in the law was slight, there is no need to send it back to the county for approval.

Many residents also spoke to the cost of energy and fuel. For many people, having a windmill to generate power for their homes would help reduce the cost of heating and energy bills.

Resident Steve White said that when he arrived at the public hearing, he though many people were against windmills, but that he may have been wrong.

"It's time to decide if you want to look at windmills ... or do you want to look at huge utility bills and portraits of soldiers getting killed," he said.

The town board filed a negative declaration for a state environmental quality review with the resolution to take effect immediately. They then passed the local windmill law and the crowd gave them a round of applause.