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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLetter to Bd re Original Project issues JUDE LEMKE 215 CONNECTICUT HILL ROAD NEWFIELD, NY 14867 January 8, 2017 Board of Directors Town of Enfield 168 Enfield Main Road Ithaca, NY 14850 Dear Town Board Members: The Town of Enfield has a duty to the residents of the Town of Enfield to enforce its laws, including the provisions of the Wind Energy Facilities Local Law Number 1 of 2009 (the "Wind Law"). Article III,Section 1.A. 2. requires the applicant, Black Oak Wind Farm (BOWF),to provide property owner information and authorization. Under that provision,BOWF must provide a letter or other written permission signed by such property owner that includes: • Confirmation by the property owner that he or she is familiar with the application,AND • Either: o Authorizes the submission of the application OR o Includes...[the]lease... of such owner relative to the siting of the Wind Energy Facility. To date,the Town of Enfield has not received such letters from the property owners involved in the project that is the subject of the SEQRA approvals for BOWF in January and July 2015(the"original project"). Nor do I believe, based upon the information listed below,that it will be possible for BOWF to supply such letters to the Board. BOWF and the Town of Enfield must address the following issues before any Wind Energy Permit can be issued by the Town of Enfield: • The substation,as approved in the original project, is only about 1 acre. It is clear from the DSEIS that the size of the substation has grown although nowhere in that document or any of the appendices could I find anything saying how big the modified substation would be. My understanding is that it may need to cover as much as 5 or 6 acres now which would not conform to the original project. • The substation, as approved in the original project, is on Rich Teeter's land. As the Board knows,there is a serious question as to whether it can still be built there because it appears that BOWF would need to purchase that land and it appears that Rich Teeter is not required to sell it to them;nor does he have any intention of doing so voluntarily. As BOWF points out in their Decommissioning Plan, NYISO's interconnection rules require that the ownership of the substation revert to NYSEG which would further require BOWF to have the right to transfer that ownership to NYSEG. But the only document BOWF has supplied to the Town of Enfield is a Memorandum of Option Agreement and Lease and Easement Agreement with Richard Teeter and, although incomplete,the portions of the document that have been provided make it pretty clear that BOWF only has the right to lease Rich Teeter's property, not buy it(or any portion of it). BOWF needs to provide proof that Rich Teeter has agreed to transfer ownership of the land on which the substation will be built. 11Page • There is no permanent MET tower in the original project as approved in Jan. and July 2015. The DSEIS makes clear that the addition of a permanent MET tower is a modification to the original project and therefore no permanent MET tower can be built without going through a full blown application under the Wind Law. • In the original plan, BOWF is using GE 2.3-107 MW turbines which require a setback of 194 feet but Donald and Karen Gunning's contract places their turbine only 158 feet from the Tesori's property line. (See attached letter from Stone Environmental, Inc.) According to the terms of the Gunning lease,that turbine may not be moved more than 2 meters in any one direction without the Gunning's consent and BOWF has not provided any proof that that consent is forthcoming. • The access road to Turbine 4 seems to use a 10 foot driveway easement on Parcel 18.-1-3.5. That parcel belongs to Richard Teeter, Jr. and is not part of the lease that BOWF signed with him. It would appear that converting that easement from a residential use to a commercial use may constitute an undue burden on that easement and BOWF has not provided any proof that Mr. Teeter would waive that issue. • The collection lines to Turbine 2 cross over Parcel 18.-1-3.5 that belongs to Richard Teeter,Jr. As stated above, that parcel is not included in the lease that BOWF signed with Mr. Teeter and BOWF has provided no proof that Mr. Teeter would allow those collection lines to be installed on his land. If the Town of Enfield decides to proceed with issuing a Wind Energy Permit under the Wind Law, it will be doing so in violation of the Wind Law. I am requesting on my behalf, as well as on behalf of all the residents on Connecticut Hill who have signed petitions raising concerns regarding this project, that the Town of Enfield demand that BOWF address these issues no later than January 31, 2017 if and they fail to do so, that the Town of Enfield move forward to deny the permit and close out this application. BOWF has had more than ample notice and time to address these issues and they continue to stall and ignore requests from the Town Board for letters from Mr.Teeter and from the Gunnings. We know for a fact that BOWF is in possession of a letter from Mr.Teeter in this respect and yet they have failed to produce it despite a formal request from the Board for such letter. I also request that this letter be made a part of the official town record with respect to the Black Oak Wind Farm project. Sincerely, Jude Lemke Cc: Town Clerk,Town of Enfield, NY 2 � , ® STONE ENVIRONMENTAL INC November 18,2016 Enfield Town Board Town of Enfield,NY 182 Enfield Main Road Ithaca, NY 14850 RE:Distance of Black Oak Turbine 2 from the property line Dear Enfield Town Board, The purpose of this letter is to advise the Board that the location of the turbine("contract Turbine 2") specified in the Option Agreement and Lease and Easement Agreement between and among Donald Gunning and Karen Gunning and Black Oak Wind Farm,LLC,dated August 14,2014 (the"Agreement") is only 158 feet from the nearest adjacent property line. These measurements are based upon the location of the contract Turbine 2 as specified in Section 1.01 of the Agreement(N 877434.09,E 796326.79,projection NAD 1983 State Plan New York Central,US Feet)as compared with the nearest parcel boundary information as depicted in Figure 2 of the Final Environmental Impact Statement,Appendix K[http://www.blackoakwindny.com/wp-contenVuploads/Acoustic-Modeling-Report-February-192014.pdfl ("Appendix K of the FEIS"). The location of the contract Turbine 2 as specified in the Agreement differs from the location of the turbine labeled as Turbine 2 in Appendix K of the FEIS (the"FEIS Turbine 2"). The location of the FEIS Turbine 2 appears to be the same location as was submitted to FAA and found at [https://ocaaa.faa.gov/oeaaa/externaVsearchAction.jsp?action=display0ECase&oeCaseID=255048185&row=4].The contract Turbine 2 location (N 877434.09,E 796326.79,projection NAD 1983 State Plan New York Central,US Feet) is 24 feet south of the FEIS Turbine 2 location submitted to FAA and used in Appendix K of the FEIS.Had the Agreement used the FEIS Turbine 2 location and Figure 2 of the Environmental Impact Statement,Appendix K,the distance between Turbine 2 and the nearest parcel boundary would have been 181 feet. Esri's ArcGIS v.10.3.1 software was used to locate the contract Turbine 2 based on the coordinates specified in the contract. The coordinates were provided in feet(NAD 1983 State Plan New York Central,US Feet). Esri's ArcGIS v.10.3.1 software was also used to georeference Figure 2 of the Final Environmental Impact Statement,Appendix K to determine location of parcel boundaries. Using the measurement tool in the GIS software,the distance between Turbine 2 and the parcel boundary was measured in feet based on the NAD 1983 State Plan New York Central,US Feet projection.There is likely some error in these calculations due to the georeferencing process.The georeferencing reported a root mean square error of 2.6 feet.This analysis assumes that the parcel boundaries depicted in Figure 2 submitted by Black Oak in the FEIS are accurate. 535 Stone Cutters Way, Montpelier,VT 05602 / 'hone: 802.229,4541 / Fax: 802.229.5417 / www.stone-env.com Page 2 This work was completed by Stone Environmental in Montpelier,Vermont,a consulting firm with over 20 years of experience in GIS technology and analysis. Sincerely, Katie Budreski,Senior GIS Specialist kbudrrski(n stony rin.com 802.229,1870 535 Stone Cutters Way,Montpelier VT 05602 www.stone-env.com Phone:802 229-4541 Fax:802.229.5417