A majority of county commissioners now are against putting wind turbines at Blind Creek Park, which sends a "strong signal" to Florida Power & Light Co. they should reconsider the site, Commission Chairman Joe Smith said Friday. Commissioner Paula Lewis said Friday she is against FPL putting three wind machines on the state-owned land that is managed by the county. She said she was swayed by staff memos that said it would be impossible to replace the unique archaeological and ecological land lost at Blind Creek Park by the project. "Staff's input was there was no way to replace Blind Creek," she said. "It just isn't the place." ...Grande said he thinks it's still worth having a commission meeting devoted solely to the project and said he would definitely cast a vote one way or the other at that time. "If we turn it down, we should turn it down as quickly as possible," he said.
A majority of county commissioners now are against putting wind turbines at Blind Creek Park, which sends a "strong signal" to Florida Power & Light Co. they should reconsider the site, Commission Chairman Joe Smith said Friday. Commissioner Paula Lewis said Friday she is against FPL putting three wind machines on the state-owned land that is managed by the county. She said she was swayed by staff memos that said it would be impossible to replace the unique archaeological and ecological land lost at Blind Creek Park by the project. "Staff's input was there was no way to replace Blind Creek," she said. "It just isn't the place." ...Grande said he thinks it's still worth having a commission meeting devoted solely to the project and said he would definitely cast a vote one way or the other at that time. "If we turn it down, we should turn it down as quickly as possible," he said.
A majority of county commissioners now are against putting wind turbines at Blind Creek Park, which sends a "strong signal" to Florida Power & Light Co. they should reconsider the site, Commission Chairman Joe Smith said Friday.
Commissioner Paula Lewis said Friday she is against FPL putting three wind machines on the state-owned land that is managed by the county. She said she was swayed by staff memos that said it would be impossible to replace the unique archaeological and ecological land lost at Blind Creek Park by the project.
"Staff's input was there was no way to replace Blind Creek," she said. "It just isn't the place."
Lewis joins Commissioner Doug Coward, who has been adamantly against placing turbines on public …
... more [truncated due to possible copyright]A majority of county commissioners now are against putting wind turbines at Blind Creek Park, which sends a "strong signal" to Florida Power & Light Co. they should reconsider the site, Commission Chairman Joe Smith said Friday.
Commissioner Paula Lewis said Friday she is against FPL putting three wind machines on the state-owned land that is managed by the county. She said she was swayed by staff memos that said it would be impossible to replace the unique archaeological and ecological land lost at Blind Creek Park by the project.
"Staff's input was there was no way to replace Blind Creek," she said. "It just isn't the place."
Lewis joins Commissioner Doug Coward, who has been adamantly against placing turbines on public conservation land, and Commissioner Chris Craft, who announced Tuesday he is against FPL's total proposal.
"I think FPL should pay attention to that decision before they do anything else," said Smith, who remains undecided himself. "You can't get to yes without three votes. I've counted, and I think they should do the same."
Amy Brunjes, an FPL spokeswoman, declined to comment on Lewis' statements. However, Commissioner Charles Grande, the other undecided commissioner, said FPL officials told him this week losing Blind Creek as an option would not necessarily kill the project.
"They would consider whether or not to go forward with just the six or going forward with something they haven't imagined yet," Grande said.
Using Blind Creek requires not only the county's approval for an easement on the site, but the permission of the state Acquisition and Restoration Council, as well. The turbines are scheduled for ARC's April agenda.
Because of the size of the turbine project, the restoration council normally would have the ability to decide the matter or pass it along to Gov. Charlie Crist and the Cabinet for final approval. While the issue still might come up for discussion at the restoration council meeting, it will go no further unless the county approves of the easement, said Sarah Williams, a spokeswoman for the Department of Environmental Protection.
The county still would have to sign off on a zoning change, conditional use permit and waiver of height restrictions for the turbines.
Lewis said she hasn't made up her mind about whether the turbines could go elsewhere. In addition to the three turbines at Blind Creek Park, FPL also wants to place six turbines on its own property at the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant.
"I'm not closing the door on this issue. We still need to talk about this some more," she said.
Grande said he wants to consider the full proposal - not just the land at Blind Creek Park but also the FPL property sites - in making his final decision. He said Friday he was concerned about making sure if the county rejects the turbines because they are on land purchased with conservation money that the county consistently follows that policy in the future.
Grande said he thinks it's still worth having a commission meeting devoted solely to the project and said he would definitely cast a vote one way or the other at that time.
"If we turn it down, we should turn it down as quickly as possible," he said.
Smith said because he is chairman, he wanted to hold his vote back while other commissioners made up their minds about the project. He said he thought the commission, at a minimum, should send a letter to the state restoration council saying a majority of commissioners are against an easement at Blind Creek.
Smith hasn't taken a position on the issue and said he might not actually publicly say anything about the Blind Creek site, as the votes of the three commissioners against it make his decision moot.