By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
The Cattaraugus County Industrial Development Agency has announced it will hold three public hearings Dec . 30 on the application for tax breaks for the proposed $618 million Alle-Catt wind farm. The announcement comes after the IDA failed to set dates for the Public hearing at its December meeting. It is unclear how the hearings were scheduled outside of a public IDA meeting.
The public hearings on Alle-Catt’s application for a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement will be held beginning at 10 a.m. at the Farmersville Town Hall, 8963 Lake Ave.; Freedom Town Hall, 1188 Eagle St., Sandusky, at 2:30 p.m., and the Yorkshire Town Hall, 82 Main St., Delevan at 6:30 p.m.
The 340-megawatt wind farm was first proposed by the Chicago-based alternative energy giant Invenergy in 2017. Industrial development agencies in Allegany and Wyoming counties have already approved PILOTs for the share of costs in those respective counties.
The Cattaraugus County Legislature unanimously approved resolution asking the IDA to conduct a public hearing in the PILOT application despite a 2018 resolution that asks the IDA not to approve any large wind projects over 5 megawatts.
The approval of the request to the IDA for Alle-Catt PILOT hearings was said not to be in conflict with the 2018 resolution because it does not include language asking the IDA to approve the project.
The county legislature’s request to the IDA for a public hearing on the PILOT came after intense lobbying of District 2 county legislators by Farmersville and Freedom town officials.
Legislature Vice Chairman Michael Brisky, R-Franklinville, one of four sponsors of the request to the IDA for hearings, said county lawmakers did not want to be seen as opposing a PILOT if the project was going ahead anyways and the towns didn’t receive host community agreement fees.
The IDA was expected to act on the legislature’s request and set public hearings in each of the affected towns at its Dec. 10 meeting, but that was canceled. That led stakeholders to believe the hearings would not be set until January.
IDA Executive Director Corey Wiktor was unavailable to comment Tuesday.
In the meantime, Alle-Catt officials told town officials in Farmersville and Freedom that they needed approval by the IDA before the end of the year or the company would seek state financing that would effectively eliminate host community agreements that were tied to approval of a PILOT.
Alle-Catt officials had told the IDA board earlier this year that if there was no PILOT, the wind turbines allocated to Farmersville and Freedom would be moved to Allegany and Wyoming counties.
Farmersville Supervisor Pam Tilton said on Friday she has been “trying to get everyone on the same page and work together” so the host community fees would not be lost if the project is going ahead anyway.
Tilton said the public hearings are a positive thing. The host community fees are contingent on a PILOT. “Cattaraugus County is the only one having an issue. If they (turbines) are going to be there, I want the money for our town.”
Tilton acknowledged some residents will be impacted. “Certain people, yes, it’s going to bother them. There’s always some risk.” There are ways to minimize the impact, she added. For example, closing drapes would eliminate flicker from turbine blades.
Others are concerned over the noise of the turbines, which are larger than the ones initially proposed and approved by the New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment, or Siting Board. The turbine noise plus infrasound, or low frequency noise can also impact the health of nearby residents.
Still others who live with a mile or more of wind turbines may be concerned by a study that found property values declined by as much as one-third.
