Ocean Gate windmills draw mixed reviews

OCEAN GATE - This town is a half-mile long beach bungalow site on Barnegat Bay whose population swells to 5,000 in the summer from 2,200 offseason. American flags flutter on every street and driveways are as likely to sport motor boats as cars.

The tiny Ocean County borough has also become the epicenter of a debate about a state initiative designed to promote the installation of wind turbines in small towns with minimal input from residents.

Three months ago, Ocean Gate was abuzz with excitement as it prepared to celebrate a windmill, which local officials said would lower the electric bills at the municipal building. But shortly after the switch was turned on, problems began.

Residents living on three sides of the turbine began to complain about the noise - a constant metallic drone - as well as light reflecting off the rotors. With the prospect of another 50-kilowatt windmill being built in the next year, the complaints have gotten louder.

"It has stirred up the whole town." said resident Ed Brink, who lives near the beach.

For municipal officials, green is good business. Grant money and federal stimulus money is available for hybrid vehicles and renewable energy projects and officials can save their towns money and get credit for saving the environment. Along those lines, Ocean Gate had pushed to be the first municipality in the state to have its own windmill, and to adopt a model ordinance drafted by the Board of Public Utilities that removed much of the red tape surrounding the installation.

Municipal leaders were able to offset the $325,000 cost of the turbine with a $102,000 grant from New Jersey's Clean Energy Fund.

But, as Ocean Gate has found, trying to halve the municipal building's $24,000 annual electric bill by installing a 145-foot tall windmill may not have been worth the effort. Not when a vocal group of unhappy residents feel their quality of life has been compromised.

"The level of noise that the wind turbine produces keeps me from sleeping, it also prevents me from reading during the day even inside the house," said Kenneth Shellhamer, who estimates his house is less than 700 feet from the turbine.

Land use policy is at the heart of the issue in Ocean Gate and in other communities looking to invest in wind power.

James Fry, 65, a retired engineer who moved to Ocean Gate full-time 14 months ago, has been a driving force behind the windmill project, along with Mayor Paul Kennedy.

"It will help stabilize taxes, and over 30 years, save $1 million to $1.5 million on the town's electric bill," said Fry who has been assisting the BPU in promoting the new model ordinance in forums around the state. "It's an issue of sovereignty rule, where municipalities get to decide what they want in terms of height and lot size."

The ordinance, which has been adopted by eight other towns, including Hillsborough in Somerset County, exempts windmills from local zoning regulations. That means the normal public review process homeowners go through when they modify their property is eliminated.

Ocean Gate didn't need to pass the ordinance, since its windmill is on municipal property, but it did anyway. In addition, it was required to make public notice of the project to get a permit from the Department of Environmental Protection. Many residents say they missed the public notices, and, in fact, no one showed up at the hearings for the permits, the mayor said.

Allowing windmills to bypass zoning requirements sets a bad precedent, said Bill Dressel, executive director of the League of Municipalities, which opposed the ordinance and related state legislation.

"There are quality of life issues that have to be adhered to," Dressel said. "The whole process of going through the zoning board is to ensure that public safety, quality of life and the local character of the community is saved."

The problem the town faces as it grapples with noise complaints about the first turbine is what to do about the second, which is going up next to the water treatment plant and has already been fully financed.

"As far as the second turbine goes, our municipal attorney has advised the governing council, ‘if you're not sure of your answer,' let the engineers and the attorney reply," Kennedy said.

Rose Kindon lives far enough away from the turbine that she hears it outside of her house but not inside. She and her husband have started attending council meetings to get involved in future decisions about wind power.

"What (we're) concerned about is the quality of life of the people who live in the impact zone," said Kindon who has lived in town for 50 years, and her husband for 70. "Why is their property and well-being any less valuable than somebody else who lives on the other end of town?"