beagenda

MINUTES

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WATERTOWN ZON= ING BOARD OF APPEALS

CONTINUATION OF PUBLIC HEARING

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WEDNESDA= Y, MAY 23, 2007 - 7:30 P.M.

WATERTOW= N HIGH SCHOOL TECHNOLOGY CENTER

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APPLICATION #845 - KURT KARPAVICH<= o:p>

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PRESENT: &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; Bruno DiSisto, Secretary

= &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; John Griffith, Vice Ch= airman

            =             &nb= sp;            =             &nb= sp;          Roger Mitchell

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp; Phil Roger, Acting Secretary

  &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;       Enrico Sarandrea, Chai= rman

ABSENT:        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;         None=

ALTERNATES PRESENT:<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:2'>        &= nbsp;     Gary Swingle

ALTERNATES ABSENT:            &= nbsp;   Cynthia Tun

OTHERS PRESENT:      = ;            &n= bsp;     Moosa Rafey, Assistant Zoning Enforcement Officer

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1.         = Call Meeting To Order

            Mr. Sarandrea, Chairman, Called the Public Hearing to Order at 7:30 p.m.

2.     &nb= sp;   Roll Call

            Mr. DiSisto, Secretary, executed the Roll Call.

            Mr. Sarandrea, Chairman, read aloud the Ground Rules for the record, as follows= :

1.      =             The applicant or his representative will make his formal presentati= on to the Board stating his specific hardship and precisely why this merits a variance from the Zoning Regulations of the Town of = Watertown.

2.      =             All comments, discussions, and observations shall be made through t= he Chair after proper recognition by the Chairman. This is necessary to ensure that o= nly one person at a time speaks on any issue, thus making it easier for everyon= e to understand, and for clearer legal transcription.

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

CONTINUA= TION OF PUBLIC HEARING

APPLICAT= ION #845 - KURT KARPAVICH

MAY 23, = 2007

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3.      =             All persons addressing the Commission shall begin by first clearly stating their name and address for the record. If necessary, the person may be as= ked to spell his or her name for the record.

4.      =             Following the presentation of the application, the Zoning Board of Appeals will ask specific questions of the applicant.

5.      =             After the Board has asked its questions of the applicant, I shall t= hen allow members of the public who wishes to speak either in favor of this application or against it to address the Board.

6.      =             I shall then allow the applicant to respond to the comments of the members of the general public.

7.      =             I shall then allow any members of the general public who wish to present any additional information or clarifying discussion to do so.<= /o:p>

8.      =             I shall then provide an opportunity for the applicant to respond to these additional remarks if he or his representative so wishes.<= /span>

9.      =             The Zoning Board of Appeals has thirty-five (35) days from the date= the Public Hearing commences to complete the Public Hearing. The Board may ask the applicant fo= r a thirty-five (35) day extension of the Public Hearing period if the Commissi= on requires any additional information or wishes to schedule a site walk to observe the situation for themselves.

10.      =         The Zoning Board of Appeals has sixty-five (65) days from the date = when the Public Hearing is closed to render its decision. The Board may or may not make its decision tonight at its Regular Meeting following the Public Hearing.<= /o:p>

11.       You may stay for the Regular Meeting if you wish or you may leave at the end of the Public Hearing and contact the Zoning Office the following morning to determine the status of = your Application.

3.         Hearing of Cases=

        &= nbsp;   A.        Continuation of Public Hearing from April 25, 2007 - Application #845 of Kurt Karpavich = for 20 feet height variance to permit the installation of a 55 feet high wind turbine on a residential property at 60 Farm Circle, Watertown, CT.

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        &= nbsp;   The Public Hearing must be Closed by June 6, 2007.

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

CONTINUA= TION OF PUBLIC HEARING

APPLICAT= ION #845 - KURT KARPAVICH

MAY 23, = 2007

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<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Kurt Karpavich, 60 Farm Circle, Watertown, CT&nbs= p; 06795

Mr. Karpavich: At the last meeting I gave permission for the Bo= ard to (inaudible) some information from the Citing Council and we wanted to present more information from the manufacturer, and also the installer, Andy Cruz is here from Southwest Wind Tower, he's the president of the company, he flew up from <= st1:State w:st=3D"on">Arizona to speak tonight. We also had a meeting with the Cle= ar Energy people in Rocky Hill, putting guidelines into this small turbine whi= ch is 10kw (inaudible). This uni= t is 1.8kw and I think Andy has a presentation on PowerPoint, and Bob Chew will = be the installer of the project.

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<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Andy Cruz, President, = Southwest Wind Tower, Flagstaff, AZ

Mr. Cruz: We're not getting a si= gnal from the laptop so I'll probably try to convey my comments. I would like to thank everyone for inviting me to this meeting, the Hearing on this zoning issue regarding our (inaudible). My partner and I started this company 20 years ago in manufacturing small wind turbines. We have a tremendous amount of int= erest or experience in the design of small wind.= In our 20 years we've produced over 100,000 small turbines, you'll f= ind them all over the world, in about 120 countries. They are used for just about every application you can imagine, working on sailboats to telecommunication syst= ems to developing countries. Abou= t 7 years ago we saw an opportunity in (inaudible) market. The solar industry was growing at = a very rapid pace in 2000/2001 where consumers were looking for an alternative way= to produce their own electricity and there was a number of reasons why they we= re looking to do that. We saw that oppor= tunity and decided that that would be a great market to expand our products into.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Rather than designing though and t= aking one of our existing products we took a separate approach and designed (inau= dible). This was a machine that was design= ed from the ground up with the consumer in mind.&n= bsp; We recognized a lot of issues based on our experience with all the machines that we produced, what would and wouldn't work for a consumer. The big concern that we saw in the marketplace, in our consumer interviews that we did, were noise, safety, re= liability, aesthetics, those were the primary factors that came to us time and time again. In a partnership with = the U.S. Department of Energy and the National (inaudible) Laboratories of Denv= er we had developed what we call Sky Stream, and this a consumer small wind turbine that's designed to produce power for your electrical, for your house and basically reduce or eliminate your monthly electric bill. We recognize that there are challe= nges in getting these into the ground and that's why I'm here today.<= /span>

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

CONTINUA= TION OF PUBLIC HEARING

APPLICAT= ION #845 - KURT KARPAVICH

MAY 23, = 2007

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First of all I want to pass out some brochures to kind of give you a perspective = of what this wind turbine would look like assembled. Many small wind turbines of the pa= st used very, very large legs. T= hey were typically very mechanical, they had a lot of moving parts, there were quite a number of boxes, circ= uit breakers, things that in order to assemble to bring together in order to ma= ke the system work. The approach= that we took with Sky Stream was an appliance, something much like an air conditioning system or any other device that you could attach to your house= . We see that the market there is tremendous, we look at the issues that are facing us today, things like cli= mate change, things like electricity costs are going through the roof. I know in the Northeast especially = we're seeing 40% to 60% increases in electricity costs and then of course energy security, realizing that more and more of our natural gas is coming from different countries, less stable countries that are supplying our power pla= nts or electricity. So those are = the factors that we saw form the consumer standpoint of what is going on and why people would want to invest in a small wind system.

In the design process we looked at all the aspects that I mentioned, aesthetic= s, we looked at the importance of a mono pole rather than a guide wire and lat= tice type towers. We looked at noise. We made sure that this machine runs at a speed of 900 or 1,000 rpm, this is going to spin at 300 r= pm and thresholds were actually very, very quiet. And then reliability, we followed = all the codes established by what's called the International Electrical Commiss= ion or the IEC which dictated how strong the blades needed to be in order to be completely safe, what the structure of the design, what kind of codes it ha= s to meet and so all of that has been incorporated into this design.<= /span>

Sky Stream was introduced late last year. We shipped approximately 600 of these machines around the United States, more or less a test market to make sure we've got everything working as it should be working. What I'm a= sking for, any questions that you might have with the product, I'd be glad to ans= wer them.

Mr. Sarandrea: Is there anyone here w= ho wishes to speak for or against this application?

Mr. Rafey: They have more speaker= s.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Bob Chew, Installer

Mr. Chew: I don't have anything = more to say than I said last time other than I have the unit out on the law here= , if people want to get an idea of the scale of the product.

Mr. Sarandrea: = Do you want to bring it in?

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

CONTINUA= TION OF PUBLIC HEARING

APPLICAT= ION #845 - KURT KARPAVICH

MAY 23, = 2007

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Mr. Chew: Sure. This is the size of the housing an= d this is one of the 3 blades that would be attached. This is the color.

