Windhorse Power's turbines are allowed in Beekmantown - again.

Though approved by the Beekmantown Zoning Board of Appeals in early 2007, an Article 78 proceeding had kept the project in legal limbo.

But the New York State Appellate Court recently upheld a State Supreme Court decision from Aug. 23, 2007. That decision dismissed the Article 78 proceeding started by the West Beekmantown Neighborhood Association in March 2007.

The group had sought to overturn a conditional-use permit issued by the Beekmantown Zoning Board to allow the project.

The Neighborhood Association "primarily contended that the ZBA erroneously determined that Windhorse was entitled to a conditional-use permit as a public utility providing an essential service, as defined by the town zoning law, and that the ZBA failed to conduct an adequate review of the ... State Environmental Quality Review Act," said the Appeals Court decision.

The justices disagreed, saying the zoning law did not define what a "public utility" was beyond, in this case, something that generates electricity, "a useful public service" that would also be regulated by the Public Service Commission.

Regarding the review process, the Appellate Court said the Zoning Board had considered various studies, hired an outside consulting firm, held numerous public meetings to allow residents to voice their concerns and issued an elaborate declaration of decision.

Such a process served to discount the Neighborhood Association's claims of an inadequate review, the justices said.

And although Windhorse Power had made changes to the proposed project to meet public concerns during that initial review process, all three bodies decided it wasn't enough to require the developers to re-submit their proposal.

"The mere circumstance that modifications may have been made to a proposal is an insufficient basis to nullify a negative declaration otherwise properly issued," the Appellate Court ruled in response to the claim by the Neighborhood Association against the Zoning Board.

The Neighborhood Association had also argued that during the initial Zoning Board hearings, an alternate board member was allowed as a sixth member of the board that challenged determinations and voted. The association asserted that this was illegal under town law.

The appeals court said this contention, too, was without merit along with all the remaining claims.

The conditional-use permit allows Windhorse Power to erect 13 wind turbines at 80 meters across 700 acres of land in a residentially zoned portion of Beekmantown.

Any changes to the proposal at this point would be subject to reassessment by the Zoning Board.