Mar. 20--SUGARLOAF TWP. -- Because municipal officials can't ban the placement of 200-foot-tall wind turbines within their borders, township supervisors have decided to do the next best thing.

Chairman Robert Stanziola and supervisors Earl Miller and Joyce Stevens on Tuesday voted unanimously to adopt an ordinance that regulates the construction, operation and maintenance of wind farms within the township.

Stanziola said township officials researched existing ordinances regulating wind farms after residents at a recent work session expressed concerns that Gamesa Energy USA wants to build a wind farm on Nescopeck Mountain.

Stanziola said the township considered two ordinances for adoption -- one adopted by Portage Township in Cambria County and a second based on a sample ordinance provided by the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors.

"We took the toughest one," Stanziola said, referring to the Portage ordinance. "The second one, from PSATS, was too wind-farm friendly," he said.

Wind farms consist of groups of wind turbines, some of which stand on towers about 250 feet tall and have blade diameters of 130 to 140 feet. On average, a 2-megawatt turbine would provide enough power for about 600 homes annually, according to Brian Lammers, Gamesa Energy's director of development for the Mid-Atlantic region.

According to the ordinance, the supervisors believe a wind farm can be "a nuisance to the general public." The turbines can endanger the public by ejecting ice or injured birds, by producing continuous noise at night and glare from sunlight flashing off the rotating blades.

The ordinance allows a wind farm only if it meets zoning land- use provisions, establishes a $1,500 permitting fee for each turbine erected, and requires a suitable decommissioning plan for turbines after they exceed their life expectancy.

It also established a $1,000 fine for each day a wind farm operator violates any provision of the ordinance.

Violations include causing "injury, damage, harm, inconvenience, annoyance and discomfort" to any resident or taxpayer through "repetitive noise or glare, visual impacts, flickering reflections and/or shadows" or endangering migratory birds or the watershed.

Peter Kennon, a project developer for Gamesa Energy, had asked the supervisors to table their vote because his company did not have enough time to evaluate the ordinance and prepare comments. Supervisors did not honor his request.

Kennon referred additional comment to Lammers.

Lammers declined comment on the company's interest in Sugarloaf Township "because it's an ongoing development."

Township resident John Farrett said he's glad township supervisors are taking a proactive approach, and called the ordinance a "step in the right direction."

Farrett said Kennon told him Gamesa wants to lease part of his land to install underground power lines that would carry electricity from the wind turbines to a power grid.

Farrett said he doesn't know the names of any township land owners whom Gamesa might have contacted about purchasing or leasing land on the mountain for the farm. He fears "there are other people here who have signed on or are willing to sign on with Gamesa because they stand to make a profit."

Farrett and his wife, Sharon, don't necessarily oppose wind farms in general, but he said they oppose turbines atop "scenic Nescopeck Mountain," citing "visual and noise pollution" as their major concerns.

Farrett said Kennon gave him a book of frequently asked questions about wind energy development, published by Gamesa, which noted that wind turbine towers could be 250 to 330 feet tall at the hub, with a rotor diameter of 263 feet.

And according to testimony before the Minnesota Senate's Commerce and Utilities Committee on wind power, modern wind turbines can have 250- to 500-foot-diameter blades reaching heights of 1,000 feet.

Sharon Farrett read a letter to the supervisors before their vote, telling them that more research on the long-term impact on wind farms to their community is necessary. She quoted other testimony to Minnesota Senate committee.

"As more wind power stations are placed in environmentally or culturally sensitive areas, people are challenging developers who cloak themselves in the green armor of environmentalism while pocketing huge profits and ruining the environment," she said.

Steve Mocarsky, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 459-2005.