Municipal District of Pincher Creek held a meeting to decide on whether or not to re-zone parcels of land North of the Oldman River so that more wind farm development could occur in the area.

Presently some of the land around the existing wind farms is zoned for agriculture and has to be re-zoned as Wind Farm Industrial in order for the proposed project to proceed.

Steven Xuereb of Mainstream Renewable Power explained that proper avenues of study and research have been done and found that the development would have little impact on area residents.

"We have studied the sound levels and impacts and feel that we have come up with a sound proposal and hope that the MD will proceed with the re-zoning," said Xuereb.

"I understand that area residents are concerned with shadows and blinking lights, as well as the sound levels associated with the turbines, and what would be done if the noise levels exceeded the set 45 decibels"

MD Reeve Rod Cyr asked Xuereb what actually would be done if sound levels exceeded the set limit to which Xuereb replied "It would be up to you as the MD to instruct us as to how we would proceed with fixing the problem."

Alan and Betty Vaughn, who live near the site where the new development will be located, are opposing the re-zoning of the land. In a letter to Roland Milligan, development officer for the MD the Vaughns said that when they first approached Mainstream Renewable Power, they were assured that their concerns would be taken into consideration, and that they would work with them to come up with solutions. Later the Wind farm company advised the Vaughns "they need not take our concerns into account at all. That they are meeting the minimum rules as set by the MD."

The letter then went on to say "approval of the re-zoning of this quarter at this time is detrimental to us, and throws into question the integrity of the development permit review process... We ask that there be a deferral of the re-zoning until/unless Mainstream more seriously considers our concerns and takes steps to address them."

Xuereb disagreed with the statement saying.

"As well as taking their concerns into consideration, we also have to take into account the other land owners and stakeholders, as well as considerations of Sustainable Resource Development," said Xuereb.

"We chose the best compromise which reduced the number of turbines we had planned to build from five to three. We also did impact studies as to raptor and agricultural impact, so we feel we have addressed their concerns and have done our best to accommodate them."

Concerns about the re-zoning of the area also had members of the Oldman River Antique Equipment and Threshing Club concerned that the re-zoning could impact their ability to expand or install new buildings or expand.

But the MD assured members that the museum would not be affected by the re-zoning and the municipality would consider special zoning for the museum.

MD council decided to take the information into consideration and a decision on the re-zoning will be made at a future date.