Mr. Cruz: <= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-weight:bo= ld'> And the color can be made anything,= the land version which is most likely the one, come just a gray color and it's = paintable to whatever color, I was at White Flower Farms today, they're (inaudible) w= ant to install one as well, they've already thought this is a terrific idea for them as well and they're looking at kind of painting it green (inaudible).<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> But this is basically the design o= f the machine is a down wind generator, which what we did there was eliminate the tail, so when the wind hits the machine, that tower first actually and then= the machine, and the idea there in the background to minimize the size of the w= ind, generally when it's up in the air. We want this design to be noticeable if you look at it, but if you'r= e not looking at it you're not looking up in the air, you don't notice it. That's why the very, very important thing about an appliance like this is that it's there and it works. The design also, we wanted to make= sure it looked aesthetically pleasing. When you look at, in the view for example it's very rounded, it's sl= eek, things like that, we want to try and make it just so that you know a person= , if they did see it they would say hey, this is something I want. So we hope we did that.=

Mr. DiSisto: Is that the actual (in= audible)?

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Mr. Cruz: The bad news is this (= inaudible) was at a trade show a few days ago, well 2 of the 3 boxes made it, so this = is the display stand. Typically = what you'd see, like in the brochure there, it would fit on a somewhere between = a 33 and 110 foot tower, just depending on where you live and what the zoning restrictions are. We have a lot of customers in the = Midwest for example that use very tall towers, cause there's a lot more energy high= er up in the air.

Mr. DiSisto: What's the diameter?

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Mr. Cruz: At the base it's about= 18 inches, and the top it's about 5 inches.

Mr. DiSisto: Is there any possibility that (ina= udible)?

Mr. Cruz: Absolutely not. Some of the things, part of the IEC requirements on the blades for example, this is what's called a compression molded blade, it's (inaudible) fiberglass, it's like the large wind turbines are or airplane wings. These = are manufactured first in a company in Wisconsin, they are (inaudible) tested, = in the design process they go through what's called a flex test where they actually test the root of the blade into a machine and they push up and down and it goes through multiple cycles and we stopped at about 120,000,000 cyc= les which is about 25 year design life.

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

CONTINUA= TION OF PUBLIC HEARING

APPLICAT= ION #845 - KURT KARPAVICH

MAY 23, = 2007

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The blade strength ratio which is the amount of, we calculate the worst stress = that the turbo would go through on a normal life, and then multiply it times 10 = in order to get to the strength when it's compared to that worst case scenario. Airplanes by contra= ct are 1.5 times so we don't have wings falling off of airplanes so chances are we= 're not going to see wind turbine blades at least on this design, coming off of= the wind turbine.

Mr. Chew: And also as far as the tower, it requires a structural engineering so the structural engineer is going to ha= ve to stamp the plans.

Mr. Cruz: I think it's important too that th= is is a construction project like your outdoor air conditioning, this is not something that just an amateur person is going to put up on a weekend holid= ay or something like that, this is something that will go in front and should = go in front and have a building permit as any, for example a garage or somethi= ng like that. All of the towers = are certified to the International IEC building code. Depending on local ordinance they = might require a wet stamp or dry stamp or whatever, but all of that is done before the permitting process. In ad= dition to that the utility also gets involved and also has to give their blessing = as well because this is connected to an electrical grid, they need to know abo= ut it, so all of that stuff is carefully planned out before the installation.<= o:p>

Mr. DiSisto: Was there ever any maintenance to = make this work all the time correctly?

Mr. Cruz: That's one of the great things abo= ut new technology, older wind generators that was absolutely true, there was a lot= of issues about wooden blades that needed to be re-varnished every 4 or 5 year= s, they had a gear box inside of them, the transmission needed to be changed, = the oil would need to be changed, the bearings for example would need to be gre= ased every once n a while, these bearings are designed for 20 years. There is no transmission, it's dir= ect drive. The blades are made ou= t of fiberglass not wood. From our experience in wind turbine design, we looked at all those things. This machine has 2 moving parts in= it, it has the yan and it has the alternator bearing and that's it. On top of that it has a wireless communicator on top and this here transmits down to the consumer's house an= d at their option, but we can set it up where we can actually, from Flagstaff, monitor any machine anywhere= in the world and know what it's doing. We're putting actually a bank of servers where we can monitor multip= le failures or multiple issues that might go inside the machine, we have numer= ous sensors inside to look at temperature, rpm, performance, all those things.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> If a problem does occur, we'll know about it before the consumer will and we'll send our people, like Bob out to that site, have them look at it before the customer even knows there is a problem. This is very differe= nt than maybe your grandfather's wind generator in the back yard. This is (inaudible) technology.

Mr. DiSisto: What kind of (inaudible)?

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

CONTINUA= TION OF PUBLIC HEARING

APPLICAT= ION #845 - KURT KARPAVICH

MAY 23, = 2007

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Mr. Cruz: The tension that we've done, emits= about it's in decibels. Decibels ar= e a very complicated measurement because what you have is decibel levels and so= und pressure levels. In decibels = this thing emits about 45 eb and that's at a about a 45 degree angel. If the tower is 33 feet high, it's= 33 feet. (Inaudible) base of the= tower is where we measure the sound levels. Now prevailing winds are blowing in one particular direction that no= ise that you hear could go a little bit further than that, you know down into t= he machine, but more than likely it's around 45 decibels. What's complicated a= bout sound is the background noise of the wind, where you have wind blowing and = the sound emit at the same time, wind often time masks the sound, like when you hear trees for example when you hear the leaves rustle, you heard the very low moderate winds because the background noise of the wind, but as the winds increase, that goes away, you don't hear those leaves rustle as much anymore because the background noise overcomes it.= When we designed Sky Stream that was one of the important factors, w= as making sure that our decibel levels were below what the background noise of= the wind is. We also have softwar= e we can wirelessly update, these are some of the things we continuously improve= on, is looking for ways to improve the performance. Rather than bringing the machine d= own, we can actually talk to the machine either from Flagstaff or through our de= aler down there, they can go out to the site, push a couple of buttons, upload n= ew software to the machine rather than bringing it down, making it quieter, mo= re powerful, doing things that continuously improve, like software of course .= . . . helping me out but doing things that continually improve the software to = make it better and better.

Mr. Sarandrea:<= /b> Is there anyone in the public who = wishes to speak for or against this application?

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Steve Sclar, 308 White= Meadows Road, Ricestown, MD

Mr. Soller: I'm a senior at Taft School here in Watertown and I would like to spea= k on behalf of this gentleman's very admirable attempt to install the first residential privately owned wind turbine un Connecticut. I've been around Town and I've seen all these say no to windmill signs around and quite frankly I can't understand why anyone would put these signs in their yard. I don't understand what your argum= ent would be. You may say they're= ugly. Well I'll tell you a few thin= gs that are a little uglier than this wind turbine. One of which is one the greenhouse= gas is better and better emitted from the electricity and from all the gas and propane and all these fossil fuels that we burn, that are heating this earth and creating terrible problems with global warming that will affect my gene= ration especially in a short number of years and it's a problem that we're going to have to deal with.

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

CONTINUA= TION OF PUBLIC HEARING

APPLICAT= ION #845 - KURT KARPAVICH

MAY 23, = 2007

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So I ask you to put aside whether or not this machine is pretty. Put aside whether or not this thin= g is going to look nice in your neighbor's yard, and think about your kids and y= our grandkids, cause we're the people that are going to have to deal with the m= ess that is going to be caused, that is being caused by all the fossil fuels th= at are currently being burned and the global warming that this is creating.

That's all I have so say. I've never= met this gentleman but I greatly respect what you're trying to do and the senior class at Taft, we give a gift to the school every year and this year's gift= is going to be a Sky Stream 3.7 so whether or not you like it, Watertown will = have a wind turbine and I think we should have 2, and that will make your Town v= ery, very well respected, not only in Connecticut but across this nation I'm sure. Thank you very much.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Sandra Greenwood, 156 Belden Street, Watertown, CT 06795=

Ms. Greenwood: = Can this be hit by lightening, and = if it can, what would happen to it?

