Genesee planners say ‘no’ to tall WindTamer 

The Genesee County Planning Board has recommended the town of Stafford reject a request to increase the height of a pole for a residential-use wind turbine.

Planning Director Jim Duval said a longer pole would mean it would not comply with the town’s lot-line setback requirements for turbines. If the windmill fell, part of it would most likely land on neighboring property, he said.

The town of Stafford has the final say on the zoning variance application from David Sallade of 9545 Roanoke Rd. Sallade received approval in May to put up a 39-foot-high WindTamer Corporation of Rochester, which has a 42-foot setback.

A WindTamer official attended Wednesday’s County Planning Board meeting and told planners that one of the company’s windmills attached to a 39-foot-pole does not generate as much electricity as the company believed it should.

Sallade, in his application, stated “It has been determined that 39 feet is not high enough to collect wind needed – needs to be extended 30 more feet higher.”

WindTamer starting selling its non-commercial turbines several years ago and all of them are 39 feet high. The company wants to replace Sallade’s windmill with a pole of 70 feet.

Most communities in Genesee County have enacted local laws that regulate commercial windmill farms and ones designed for home use.

Stafford’s setback requirements mandate a non-commercial windmill be set back a minimum of either twice its height or 10 times the length of the turbine blades, whichever is greater. The WindTamer has 8-foot blades so the setback would default to twice the tower height, which calculates out to 140 feet for Sallade’s application.

Sallade’s neighbor submitted a letter to county planners stating he has no objection to the longer pole. Duval said county planners are keeping in mind how it will handle other similar from WindTamer. “I guess we’re worried about precedent setting,” he said.

A handful of WindTamers have been erected in Genesee County including one in Le Roy and several in Pavilion. The company’s patented turbines are shaped either like a giant bullhorns or lampshades turned on their side.

In other matters from Wednesday’s meeting county planners recommended:

— Approval of an amendment to the town of Alabama zoning law. The proposed change would allow the zoning enforcement officer to directly request legal action from the town attorney.

The law on the books requires Town Board approval.

— Approval of a site plan and zoning variance for George Galliford of Narramore Drive to build a single-family home on an irregular shaped parcel at 3491 South Main St., town of Batavia.

— Approval of a permit for Clayton Hoskyns, 303 Broadway, Darien to dig a pond.

— Approval for Crocker LLC, 8610 Morganville Rd., Stafford to construct a three-sided pole barn for mixing fertilizers for its farm business.

— Rejection of a special use permit for Chris Mazerbo of Byron to operate an auto sales business at 4035 West Main St., town of Batavia. The site is zoning for commercial use but Mazerbo’s application did not meet are the requirements of town zoning law.

— Approval of a site plan for John Gould of Har-Go Farms, 10965 South Street Rd., Pavilion to put a 2,400-square addition on his barn.

— Approval of a variance to allow Milton Koutsandreas, Scribner Road, Corfu to split 1.25 acres of property from one parcel and merge it with an adjacent one.

— Approval of a variance to allow Nancy Speed, 41 West Ave., Elba to split 2.25 acres of property, including a house and barns, from a larger, 46-acre piece of property.