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Neighbours challenge wind farm with lawsuit; Home’s sale stalled because of project, couple claims 

Credit:  By Lee Greenberg, Ottawa Citizen, www.ottawacitizen.com 19 January 2012 ~~

The fight against wind power in Ontario is now formally pitting neighbour against neighbour, following the announcement Wednesday by a couple that they are suing a nearby farmer who is proposing to host a half-dozen turbines on his land.

John and Sylvia Wiggins, 80 and 78, say they have been unable to sell their rural home in Stayner, Ont., about two hours northwest of Toronto, because of the proposed development. None of the allegations have been proven in court.

The 1860 farmhouse, which sits on 19 hectares of land and includes a horse stable, was listed at $1.15 million when it went on the market in June. It attracted intense interest for two weeks, until the proposed new wind development was announced, says John Wiggins.

The wind farm would put three massive turbines, stretching 146 metres into the sky, as close as 550 metres to the Wiggins property. Three additional turbines would be placed within one kilometre of the house. Real estate agents are obliged to disclose the proposed changes to perspective buyers.

“Everyone is in a holding pattern,” says Wiggins’ real estate agent, Anita Lauer. “They’re going to wait and see what happens.”

Wiggins says he feels he has “no choice” but to include Beattie Brothers Farms Ltd., the landowners involved in the new project, in his $3.5-million lawsuit.

“We have a huge investment and certainly going into retirement we depend on that investment,” he said at a Toronto press conference Wednesday. “And all of a sudden we were losing a great share of that investment . Inasmuch as the landowner made the agreement with the wind turbine company, we feel they’re just as responsible. They knew, both parties knew at the time they made that agreement, that it would be detrimental to any property nearby, ours being the closest.”

Les Beattie, a cash crop farmer who owns the land in question, denies that the turbines have a big affect on rural property values.

“Any of the places where they’ve put them up, it has not shown a devalue to the farms,” he said in an interview. “That’s what the bankers tell us. If there were some beside us, it wouldn’t affect our land value.”

The Wiggins bought their Stayner home, in an increasingly popular area with Toronto cottagers, in 2006.

The two families don’t know each other, according to Beattie.

The Wiggins’ case is one of roughly a dozen challenges to Ontario’s Green Energy Act. Many are led by lawyer Eric Gillespie with the involvement of Wind Concerns Ontario. So far, the challenges have failed. Gillespie says this latest case will be different because it will focus on property values, rather than the adverse health effects he says are caused by wind turbines.

He says it is also the first time a landowner has been named in such a civil suit.

The Toronto-based lawyer acknowledges the suit could have a chilling impact on landowners looking to strike lease arrangements with wind developers.

“It is certainly possible that it may,” he said. “It will be a matter of time before we know.”

Source:  By Lee Greenberg, Ottawa Citizen, www.ottawacitizen.com 19 January 2012

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

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