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Mr. Cruz: Like any object, Sky S= tream can be hit by lightening. Ins= ide the machine we have built in, it gets a little complicated, we have metal o= xide burristiters which are designed to absorb lightening strikes. These are, the Sky Stream is desig= ned to withstand like a 500,000 amp voltage hit from a lightening bolt. Does it increase or decrease the c= hance of lightening (inaudible)? Potentially yes. Will = it happen? Well it's kind of like winning the lottery I think. = We've got 100,000 machines out there, I think maybe 20 or 30 of them have come ba= ck that ever had any kind of problems where we've had a lightening strike, and those are typically on mountain tops. It's just one of those things that absolutely I can't say it's not g= oing to, cause it certainly can, so we have gone through the process in designing the protection inside the machine to make sure that if it does happen, it w= ill be absorbed.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Eric Weihrauch, 360 St= raits Turnpike, Watertown= , CT <= st1:PostalCode w:st=3D"on">06795

Mr. Weihrauch: After reading about the wind mill (inaudible) and all the big scenario around it, I went online, I checked out the windmill a= nd I found that it be about the best way we can (inaudible) to produce electrici= ty and I'm so convinced, I actually put in an application to install a wind mi= ll myself. Don't be mean, go gre= en.

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

CONTINUA= TION OF PUBLIC HEARING

APPLICAT= ION #845 - KURT KARPAVICH

MAY 23, = 2007

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<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Jackie Daddona, 48 Farm Circle, Watertown, CT&nbs= p; 06795

Ms. Daddona: I would like to have clarification is for the hardship for this variance, cause I think in the p= ast few meetings that we've been here, nobody has truly clarified it. Before you answer that question, b= efore you respond, I'd just like to say, I believe it was Mr. Roger at the last meeting said, and I quote it, I believe it was to Mr. Scott Stewart, you sa= id I'll tell you what the hardship is, the hardship is the electric bill and I researched from at least 5 different towns in Connecticut that clearly stat= es that a financial issue is not a reason to grant a variance. In addition to that it has to be a situation unique to the property. Well we all have expensive electric bills. My bill is probably double his ele= ctric bill, so I don't see, if that is the reason why we're granting this varianc= e, I don’t think it's justified. If the reason to request the hardship for this variance is because of the sloping in his back yard, you were at the site walk back at the last meeting I think and you saw clearly there is not a 20 foot drop back in his back yard. My husband actuall= y had a (inaudible) showing that there is not a 20 foot drop in that yard, so with that being said, I would like to know what is the hardship that we're looki= ng at here.

I'd just like to say I know a lot of people here are pro green and I respect and admire that, but I just want to say that not one property owner over on Whe= eler Farm is against energy saving methods.&nbs= p; What we really would like to have done there is some proper guidelin= es, some proper regulations before we put this in effect. If this is going to be something o= f the future which it might well could be, then I think what we need to do is this variance I really not justified, it should be denied, and then we can seek = for (inaudible) regulations and it could be done. In response to the gentleman that = was speaking from Taft, yea we did put these signs that say no, and I want to clarify, it does say no to the windmill, we didn't say no to the windmill, = it's no to this particular windmill because there's not any regulations in place, but nobody here is against a windmill for a resource, but it has to be the proper setting, there has to be proper acreage and there has to be proper regulations, and that's where we stand. Thank you.

(Tape #1, Side A ended- may have missed some.)

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Christine Thayer, 85 Woodruff Avenue, Watertown, CT 06795=

Ms. Thayer spoke against the windmill, but the tape did not work.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Kelly Urmston, Roanoake, NJ

Ms. Urmston spoke in favor of the windmill, but the tape did not work.

Mr. Chew: <= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-weight:bo= ld'> Moving in the right direction and a= positive vote tonight would be a great vote in the right direction, so thank you.

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

CONTINUA= TION OF PUBLIC HEARING

APPLICAT= ION #845 - KURT KARPAVICH

MAY 23, = 2007

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<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Dave Daddona, 48 Farm Circle, Watertown, CT&nbs= p; 06795

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>

Mr. Daddona: I don't even think he has any trees, there are no trees on the lot, there aren't any trees on his property, I do= n't know where he saying the trees, and I don't know if that's a hardship in the State of Connecticut if that's considered a hardship, but one of our main concerns, we're not, everybody thinks we're against energy conservation and= all that, we're not, we just don't want this windmill which they didn't have the blades on it to see the look of what this is going to be 60 feet from my be= droom window. There's a noise to it, there's a flickering, I've mentioned this at past meetings, but there's new= people here, the sun rises that way so you're going to get a flicker (inaudible) w= hen there's lights above it, it's just going to be something, it's a nuisance, = it's something I'm going to be dealing with every day of my life. I'm going to be seeing that windmi= ll outside my window. It doesn’t' generate much, there's not much generation that this is going to, what does it cost about $12,000 to put this in, to install? If he saves 50% of a $175 bill tha= t's going to take 11.5 years to get his money, his initial investment back in h= is pocket so it doesn't save, this structure is very large and it's just got v= ery little results. It's not goin= g to save our children, it's not going to, they live on a hill that does more, b= ut now this one it's going to run, they can turn their hot tub off and save ju= st as much as what this windmill is going to do.

There are some regulations in Pennsylvania and= Nebraska that I found. Nebraska has a table and it shows by t= he diameter of the rotor and the blade, a 12 foot diameter rotor would have to= be 200 feet from an adjoining, a non-participating neighbor's property line, 2= 00 feet. Over in Pennsylvania it needs to be 5 times the height of the pole, so that would be about 200 feet away from my property line. It's just too close to = my bedroom window, and we had a site walk and the people came over and obvious= ly you guys didn't know about it, there's new people here, if you came and loo= ked at where this thing is going to be, you might have a different feel of what we're going through with this.

At the very first meeting we had in the Library the Chairman mentioned, I star= ted making a point and you kind of made it clear that we're just here for the 20 foot variance and if I had issues that we're all talking about right now, I needed to bring that to P & Z and talk to Planning and Zoning. But since then all these meetings = have just been sidetracked and we're just going widespread and talking about eve= rything to my kids ugly swing set to chickens, to fertilizer to well contamination,= I mean we've been all over the board with this, and really specific is a 20 f= oot variance on a structure, I think windmills are great but what if I wanted to put a statute up. But there a= re certain things that are, we're looking as a structure, that's what this is being characterized as, a structure and they want a 20 foot variance to add= to this structure.

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

CONTINUA= TION OF PUBLIC HEARING

APPLICAT= ION #845 - KURT KARPAVICH

MAY 23, = 2007

Page 11<= o:p>

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Now from the research that I've done, it can't have anything to do with the applicant, it's not supposed to do anything for monetary problems, it has t= o be specific to the lot and it cannot change characteristics of the neighborhood. This 20 foot extension, if he puts a 35 foot, you already said he's allowed to put up a = 35 feet, so then he's going to go ahead and do that tomorrow, if you guys turn this down or next month he can just go and put that up, he's looking for a = 20 foot height variance above our property's home so that when you come down o= ur street, you're going to see this thing 20 foot higher than our house. How is that going to pass? I've talked to several attorneys, = I even talked to someone on the P & Z Board and they're all asking me what is = the hardship that is going to allow this to pass?

Mr. Sarandrea: = The hardship is, take a look at $3.= 19 a gallon of gas. Take a look at= . . . .

Many people talking at once (inaudible).

Mr. Sarandrea:<= /b> Hold on, I'm answering your questi= on, we have to start somewhere it's true, we don't have any regulations, that's why I'm having this meeting tonight, I invited the members of Planning and Zoni= ng to come, we have to start somewhere and my idea myself is aesthetics, lot sizes, conformity to the neighborhood, but we have to start somewhere, beca= use if we don't we're in a lot of trouble.&nbs= p; Just pick up the paper and see what's going on. We may not have electricity. Look at our coastline, our coastli= ne has a radioactive energizer giving us electricity. That's cool? You can’t even eat the fish.= Go catch a Striped Bass, you have = to take the stomach out and you can't eat a lot of them, so I mean this is wind power. I don't know if we're = going to grant this to this gentleman, maybe this lot is too small, but we don't = have any regulations, so we're in a new frontier, but there's going to be windmi= lls, I'll guarantee it, there's going to be windmills.

Mr. Daddona: And I have no problem with that. It says no to the windmills becaus= e of the variance. We're not again= st windmills, we just want regulations on them so there's certain setbacks lik= e in Pennsylvania or in Nebraska. Have certain regulations, that's a= ll we're looking for.

Mr. Sarandrea:<= /b> But they must have started somewhere. They're in upstate= New York, wind m= ills are in certain areas, but they started somewhere, and this is where we're start= ing. This gentleman happened to co= me before us, so this is what we're doing.&nb= sp; They brought in their specialists, they brought the windmill here, we don't know if he's going to get the variance, we want information and eventually we'll probably have regulations in our Zoning, but right now we don't and this is input. I appreciate you coming and everyone here tonight. If we don't get information, we do= n't know. We don't know what to d= o with this thing. Certainly we don'= t want them on city lots, everybody having them everywhere, cause we'll have 5,000 windmills, so it's going to have to be controlled somehow.

