Welcome to the Windmills and Zoning Boards web page.  This page was created to share with others the information we obtained while getting a windmill permit approved.   Many town-ships in the U.S. regulate the type and size of structures erected in their jurisdiction.  Each town-ship can have its own regulations.  Therefore, our experience may not directly relate to your situation, but the windmill-related information we gathered may be useful in defending your position.  We spent many hours locating the information contained in this web site.  We hope we can spare like-minded individuals a few hours of searching for windmill facts by presenting what we learned.

In February 1998, my wife and I met with representatives of the Building and Planning Office (BPO) of the Town where we hoped to purchase nine acres of land.   We discussed our desire to purchase the land, build a home, and erect a windmill.   The Town representative could foresee no problem with our plan and hoped we could avoid going before the Town Planning Board.  When the public notice was posted regarding our ideas, a small, but vocal opposition formed to block our plans.  So began a four month fight with the Town Planning Board and indirectly with the noisy neighbors.

The Town of Penfield, where we planned to erect the windmill, already had a special-use permit pertaining to windmills in their zoning rulebook.  In theory, if we could demonstrate that our windmill met the requirements, the permit would be approved.   Because of the loud opposition, an open Planning Board meeting had to occur.   This meeting allowed us to present our windmill proposal and the opposing neighbors to voice their concerns to the Board and anyone interested enough to attend the meeting or view the proceedings on a local cable TV channel.  The Planning Board would then vote whether the special use permit should be granted or denied.

A special-use permit should be the easiest path to take to gain approval for windmill erection.  Many towns may not have rules regarding windmills and therefore a special-use permit cannot be obtained.  Then an area variance or a zoning variance must be obtained.  In general, a variance is more difficult to obtain.  You will be asking the town to make an exception to their rules especially for you.

We were purchasing land which was a 20 minute drive from where we currently lived.   Therefore, we found it unreasonable to contact people we never met to encourage them to support our windmill idea.  We had hoped to keep a low profile since the Town representative felt a Planning Board meeting would not be necessary.  For those who want to erect a windmill on land they already reside on, it may help to try a different approach.  A number of experts recommend letting your neighbors know about your windmill plans early in the process.  Educate your neighbors about windmills to avoid dis-information.  This may help avoid many of the problems we encountered.   Given human nature, do not expect support if you have caused headaches for your neighbors in the past.  Then the question becomes how hard to push to erect an unwelcome windmill.

Open Planning Board Meeting

Following the presentation of our proposed home and windmill, the floor was open to the community at large.  The major concerns expressed by our potential neighbors are as follows. 

We were forced to obtain facts to refute each charge by the concerned neighbors.  Follow the links to read more about each issue and locate information that may help in your windmill struggle.

Every two weeks we attended closed Planning Board meetings.  We would submit documents addressing previously raised concerns.  The seven Board members would then discuss the topic.  Each meeting ended with a request for more information and the windmill issue would be tabled until the next meeting.  One Board member was placed in charge of organizing and presenting the windmill topic.  At the second meeting when this Board member asked the BPO representative if he could vote the proposal down, we knew we had a long battle ahead.  Fortunately, the BPO representative reminded the Board member that a special-use permit could not be denied unless concrete violations of their regulations would occur by issuing the permit.

By the third or fourth meeting it became clear that most of what we submitted was never reviewed by any of the Board members.  In addition, only one of the seven Board members ever took enough interest in the case to visit a nearby windmill.  Within five miles of the Planning Board meeting location is a 20 kW, 30 foot diameter rebuilt Jacobs on a 95 foot free-standing lattice tower.  This windmill is four times larger than our proposed windmill (based on power output and swept area).  The interested Board member stated that singing birds were louder than the Jacobs windmill.  Even with this internal report, noise remained an issue.

The entire process was an education in local government and politics.  Even with all the evidence we submitted, two Board members remained opposed to the windmill, but had no legitimate basis for their opposition.  After the final vote, we realized that these two Board members personally knew one of the opposing neighbors.  It was then clear that political outcomes are often based on who you know, and not the law.  If it were not for a sympathetic BPO representative, our tenacity, and threats of a lawsuit if they had no legal basis for denying the permit, we would have lost.

The final vote was four (4) for, and three (3) opposed.  Our special-use permit to erect a windmill barely passed.  It had taken four months, hundreds of hours, and a few sleepless nights to get to this point.  The ruling of the Planning Board consisted of a four page document outlining exactly what we have to do to comply with their rules.  In addition, after our windmill is erected, sound measurements must be taken.  If the windmill creates more noise at the nearest property line than the ambient night time noise, we will be forced to remove the windmill.  The battle continues.....

 

Reference Documents

Our windmill and site
We are erecting a Whisper 175 wind turbine on a 105 foot tall guyed tilt-up pipe tower.  The pipe tower is five (5) inch diameter schedule 40 metal pipe.  It will be painted dark green to blend in with surrounding trees.  The site is a nine acre bowling alley shaped parcel in an area zoned as rural agricultural.  Our nearest neighbors to the North will be 500 feet away from the windmill and behind a tree line.  The next nearest neighbors are over 1,000 feet away to the South and East.  See the site maps for more details.

Wildlife
Significant concern exists regarding windmills killing birds.  The highest recorded birdkills come from Altamont Pass in California, USA.  This wind farm has over 7,000 industrial-sized windturbines on lattice towers.  Altamont Pass is a raptor (hawk, eagle, etc) migration route.  Raptors land on the cross bars of the lattice tower.  When they spot prey, they at times do not notice the spinning blades when taking flight and hit the blades.  Recent studies suggest that if smooth monopole towers are used, the raptors have nowhere to land and do not go near the windmills.

