Naples, N.Y. - As the town of Naples continues to push for increased setbacks on wind towers planned near the Prattsburgh town line, Supervisor Frank Duserick continues to seek input from those who've had up-close experience with the turbines.

The Town Board most recently heard from Cohocton Town Justice Hal Graham, who signed a lease with First Wind for a turbine that began operating in January on his Lent Hill Road property, about 2,000 feet from his house. He now calls it a mistake.

Since First Wind's Cohocton wind development went live - and even prior to that, during the construction phase - nearby homeowners have complained about turbine noise. Graham likened the noise from the tower on his property and another on a neighbor's property that's only 1,050 feet away to jet engines.

"It's a constant grinding, whining noise," he said later. "You walk outside the house and it sounds like planes are in the sky all the time. You wake up at two or three in the morning, and it's impossible to get back to sleep."

Graham said he and his wife had been anxious about possible noise from the turbines, but that the developer had reassured them their concerns were unfounded.

"We said from day one, we don't want noise," he recalled. "We were constantly assured that at 900 feet, the noise would only be like the hum of a refrigerator. We believed that."

Graham was also reassured by neighbors who took bus trips to operating wind farms, and who came back reporting the noise was negligible. But it's not just the noise making Graham unhappy.

He said original plans called for white lights shining up in the air, like lights on an airport landing strip. Instead, the towers have flashing red lights, and Graham said he was shocked at their brightness and reach.

"My wife and I were coming back from Canandaigua at night, and I said, ‘My God, what have we done to our neighbors?'" he recalled.

Graham said, however, the yearly check wasn't the reason he and his wife signed the lease.

Rather, they were concerned about global warming.

"We thought we were going to do something good - that these things made good, clean, green energy," he said.

Now, after logging hours of research on wind turbines, it seems like an inaccurate perception.

Though it's true that wind power is a renewable resource - unlike fossil fuels - Graham pointed out that the power produced is intermittent. When the wind doesn't blow, energy customers have to fall back on other sources like coal or nuclear power, which remain on stand-by in case they are needed.

As a participating landowner who has a lease with First Wind, Graham is viewed as a "co-applicant" of the developer under local law, and Cohocton officials have told him that rather than seeking assistance from the town, he must direct noise complaints directly to the company.

So far, Graham says he hasn't gotten a response to his calls to First Wind.

The town of Cohocton is taking a look, however, at complaints from non-participating landowners, and Supervisor Jack Zigenfus wrote a letter to First Wind last month saying the town may need to take action if noise levels don't comply with local laws or the terms of the development's special use permits. Sound monitoring done at property lines of non-participating landowners have so far shown that noise levels don't exceed permitted levels of 50 decibels, but Zigenfus pointed out that the levels may still exceed what was projected by First Wind's consultants during planning review.

First Wind spokesperson John Lamontagne said the company is working with the town on the sound monitoring, and that they have established a sound complaint hotline.

"We understand there are concerns about sound and are working with residents, the town and the turbine manufacturer to ensure we are in compliance with town statutes and determine if there are ways to mitigate the sound," Lamontagne said.

Some of the turbines are turned off for warranty maintenance work to their blades through their manufacturer, Clipper Windpower, which has also been conducting sound testing. Clipper spokesperson Mary Gates reiterated that the turbines are operating per the sound requirements, and said that the company is looking at whether adjustments can be made to further dampen the sound.

For Duserick, who has been hearing concerns about the siting of wind towers in neighboring towns for the past few years he's held office, Graham's story didn't come as a surprise.

"I think it's important to get into the record that people that approved towers on their own property now think it's an error - at least, one did," Duserick said, noting that he also sent an e-mail inviting First Wind to share their side of the story, although he hasn't yet heard back.

Duserick has explained that Naples is not against wind towers, but that the Town Board does want to see them properly sited. He is now looking into whether county officials will help support the town's position in protesting the placement of several towers slated to be put up by developer Ecogen on Knapp Hill, near the Prattsburgh-Naples town line. The nearest tower is within 489 feet of Naples landowner John Servo's property line, and the town has lodged formal protests that this is effectively "reverse zoning," limiting Naples landowners from full use of their property for safety reasons.

Servo also told the board that despite developers' claims that wind farms would not adversely affect property values, a recent appraisal of the 25-acre parcel owned by his wife near the Steuben County line - where Ecogen's turbines are planned - came back with a reduced value.

That value dropped, he said, because the land was deemed too close to the future turbines.

Based on the appraisal, the Naples assessor lowered their assessment by 60 percent.
Servo later pointed out that if such a trend continues, the shifting tax base could affect residents in other parts of town.

"If all the property near the turbines gets devalued and the town's budget stays the same, doesn't it seem like everybody else's taxes will go up?" he asked.

While Naples has made attempts to protest plans for the siting of towers in Prattsburgh, so far it has received little response. A letter the town sent to the Public Service Commission in December asking that the agency mandate greater setbacks has gone unanswered, and discussions with the State Attorney General's office haven't yet yielded a commitment for action on the issue.

Many Naples and Prattsburgh residents are hoping that after airing concerns on the siting of proposed Prattsburgh wind towers at Congressman Eric Massa's latest Town Hall meeting held in Naples on May 1, they may have found a champion.

"He promised he would take a look at the issues," said Duserick, noting that more than half of the meeting was spent discussing wind development.