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

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Mr. Daddona: There are going to be windmills th= at's right and that was one of the questions you guys had asked at one of the meetings, is how many homes sill this feed and you said it was only half a home, and it seems like it's just not enough. We can do a large one on a hill th= at could maybe do a neighborhood, and they are larger, but they are, really yo= u see them in New York and they're moving and they're okay, but they're not spinn= ing 300 rpm's outside your bedroom window and that's one of the things that I'm concerned about.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Joseph Bush, 131 Fern Drive, Plantsville, CT<= /b>

Mr. Bush: <= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-weight:bo= ld'> I know this, I think I'm not sure, = don't quote me on this, I think Cal= ifornia has regulations where (inaudible) need now because of the energy costs, is = an acre of land to put up a windmill. Kurt Karpavich is my brother-in-law. He told me 3 years ago to change my furnace because of what I'm burning is not efficient, my central air and he said you'll get a payback in 3.5 to 4 years. That's 3.5, 4 years ago, the costs= today and I'm saving money with what I've done and I'm going to see this gentleman after this meeting, and the Town of Southington, the committee, I want to f= ind out about a windmill in my town. I believe in it. The cost of fu= el, the cost of everything, it's getting ridiculous. It's not a hardship case. It's something we have to do. The ozone layers, or air, everythi= ng is just terrible, what's going on in this country and somebody has to start in= and I'd like to see it start in right here in Watertown. Once you people start doing someth= ing, other towns are going to start doing it too. Thank you very much.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Edwin Durgin, Senior a= t Taft School

Mr. Durgin: I would like to address the gentlem= an's first two points and the only two points that I heard. #1 the economic argument, I do lik= e the issue here is not to avoid an economic hardship but instead the quantitative amount of the commodity which he is going to be using which is electricity = to reduce that 50 to 70%, that's the issue. Secondly the only other argument against it was aesthetic and I know where the neighborhood is, I've been to the property, and tell me if I'm wrong, but I= 'm pretty sure you have to drive beneath high tension wires that (inaudible) t= he Town to get to that neighborhood and we've accepted these enormous structur= es as parts of our lives and that's an antiquated form of conveying electricit= y, and if we can accept that, I see no reason why we can't accept this small footprint in Kurt's back yard.

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

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<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Patricia Petro, 77 Farm Circle, Watertown, CT&nbs= p; 06795

Ms. Petro: Out of the 11 homes on= Farm Circle= , 9 of them have sings and none of them are because they don't want a windmill. The height, we were the first ones, we've been out in that area since 76, you talk about wind and lightening, y= ou won't go out there because it's pretty bad. As far as the decibels are concern= ed, we don't (inaudible), OSHA can tell me all about decibels, I don't understand = why it's so confusing the way you explained it. My main concern is the height. I'm not against windmills; none of= us are. It's going to attract people. This is the first one= you're probably putting in Connectic= ut. I understand it's going to go up, = that's your choice but the thing is most of us have children, some of us don't, I = have grandchildren, and people are going to see this, it's going to be all over, your company is going to bring people by there I'm sure, he's going to be compensated in some form, I know someone who is putting one up in Goshen they're paying the whole thing. Not your company, but the thing is, the higher it is, the more people are going= to come out there. Farm Circle i= s not a circle, it's a cul de sac. = When we (inaudible) our house, every Saturday and Sunday as Mr. Daddona who was = out there very soon after we were, it was like you needed somebody to direct traffic because everybody was looking at the lots in this new subdivision a= nd having grandchildren, and I think that most everyone has children, I'm concerned about the traffic in an area where there should be no traffic. Thank you.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Jean Apeer, 43 Middlebury Road, Watertown, CT 06795=

Ms. Apeer: = I think that the look of the windmi= ll is our next cultural icon. I thi= nk we should all want one, and whatever energy he's not using you could use, and you're missing the point which I think you made quite clearly, we live in a country with an administration who will not address our present energy needs let alone our future energy needs. We live in a State that in its infinite wisdom is talking about floa= ting a bomb of liquid propane in Long Island Sound so that people in the Hampton's can have power. If every single person= here did one small thing we would be halfway to solving our energy problems. I applaud you. I think you should get tax credits= for this.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Tracy DaSilva, 10 Farm Circle, Watertown, CT&nbs= p; 06795

Ms DaSilva: I've been a resident o= f Watertown for 30 years. My argument is that it= 's become a personal issue about our neighborhood. There has been derogatory remarks = about our neighborhood. 20 years ag= o in the 70's when there was an energy crisis my father tried to have sheep in t= he back yard, neighbor complained, he went to the butcher. Back in the 70's it was an issue, = we tried to do something about it.

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I think the big problem that we're having with this windmill is that it's a b= ig decision on how to do your production.&nbs= p; How can you produce more energy to save your bill. You can do a lot more by changing = your consumption, we just did a highly efficient washer and dryer, $30 off of our electric bill. That's a one t= ime thing, with 2 kids and doing our laundry we're able to save $30 a month. We don't have central air, we're 2= doors down, with the wind that's in that neighborhood it's more than enough to co= ol the house except for maybe 2 or 3 days out of the year that we have high humidity. We have made consci= ous decisions on how to curb our consumption and based on that we don't feel that there's= a need to overproduce in that kind of environment. You built a house that's a large s= quare footage, you're in an environment where the aesthetics are a big part of the property value that I'm paying, part of my taxes are based on what that neighborhood is. So I feel th= at it makes it a public forum on how the residents in that neighborhood do not support each other is not what this is about and the fact that you allowed = that at the last meeting is not right. You should not allow somebody to co= me up here and start degrading the neighborhood and pitting one neighbor against = the other. Nobody has a personal = issue with them doing this. It has = an issue with the property values. And now they're doing a study about wind turbine syndrome. Granted it's for the larger turbin= es and how the low level noise and the hum affects somebody who might have inner e= ar susceptibility, so I think that with the new technology I embrace it. As an engineer I'm always looking f= or the next thing, but I am not willing to say that I want my neighborhood, I mean= we had a thunderstorm last year that took out the light 50 feet from our house. We watched them roll a= cross. We are almost the highest poi= nt in town. We get thunderstorms ev= ery Summer, so to say that you think that it might get hit by lightening, I'll probably guarantee you it will. We watched the light slow last year, so if you want to put it up at 35 feet go right ahead. If you want, don= 't put your trees around it, put your trees in the back. Let the trees grow so it's not in y= our way but don't allow this to be a personal issue with the neighborhood and change your consumption. Don'= t turn your air conditioning on all Summer long.&= nbsp; Change your washer and dryer. Do other things, change the consumption, if that's still not enough = for you, go figure out how you're going to produce more. It's simple, and that's how you ca= n take care of your kids. It's not i= ssues about that 20 years ago nobody solved it then and to now say that nobody is willing to do it now is not okay.

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<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Carl Perugini, 186 Wheeler Farm Road, Watertown, CT 06795=

Mr. Perugini: <= /b> I'd like to say that to give an iss= ue of who's green and not green, and that's not the case here. We were green in our family. My utility bill is probably betwee= n $110 and $125 a month. We're in conservation mode. We recycle, drive 55, turn your temperature down in the Winter, open your windows in the Summer, it's all about conservation, not usage, and we do it privately. I don't invade my neighbors with my responsibilities and teaching my children how to conserve rather than use, = and it's become an issue where we're the bad people and traffic in the neighbor= hood has become unbearable with everyone driving up and down looking to see where the windmill is going to go, people drove by and screamed out the window the other day at my children and myself calling us hypocrites. That shouldn't be the case. We’re into windmills but in a neighborhood setting where the yards are so close to each other and (inaudi= ble) what they're there for, that's what I'm against.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Connie Wagner, 28 Brewster Drive, Watertown, CT 06795=

Ms. Wagner: Actually this isn't ev= en the issue that my husband and I are here but after hearing all that's being discussed about the windmills, I think I have to reiterate I don't think anybody in this room is against conservation. I mean really, ask for a show of h= ands they would say no, I am all for allowing toxins in the air and polluting our water, I don't think anybody would raise their hands for that. I really don't. This is an issue about community.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> This forum is about our community = and how these things affect our community.&nbs= p; I think what this man wants to do is wonderful. The problem is is where he wants to= do it happens to affect his neighbors, that's why we're here. We're here to remember that we are= to be neighborly to the people around us, it's an issue of community, it's an iss= ue of how much do we care about our neighbors even if we don't like them. My husband has been to Germany, he loves the windmil= ls, there are windmill farms, they're beautiful he said, you come up over a hillside and there's all these windmills and there's crops planted under them. There are no houses bui= lt around them and they power all kinds of things, I think that this is what we need to think about. You also= need to think about as a Board, I heard about 4 people stand up here today if you grant this, I want one in my yard. Well how many of these are you going to be allowing in people's yard= s if you do grant this one? Take (inaudible) here and how many people want one of these in their back yards.= Where do these people live? Are you going to be able to be put= ting up 10 and 20 on a road? Is that = really how this is going to be able to work? I think our issue here is you really do need to think about how this= is going to work in this area.