The situation in Altamont Pass does not apply to most small residential turbines.   A report compiled by the California Energy Commission demonstrates that windmills kill no more birds than any other man-made structure.  Radio towers, cars, electrical wires, and even picture windows are more deadly to birds than are small residential windmills.  Anecdotal evidence from a nearby lattice-towered 30 foot diameter rotor wind turbine would support this study.  In the three plus years of operation, not a single bird has been found dead near the windmill.

An excellent article by Mick Sangrillo in Home Power magazine provides more background for the interested reader.  Follow the Wildlife link to get this article.

Noise
Almost every machine that humans have made creates some level of noise.  Windmills are no exception.  They produce sound when turning.  Most of the noise is created by air moving over the wind turbine's blades.  Therefore, the sound produced is not mechanical.  It is more like a "whoa-whoa-whoa" natural sound.   Some turbines, like the Jacobs, use a drive train.  This collection of gears can produce machine-type noise.  Wind turbines do not produce sound until the wind is moving fast enough (usually 6-10 mph) to turn the rotor.  This means that the peace of a quiet summer morning will not be shattered by the sounds of a windmill.  When the wind is strong enough to generate electricity, trees, bushes, and other objects are also making noise.

There is both a character and an intensity to noise.  The character issue is very listener specific.  A leaky faucet dripping water does not produce much sound, but that noise can drive a person crazy if they choose to listen to it.  The same is true of a windmill.  Because character is too difficult to measure, the intensity of the windmill-generated noise is often measured.  Sound intensity meters exist.  Even this measurement is difficult to perform accurately when outside.  See the Noise link to learn more about windmills and noise. 

Property Values
To the best of my knowledge, windmills have never been shown to decrease property values.  We were unable to locate any scientific studies that addressed this issue.   This is probably in part due to the huge number of variables that cannot be controlled for in the real estate market.  We had to rely on expert opinions regarding property values.  Anecdotal information from the BPO representative suggests that similar studies were conducted on cellular telephone towers.  These studies did not demonstrate reduced property values for homes near cell towers.

Character of the Neighborhood
When other concerns of the neighbors were refuted by facts, the argument against the windmill was based on ruining the character of the neighborhood.  Because the character of a neighborhood is hard to quantify, we had to attack this problem differently.  We gathered information about the neighborhood.  This included narrative and photographs.  We showed utility poles with wires near every house in the neighborhood, antenna and water towers in residential areas, and propane tanks in neighbor's front yards.  We also turned to the Town's own documents regarding the neighborhood's zoning rules and the Town's Master Plan for the area.   These revealed we were in a rural agricultural area.  We could put in a pig farm and a 100 foot tall silo without a question.  The Master Plan book said the Town was supposed to encourage uses that would keep the area rural, not residential.  The windmill fit right in with this directive.  Follow the link for more details.

Local Energy Tower Rules
This link takes you to an on-line copy of the Town of Penfield's Energy Tower regulations for a special-use permit.

Court Decision
A couple in our County had a similar fight with their Town Board regarding the erection of a windmill.  Their Town Board denied the permit so they took the Town to court.  The court decided the Town had no legal basis to deny the erection of a windmill. The Town's decision was overturned and the couple was allowed to erect a windmill.  This link takes you to a copy of the court's decision.

New York State Energy Code
This is a copy of the New York State's energy code that addresses windmills.   Other states may have similar documents.

New York State Energy Office Letter
The New York State Energy Office no longer exists due to budgetary cuts.  This letter was written by the Energy Office in support of another's local fight for a windmill.  It makes a number of good points that can be helpful for others.

FAA Document
This is a letter from the FAA that deals with tower height and the need to have a light on the tower.

Approval Document
This is the final document outlining the regulations our windmill must adhere to.   It also details the Town's reasons for approving the energy tower special-use permit.

 

Differing Viewpoints

Neighbor's Letters
A number of neighbors sent letters to the Planning Board regarding our proposed windmill.  Some of these are reproduced here so readers can get a flavor for the opposition.  All but one were opposed to the windmill for the reasons stated above.   From our perspective, many of their fears were not based on fact.  We decided much of the opposition was due to the attitude of "not in my backyard" mentality.  The most tenacious neighbor was concerned about the noise the windmill would make. That family lives over 1,000 feet away from the windmill.  If they can hear the windmill at that distance, it will be only as background noise.  The neighbor nearest to the windmill did not seem worried about the noise.  He was just opposed to the entire idea.  During one planning board meeting, another Town member was trying to get approval to create a small lake near a residential area so he could water-ski in his backyard.  Our nearest neighbor stated he would rather have the power boat than the windmill.

Our Letters
We wrote many letters to the Town in support of our windmill.  Most of these letters are reproduced here.  Much of the information is repeated in each letter because Planning Board members did not appear to read most of what we submitted in answer to their requests for information.

Newspaper Articles
A few local newspapers reported on the windmill controversy.  There was even a political cartoon on the topic.

 

For those who want to learn more about renewable energy, visit Home Power Magazine's web site.  You can even download a copy of the current issue.  The following quote is how Home Power describes itself.

Home Power magazine is the Hands-on Journal of Home-Made Power. If you are interested in: making your own electricity from renewable energy, alternative vehicles, or finding out the latest in related technologies and life-styles, then this publication can keep you up to date.


This web page was created and is maintained by Douglas Stockman