The debate got heated Monday as opponents of wind turbine projects urged the Town of Essex council to delay any more zoning approvals until the regulations from Ontario's new Green Energy Act kick in. Coun. Paul Innes got into a shouting match with one resident -- farmer Colette McLean -- and asked that she be thrown out. However, tempers calmed and McLean finished her pitch for a municipal delay.

The debate got heated Monday as opponents of wind turbine projects urged the Town of Essex council to delay any more zoning approvals until the regulations from Ontario's new Green Energy Act kick in.

Coun. Paul Innes got into a shouting match with one resident -- farmer Colette McLean -- and asked that she be thrown out.

However, tempers calmed and McLean finished her pitch for a municipal delay given the potential for stricter turbine noise regulation from the province in a matter of months.

But in a 4-2 vote, council approved the rezoning for the five-turbine, $30-million North Malden project by Gengrowth LP1 in the town's Colchester North ward.

It's the second time council has met on the rezoning for this project after finding out the notice given to the public -- and some councillors -- wasn't sufficient two weeks ago.

Stephen D'Agostino, lawyer for Gengrowth, said the company was hoping to move the project along to take advantage of federal grant programs that may be exhausted soon.

D'Agostino said he was also confident that the Gengrowth North Malden project would essentially meet the proposed provincial regulations now in the public comment stage.

McLean wasn't convinced. "We should be waiting to see how this works out (with the new regulations)," she said.

The Town of Essex has set a minimum setback from turbines to homes not hosting one at 450 metres.

McLean noted that the minimum setback in the proposed provincial regulations is 550 metres.

The province is also talking about a turbine regulation setting an upper limit of 40 decibels on the measurement of noise at nearby homes, McLean said.

This standard could also prove more difficult to meet than current environmental regulations, she said.

Deputy Mayor Richard Meloche tried to get the Gengrowth rezoning modified to impose a 500-metre setback of turbines from homes, but didn't get support.

Coun. Ron Rogers argued without success for a tougher standard of a 550-metre setback.

Mayor Ron McDermott and councillors Innes, Peter Timmins and Randy Voakes voted for the rezoning under the town's current 450-metre setback.

D'Agostino said it's difficult to predict what the final regulations will be under the Green Energy Act anyway.

He said that he doesn't expect the regulations to be finalized until perhaps October, even with the government's promise of quick action on the issue.

Once those regulations are proclaimed, any existing turbine project which does not have all its municipal and other approvals in place will have to conform to the Green Energy Act, D'Agostino said.

At the same time, municipal councils will cease to have any planning approval over wind turbines, he said.

The difficulty for wind turbine developers is that the Green Energy Act is a little vague about what constitutes a needed "approval" under existing law, D'Agostino said in an interview.

Bids Sought

Town council will need a special meeting in early July to expedite tender calls for two projects that got federal and provincial grants last Friday, said administrator Wayne Miller.

Essex got $2.75 million in grants to build a soccer park in Harrow and a library and community centre in McGregor.

Drawings are being rushed and the choice of a site for the library should be decided by the end of June, Miller said. "It looks fairly positive."

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