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It's a fabulous idea, it's a fabulous idea, but in this community, people own th= eir homes, people work very hard to purchase these homes. I'm not kidding. You seniors in Town you have a won= derful life ahead of you, but unfortunately you're going to be entering the world where you're going to have to go to work someday and earn a pay and raise a family and buy a piece of property which is your equity, which is your heart and your soul, everything that goes into it, from your furnace to your lawn= to the car that's in your driveway, it all affects everyone else and it's very important to some of us. We h= ave to consider the fact that these homes are very valuable to the people in this neighborhood and I think that we have to consider the community and the peo= ple that are in the community that it's going to affect, whether it's aesthetic= s or noise or whatever it can be, I think that as a Board and as a community tha= t's how I see your position in this, and I really hope that you seriously consi= der that. Thank you.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Eleanor Kelsey, Middletown, CT

Ms. Kelsey: I love the idea of the windmills an= d I guess the problem that I see is I own one of those pieces of property in Mi= ddletown that's way away from houses, there's more than 5,000 feet apart from my property, I live on a hillside, but I'm not allowed to go over 35 feet in my town, and either are you with your regulations currently in place. No one, regardless of whether they= have open space and no houses around can put a windmill up over 35 feet, which t= o me now that impacts every single person in your town and other towns, because = the amount of bad stuff that radiates out from your house is going to affect ev= ery person who lives next to you and every person who lives far away, cause tha= t's going to affect all of the environment, not just that house. So even though one windmill can ge= nerate enough power for that one house, it also generates enough power for several other homes, and I think that when they sell that power to the power company that's going to offset how much bad ozone we're creating. And I think that's really what the= young adults who spoke here tonight, that gentleman right there with the red hair= , I thought that was wonderful.

I think the idea that we have had in my lifetime, and I'm 64 years old, I've = seen telephone poles come on my street, I've seen electric lights put on top of those poles, even taller than the telephone poles on my street, they carry = the power lines, they carry the telephones lines, now we have wireless telephon= es, what a marvelous invention. I= guess the point I'm making here is we might have to have these windmills on poles today but maybe before your lifetime is over, yours and yours, we might not have to have them on poles, they might not have to be 55 feet high, but tod= ay in the crisis we're in we do need those poles and we need them to be 55 feet above the trees, above the ground and the reason is is because the trees bl= ow leaves, you can't have those leaves hitting those blades and not affect the bearings. You know that if yo= u hit a pine cone with your lawn mower. You hit a pine cone and you offset = the bearings. These engineers I'm= sure know that. You cannot do that= and not have it affect the motor itself or the bearings.

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And not only that, the leaves fall off the trees, and we have an ice storm, the= branches fall off and so does the ice. You can't have that fall on a windmill or blowing in the direction of a windmil= l, and certainly you've all been in a storm that blow 55 mph or more and certa= inly the more we know about tornadoes and also the hurricanes, well granted these things have some tork to them and they can twist a little bit and I'm sure = that these gentlemen can answer your questions that they're not going to break o= ff in a strong storm. But the po= int I'm trying to make is when you have these winds you're creating dust and di= rt that's flying through the air and that affects the blades. You've got to get above the tree l= ine so that you're not having the branches blow off the trees in a strong storm and hit the windmill. All these things make sense to me and I'm sure they make sense to you, but without a variance on the height that you're allowing or permitting in your town, you can't put any windmills yet, period, and so th= is affects everybody. It affects= you in your town, it affects me in my town, because every windmill we put up ma= kes the air a little cleaner, it makes the ozone less dangerous for us to live under creating cancer for the young kids. That's why these young people are so outspoken. I've been to a cou= ple of meetings believe me for 25 years in Middletown. I've never seen this many young pe= ople attend a meeting like they are here tonight and I think that should be tell= ing you something. They're worried about the future and this seems to be the answer.

I hope you understand that I'm not here telling you that well a miracle is go= ing to happen and you won't need poles for these windmills but sooner or later you're going to have wireless, you won't have to hook up to a wireless to s= end the power to the company, to the electric light company, they'll be sending= it with micro chips or something, I don’t know how, but it's coming. We won't have to live with these windmills for the rest of our lives. That gentleman won't have to sit and see that windmill out his bedro= om window. God, that's what tech= nology is all about, keep improving. You have cell phones today. When = I was young we didn’t have cell phones, you had party lines. Remember that? Some of you must. Well technology developed and that= 's what happened.

I think there's one other thing I need to address that bothered me greatly. I think that most of the people he= re speaking against the windmills were speaking about the aesthetics, not the hardships, and I think the aesthetics boils down to the NIMBE's. The NIMBE's are the people who say= Not In My Back Yard, and we've all heard about that from a prison the day that you know they want to put a prison in certain towns, gee, it looks ugly, well it looks ugly, that's aesthetics, it's not hardship. This is a necessity. This is a necessity for all of us.= We're all being affected by this en= ergy crunch we have and the energy crunch, by the way, today another oil refinery burned up in Texas, what do you think that’s going to do to the $3.20 in gas that were all paying at the pumps? Now when= our oil prices go up this coming Winter we're going to be in a crunch in the No= rtheast. You know we always have higher oil prices in the Winter.

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Well if we have higher oil prices what are the young parents going to do that ha= ve 2 or 3 kids? Even if you only h= ave 1.5 kids. But I guess the que= stion is, how are they going to pay their energy costs, in their car gasoline, and the tax at the pump, whether they eliminate it for the Summer or not, I'm talking about the Winter. I'm talking about how are they going to afford what you afford? These kids won't be able to do it.= You know they're paying mortgages = that are over $1,200 a month. What= did you pay when you were young? $100? $90? $65? It depends on when you bought your house, but these kids are buying houses that are way out of sight, they can't afford this. We need to stop thinking about aesthetics and we need to see what we really think is necessary, necessary = will improve the quality of our lives, and whether Planning and Zoning Commission saw that, and that's in the public interest if we're not, and it probably i= s if you think about it, aesthetics don't count, but the public good counts, and= that's what you're doing here, you're doing what's best for the public and if that means letting the windmills come in for now. P & Z may change the rules lat= er, when the technology changes that's always a possibility but for now we need sheet power, even if it's unattractive temporarily. Even if it means tall poles, we ne= ed the power today. Thank you.<= /o:p>

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Jim Jarsbeck, 244 Higby Road, Middletown, CT<= /b>

Mr. Jarsbeck: We heard a lot about aesthetics and conservation, green, I'm a plumber by trade and I go into a = lot of homes, and people who retire (Tape #1, Side B ended - may have missed some). It's amazing after goi= ng in their home and they're really scraping because they budgeted for so much for their oil, their electric, they have no idea in the past 2 years prices have gone up so fast. I'm consider= ing if I could take, I have personally built (inaudible) I haven't actually erecte= d it yet, but it's getting close, if I can take care of my utilities now, work at this, heating, electrical, I'm hoping that I just have to pay taxes and die, that would be great, but these are the kind of things I'm looking at, but h= ey, I'm for the windmill, yea it's (inaudible) tight in some people's homes (inaudible) make the right decision. Whatever is decided here I'm hoping to use in my town, this hopefull= y is a precedent against a lot of other places.= Colchester just had an experience, a man was in the paper recently, I talked to him on the phone today and asked him to come here, but he's not h= ere, I'm here, but hey thanks for coming, I hope you guys make the right decision and there's a lot of things to be desired, but we have to do something. (Inaudible.)

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Terry Meyers, Professi= onal Engineer and Land Surveyor

Mr. Meyers: When this application first came to= light one of my clients and friends asked me to look at the regulations. Moosa, can you tell me what the he= ight of an accessory structure, maximum height can be in a residential zone? When I read the regulations it sai= d 40 feet, the principal structure can be 35.&n= bsp; I believe that this application is not only incorrect and illegal, b= ut that the notice is illegal too. I think he's asking for a 35 foot variance and not a 20 foot variance.

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Mr. Rafey: But if you're asking f= or the lesser setback, which for an accessory structure is 20 feet, the maximum height is 20 feet. Once you p= rovide the maximum setback which is for the principal building, then you can go up= to 55 feet.

Mr. Meyers: I didn't read your regulations that way. But in any event I'd lik= e to know what the hardship here is. Thee is no hardship. T= he fact that he can't get enough wind at 35 feet is not a hardship. That he should have a different lo= cation, one that is higher, therefore he can get the proper wind, but I don't belie= ve there is any hardship here.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Debra Jarsbeck, Middletown, CT 06795=

Ms. Jarsbeck: I'm the wife of the plumber. I think it looks pre= tty cool, I don't think it looks ugly, it looks nice. As far as the processing, I just w= ant to say that it was only a few years ago that we were only paying like $75 a mo= nth for electricity; now we pay $210 a month and we cut off lights, we do what = we can too, we have a new washer and everything, so we're doing what we can. I just want to make a statement th= at I support the windmill for this man and for anyone else who is willing to do it. Thank you.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Denise Karpavich, 60 Farm Circle, Watertown, CT&nbs= p; 06795

Ms. Karpavich: You guys are talking a= bout hardship. Kurt and I have no children, this is not (inaudible) I have 36 nieces and nephews and great ni= eces and nephews which I'm worried about. They're little tiny things and I have a little niece that I'm a Godmother for and she's almost 3 years old and I love her to death and I wa= nt her to have a clean environment, not get asthma like some of my nieces and nephews have because of the air. They choke and they have to take pills, and I look at them and my he= art cries for them, and I think it's a terrible thing to have people really don= 't think this is a serious thing. It's not just the look of it. We h= ave wonderful neighbors. I like my neighbors, but this is what Kurt and I want to do. I don't have any children, but I c= are about the kids out there when I see them, I think about their future, breathing, my little nephew that has asthma, you see him breathing with the thing, I see other kids out there with ailments, with cancer. Take a look at yourself. Look at the kids future. You guys are healthy. Are they going to be healthy with = this air we're breathing and the gasses that are in the air? Just think about that and stop bei= ng selfish.

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<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Steve Sclar, 308 Delig= ht Meadows Road, Riceterstown, MD

Mr. Sclar: I completely understand where the neighbors are coming from when we talk about the value of your homes. My dad right now is tr= ying to remodel our kitchen, we just had an appraiser come out to take out a loan against the value of our house, but I can guarantee you that you will not r= un into a kid my age to a young adult, to a teenager who does not want to use alternative energy sources. W= e're the people that are coming up, we're the people who are going to be buying = your houses, we're going to be the bankers appraising your houses, this is not g= oing to (inaudible) the value of your house.&nb= sp; And I just want to make that clear, we are the people rising up and = we see this, we're going to look at your neighborhood, we're going to say this= is a cool, modern neighborhood that we want to move into, that we want to be a part of, let's get this going. One other point, your neighborhood will not become a circus, I guarantee you mi= ght have . . . . well that's because of this whole process right now, but once = it's running, you might have a car or two drive by, but is it so bad to have a c= ar drive by and admire your neighborhood and admire what you're doing, what yo= ur neighbors are doing? Cause I = don't really think so. If my neighb= orhood did some thing similar, and I had cars driving by once every hour, and I li= ve in a neighborhood just like yours, down in Maryland, I've seen it, if I had one e= xtra car driving by every hour, is that really such a big deal admiring what my neighbor has done? I don't re= ally think so. Thank you.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Jackie Daddona, 48 Farm Circle, Watertown, CT&nbs= p; 06795

Ms. Daddona: Again I'm kind of conf= used because at the first meeting you told us that this was the Zoning Board of Appeals. This is not Zoning a= nd Planning. People are here, th= ey're for this windmill because it created it as an issue for Planning and Zoning, and if you're saying okay we need to take the first step to do that, well I have your information that shows what how to grant a variance in different towns in Connecticut. These a= re neighboring towns, Southbury, <= st1:State w:st=3D"on">Washington, Clinton, so it's clearly s= tated that this is not a reason to grant a variance. I'm not saying that we don't want = any windmills in Watertown. That's not my decision to make. In response to one of the kids tha= t said, I understand that yes there is power lines everywhere that we see, but we decided to build in a deed restricted neighborhood because we don't want th= ose power lines right next to our house, so that's why we wouldn't want a windm= ill right next to our house either. If you guys care to see this I have copies for all of you with regards to the variances.

Mr. Sarandrea:<= /b> We have our own.=

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Ms. Daddona: Then you understand th= at this hardship is not justified. You don't grant a variance based on the energy that you can save. It's based on the demographic of a property from what I understand. I researched it and conclusively I have a court case (inaudible) because this= is a major litigation. Thank you= .

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Christine Thayer, Woodruff Avenue, Watertown, CT&nbs= p; 06795

Ms. Thayer: With regard to the specific address, does he have trees or not? The reason I ask that is I'm still= going back to the height, because that goes back to whether or not they need a variance (inaudible) and I’m just thinking if you can get a windmill (inaudible) without getting a windmill this big, it might make it a lot bet= ter for everyone, and I'm trying to get more information in on that because soo= ner or later you're going to have to be making decisions on who can have a wind= mill and how big and I just wanted some more information on that because I'm try= ing to get an understanding of what he's doing, I don't have any understanding = (inaudible) trees or not. I thought we ha= d to go 55 was the optimum size for his location to get above trees which are ab= out 30, but now I don't even know if that's accurate because I don't know if he= has trees or not, cause he says he doesn't have trees, he said he needs about 55 feet high to get above the trees.

Mr. Sarandrea: Do you want to answer that? He's probably trying to= get over the tree line.

Ms. Thayer: So if they are not on = his property that doesn't mean they're far away, they can still be close.<= /o:p>

Mr. Sarandrea:<= /b> The location of the property, from= what I can remember, is almost like on the side of a mountain and as the valley comes up, they must have some kind of a calculation that they go for to get above the tree line probably. I mean he's probably got trees in his yard, they'd probably have to be cut if he's too close. There is also= a fall area for this windmill, also has a fall zone.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>

Ms. Thayer: So it has to be far en= ough away from other things in case it actually falls, that makes sense. My other question is this (inaudib= le) he's talking about, is that a real concern, I'm not trying to say you're ma= king it up. Is he going to see tha= t? Is that likely?<= /p>

Mr. Cruz: <= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-weight:bo= ld'> The slip (inaudible) we've heard th= is occasionally from people with very large wind turbines. We've never heard it being a probl= em where somebody physically was affected by it. Flickering occurs only if the sun = happens to be in the exact same spot, if it's at night of course there wouldn't be = any sun so there wouldn't be any flicker there. You'd have to actually do the measurements to find out whether it's an issue or not, but we've never gott= en that as an issue before.

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Ms. Thayer: The reason I asked all these questions is because everybody wants the windmill, but you have to ke= ep in mind that next month when it's your neighbor who wants to put the windmi= ll in, and it's only 20 feet from your bedroom, will it still be such a good i= dea?

Mr. Sarandrea: = As I stated before, this is all new= and Planning and Zoning doesn't have any regulations. They're here tonight. We're all in this new so we don't = know what we're going to do here. = We certainly don't want windmills on people's roofs. I mean think about satellite dishes (inaudible) but there probably will have to be some type of regulations. It's got to start somewhere.<= /o:p>

Ms. Thayer: It does, and I underst= and their concerns and you do have to do things (inaudible) you can't just say = I'm going to put up my windmill because I can.= You do have to work with people, that's why I think the idea might b= e to give everybody what they need but not necessarily everything they want.

Mr. Sarandrea:<= /b> Well probably to try and help you,= if he wanted to put an American Flag in that spot in his yard, what are we going = to tell him, he can't put it up? It's the American Flag.

Ms. Thayer: No not that, that's not what I'm saying.

Mr. Sarandrea:<= /b> Well he's coming here because he c= ould put it up, maybe 20 feet, but he's trying to go 30 something feet.

Ms. Thayer: (Inaudible) ramificati= ons and whatever does end up happening (inaudible). I'd like to comment on the hardship question, but a lot of the things that your Planning and Zoning handles is = not a hardship. Making your home a little bigger is not a hardship, neither is putting on a deck, so I don't really get the connection between the hardship and that. (Inaudible) I'm 48, I've been the = best conservator since I was 14 years old, I have a background in environmental science, I've been conserving since there wasn't even a word called conserv= ing and it's not enough. Thank yo= u.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Judy Wick, Northfield Road, Watertown, CT&nbs= p; 06795

Ms. Wick: I would just like to a= sk to have the Chairman relate the 45 decibels to other noises, for example 45= decibels as compared to a compressor for an air conditioner, 45 decibels as compared= to (inaudible). How does the noi= se level that is being talked about compare to other things for a pump for a pool? How does it compare to = other noises that people have at their houses?

Mr. Sarandrea:<= /b> We talked about it at the last mee= ting, and supposedly it's quieter than a window unit. Probably quieter than a filter pump= on a pool.

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Mr. Cruz: The noise on 45 decibe= ls, first of all let's start off with a room air conditioner, you have one in y= our window, those are about 65 to 70 decibels.= And you can read them and you can see the specifications on those. Your outdoor air conditioners, you= have big compressors on those, those run about 55 to 60 decibels, in that area there. (Inaudible) a lot quie= ter than the window ones. When we= talk about 45 decibels, it's equal to what you might hear in an office, the noise you might find in a quiet office, or something like that. Or even like a living room for exa= mple, with the TV on and the kids coming and going. It's something that's not distract= ive at all. That's one of the things= that was very, very important. We wouldn't have gone down the path we did had it been something that would ha= ve been annoying to somebody because we do respect neighbors and we want to ma= ke sure that we do produce a product that people want to embrace. If we install this machine and the= n it's absolutely atrocious and people absolute hate it, I'm going to sell one machine. I'm producing these = machines because we want people to embrace them and want everybody to have one in a reasonably defined zoning (inaudible).&nbs= p; That's the point, is that success builds upon success in our products and the only way we're going to sell more machines (inaudible) is through (inaudible). I hope that (inaudible).

Unidentified Woman: My question is (inaudible). We have several wildlife in the area. We have several miles w= hich actually (inaudible) species that live in (inaudible) which actually (inaudible) and one of my thoughts about the wind turbines is that it's a distraction to the wildlife (inaudible) it will discourage the natural environment.

Mr. Cruz: Birds and wind turbines have been an issue from the very, very beginning and there has been, the industry, small and large wind has done a lot of research on how to design machines that are friendlier to birds.&nbs= p; To say that wind turbines are bird friendly and that it's impossible= for a turbine to harm a bird, I can't say that, but I can also say that there is not a single house out there, or a house cat, or a car, or any kind of structure that's manmade that is not friendly to birds. We've done a lot of things to try = and minimize any kind of issues with birds. The #1 thing is when we did research about what causes harm to birds from wind turbines, we found that it wasn't= the blades. They see those. I have wind turbines in bird sanct= uaries in Mexico. What it largely has been is lattice towers and guide wires, the same things you'd find on a cell tower or something. Birds cannot see g= uide wires, that's what they are usually struck by. That's what they usually are struc= k by, that's why we focused on guideless towers.= The lattice structure on a tower often times birds perch on those and when they see a prey, they go after the prey without seeing the blades, and that's about the only time a bird is hit.&= nbsp; The industry has worked hard, again, in making sure that this is resolved by making sure that the towers are on monopoles, that the blades t= urn slower.

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The other thing also about large wind turbines versus small winds, the possibil= ity of a bird hitting a small wind turbine is a fraction of that of a large one. You're talking about a f= ew large wind turbines which are 300 foot towers, they have 200 foot (inaudibl= e) blades and there are 20 of them in a row.&= nbsp; The chances of birds somehow striking that is much much greater than= one small wind turbines or a few wind turbines in a neighborhood that are on 25, 30, or 50 foot towers and have 12 foot blades. And the thing with birds, this is a statement that was made by the President of the National Audubon Society a = few weeks ago in a speech. He sai= d that climate change and global warming is a far greater threat to the extinction= of the species of birds than wind turbines are.

Unidentified Woman: The other point I have is (inaudib= le) new technology and consideration of what happens when you have to do maintenance or it is no longer viable, saying that wireless technology communications is a great thing, you now have cell towers all over the plac= e, you have plastic cones that are being thrown up, batteries are being thrown= up, (inaudible) central office never had to have a battery, but now people have= to wear an earpiece every day, tells me that you are paying for your luxuries. So what happens whe= n I mean it's not a biodegradable product it's not something that's environment= ally friendly when it's no longer of use, so if it has a 10 year warranty, it ta= kes 10 years to get your dollar back, you go back and buy another one. What are you going to do to, where= is the environmental benefit?

Mr. Cruz: We spent a lot of time working on that. Our wind tur= bine, when it's, I'm trying to think of the nomenclature, it's European standard where it's lead free, there's no biohazard materials on the inside, it's 10= 0% recyclable. It's a new standa= rd that's actually directed by the European Union, which they look at, even th= ough they have packaging and how we package the machine, it cannot have an exces= sive amount of packaging for the size of the machine so everything that we do wi= th this machine is (inaudible) and I think you have a good point, and I think = that as time goes on, you see this with automobiles, we recycle them as well, so= I think with small wind turbines is the same thing, and I think as you say yo= u're groundbreaking area here and I think as you design long term ordinances, th= ose are things that need to be shared with your (inaudible) to make sure they're always included and something that after it's life this is what has to happ= en to it.

Unidentified Woman: How long before it pays for itself? 10 years?

Another Unidentified Woman: Abiding no tax abatements.

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Mr. Cruz: It depends where you live actually= . There are 3 factors that determine payback, it's the wind speed average, the cost of the electricity that the consumer pays, and the installed cost.&nbs= p; In this area you're correct, if you live in the Northeast it's (inaudible) have 5 years. If = you live in Alaska, it's about 2 years because it's $.42 a kilowatt of electric= ity up there wind speed, so it's relative, so it's a formula of those 3 factors that come together to help the consumer out.

Unidentified Woman: What will be the (inaudible) control for insurance? I know a wind turbine you now have insurance on your homeowners Is there a guarantee that he has insurance? Is there anything = that would affect the neighbor as far as insurance? That's something that is new. I know when (inaudible) came about insurance companies (inaudible) so there are follow up issues that need to = be addressed if it does go through. On a personal note every generation has to realize that they have a choice too. It's not, they can't jus= t sit and say this is the way it is, that's the way they left it. Instead of looking at your laptop,= walk down to the Library and do some research.&= nbsp; Every child has a computer and a cell phone, they all have Play Stat= ions, they're looking at (inaudible) it's a generation of entitlement and they ha= ve to realize they can make a change as the existing generation. We're doing what we can, everybody= needs to participate. Thank you.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Scott Stewart, 222 Wheeler Farm Road, Watertown, CT 06795=

Mr. Stewart: The whole thing seems like it's be= ing treated as a symposium on wind towers.&nbs= p; It really isn't. This = is about people's property and property values and their concerns for that, mo= re than anything else. We're tre= ating this like it's any other structure. This is unique and it's new and as the Board has even come out and s= aid, we need regs for this, so if we grant a variance and he's able to put it in= , we can research regs and put them into effect, but his won't necessarily comply with the regs. I think it's premature without having regs established for something as unique as this to just go ahead and grant it and disregard any other concerns that may or may= not have come up so far, and it just seems more prudent to look into the issue,= see what other states are doing, see what's safe, try and understand concerns t= hat people have, believe me none of the neighbors have any problem with wind po= wer, it's just their concerns about their property values, safety, living condit= ions, and so on and I think it behooves everyone to address those concerns and co= me up with the proper zoning regs for this specific type of thing. This is not a flagpole. This is an appliance, 50 feet in t= he air, or whatever it is, and we need to check it out further. Thank you.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Joseph Daddona, 48 Farm Circle, Watertown, CT&nbs= p; 06795

Mr. Daddona: I'm a stone's throw aw= ay from this appliance. My wife has Multiple Sclerosis and she has to sleep at night otherwise that's a hardshi= p, and you promised a demonstration o the noise, you were going to bring in a recording or something. Can I please hear that now?

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Mr. Cruz: (Inaudible.)

Mr. Sarandrea: He's not going to be a= ble to do it.

Mr. Daddona: Do you have that with you?

Mr. Cruz: I didn't realize I was supposed to= bring that.

Mr. Daddona: Well we talked about t= hat last time. You weren't aware = of that? Is it a winding, consta= nt noise all night? What type of= noise would it be? Can you explain = that?

Mr. Cruz: It's kind of a slight whispery, wh= ishing noise. It depends what the wi= nd speed is and it's going to vary with the wind, there will be a slight, slig= ht, slight little hum, the higher the wind speed the hum will be a little loude= r, but it's a very quiet, there are two different types of noises that you're going to hear, the blades which will be a slight little swoosh, I can't thi= nk of an object of what it might be like at the moment, but it's just a slight, slight swoosh, and then the alternator itself makes a slight quiet quiet li= ttle hum, and that's the extent of it. I mean it's significantly less than an air conditioner in a bedroom window. Wind turbines use less than that.<= o:p>

Mr. Daddona: Well I hope so, cause = my wife (inaudible).

Mr. Sarandrea:<= /b> Last Summer, my son races up in Lowellville, New York and there's probably a couple hundred of these windmills up there. I never saw them before in my life= . They look gothic in the fog, but t= hey're like 300 feet in the air, and they have 100 foot blade span and we camped r= ight under them and unless you're standing, I had my own experience of standing under them, and that's a big one, this thing is like a fan, that's all you really heard. When you were standing under it you hear like a (made a noise), it's like a breeze.<= /o:p>

Mr. Daddona: My son is in California and t= hey have them there, and it's driving the neighbors crazy, they're up at night and they're not happy with them. = It's not this particular one, it's windmills.&n= bsp; They're just not happy at all, the neighbors are not happy at all wi= th the noise. I have a personal = thing with this, it's very important to me.

Mr. Mitchell: The noise you're talking about, wo= uld it be comparable to a ceiling fan running at high speed?

Mr. Cruz: Somebody just said that and I was just thinking the same thing, probably not even high speed, proba= bly more like medium. I have one = in my living room and (inaudible).

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(Tape #2, Side A ended - may have missed some.)

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Gail Sangree, Northfield Road, Watertown, CT&nbs= p; 06795

Ms. Sangree: I've learned a lot tonight listeni= ng to everybody but one thing I don't know is whether the electric company is fine with windmills. Are they happ= y to have windmills setting up their own power?

Mr. Cruz: Actually the utilities are fine wi= th it. There are standards calle= d the IEEE1547 or the UL1741, these are interconnection safety standards that were developed in conjunction between the utilities and the industry, and then I= EEE and UL (inaudible) look at most of your devices at home, this is a little (= inaudible) on the bottom of your device, this is an overriding umbrella organization w= hich tests and certifies electrical products to make sure that they're safe for consumers. Our product, Sky Stream's inverter is (inaudible) 1547 certified so they're fine with it.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>(Inaudible Name) Middletown, CT 06795=

Mr. (Inaudible): Basically I wanted to talk to her question. The system that I h= ave and use is silicon solar based and I have to go through an entire process w= ith Northeast Utilities in order to have it.&n= bsp; They actually came and inspected and did a site test of the system to ensure that it will be safe for their lineman in the event of a power outage that it would not kill a lineman that is working on the lines. Once that's done they install a sp= ecial meter that measures the energy, both that you consume and that you provide. (Inaudible) has 2 li= ne items, sales and purchase, so Northeast Utilities is good with it.

Mr. Sarandrea: How tall is your syste= m?

Mr. (Inaudible): It's not a windmill system, it's a= solar, but I'm basically answering the question that Northeast Utilities has experience with home, residential generation capabilities and you can see t= he difference in my bill.

Mr. Cruz: I just have a few more things to add. I wanted to come here to= talk to everybody and say thank you on taking this big jump and bringing this to= a motion and hopefully passing it and developing a zoning ordinance. I started doing research on this s= everal months ago and found out that the City of San Francis= co had passed an ordinance allowing small wind turbines, and we're selling our first one, these lots in San F= rancisco, the setting is not the best, but they have some great locations for wind, because of the wind blowing off the ocean.= These lots are 25 ft. wide/50 ft. long, and they're putting all wind turbines there; they're doing it because they understand the seriousness of what we're going through.

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The City which prides itself in its beauty and view is saying this makes a lot = of sense, so even though Watertown might not be the first city to pass somethi= ng like this, it's certainly on the right path and there's many people doing it now= . I want to thank you very much for listening to me and the people here.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Mike Groman, 670 Walnut Hill Road, Thomaston, CT 06787=

Mr. Groman: I just wanted to say o= ne thing that we're talking about here, the (inaudible) and I understand, I'm = not yet a homeowner, but soon to be, I think that this motion of adding a turbi= ne into (inaudible) property in W= atertown is really a progressive step that we need to see. The (inaudible) standard that we o= nce had, the ideas that energy will come from a power plant, that's not being m= et tomorrow and in that I think W= atertown could be seen as a really progressive place in installing this and allow it. I see myself really being magnetized to a place that has wind turbines, that has progressive thinking people. If you have that, I t= hink it won't be a detraction to the property value but really a supplement. I think you will really see a lot = of positive feedback from this. = It's really a powerful thing that we can do.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Bob Neild, 165 Ball Farm Road, Oakville, CT 06795=

Mr. Neild:<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-weight:bo= ld'> I'm on the Agenda tonight, I just = want a little extension on my deck. I learned a lot here this evening as well and I'm really glad that I came. I feel privileged that this issue = was on the Agenda. That being said, = I'm one of those green people, I drive a Prias and it doesn't work the way I was led to believe it was going t work. I'm still glad I own it. I'm not sure how I'm going to get rid of the $5,000 battery that they didn't tell me about, the disposal price that's be= hind the seat which is an integral part of the technology. Trying to do something different a= nd be ecologically intelligent and financially smart is a complex issue. From a windmill 30 feet from this gentleman's window and at the same time being a good neighbor is a complex issue. There is a lot of info= rmation to be gathered up front, to be sure. That's nothing compared to the information that you're going to gath= er from the other end of this proposition.&nb= sp; I agree that there are going to be windmills; I want one, I really d= o, but there is a learning curve here that has to happen. I think until there are regulation= s in place, until research is done, and there is information to gather here beca= use everyone tonight, other communities have done this, until we're able to have regulations in place so that we can intelligently move forward in a way tha= t is progressive, that draws wonderful young minds that we heard evidence here tonight, until we have those regulations that can help us in an intelligent way, this gentleman here, he should be able to sleep at night without his liberty being infringed upon so I think ultimately that issue needs to be (inaudible) decision that’s come forth tonight.

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Mr. Sarandrea: Is there anyone else w= ho hasn't spoken yet? You've alr= eady spoken. Is there something ne= w you want to add, cause we keep hearing the same things, aesthetic, property val= ues, neighbors can't sleep.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Kurt Karpavich, 60 Farm Circle, Watertown, CT&nbs= p; 06795

Mr. Karpavich: Some lady mentioned ab= out insurances and . . . . there is an interconnect policy from CL&P and they're looking for $300,000 of property owner's insurance. I think the application fee is abo= ut $150, $160. After the turbine= is installed, if approved, they would come out and certify the project like th= at gentleman from Middletown said. They would put a specia= l watt meter in and have it turned backwards.&nbs= p; Who would know that right now we're driving our cars and heating our homes with cooking oil and (inaudible) diesel. I mean we have to look at changing attitudes. We're in an age wh= ere we have to change our attitudes. I brought Bob Chew here last month from Solar Rights, the installer, Andy Cruz from Southwest Tower to get people educated on th= is because I knew it would be something new. The noise issues, aesthetics, but we all looked at satellite dishes,= we all looked at cell towers for years, and the worst thing that came out was (inaudible) this is something else. Now we drive by them every day (inaudible). We're in the 21st Century here, we= 're not going backwards. This stu= ff is done in Europe all the time. I work with almost 2,000 people a = day and the Europeans don't understand why we're going through this. Changing attitudes, changing times= , good technology, we're not going backwards.&nbs= p; No one wants to move their power plants, and no one wants power plan= ts in their back yards. But if p= eople like me and people like that gentleman over here that (inaudible) Prias, if= we all do our part, it will be (inaudible) and we won't have the asthma conditions, we won't have the self reliance on oil that we have now. We have to change our attitudes. It's going to happen, I don't know= if I'll be the first one. I put = solar panels on my home, I built my home with a ray heat system, I use the solar panels to supplement my ray heat system.&n= bsp; My phone is for energy star structure. I'm doing my part to cut my (inaud= ible) down and sure, I could run the Corvette every weekend, but I drive a small little Honda Cirrus that gets 45 miles per gallon. That's what we have to do and I th= ink it's a good project and I think it's probably long overdue. Westville, MA has just adopted zoning = laws (inaudible) ordinance. California went through this in 2001 where power (inaudible) blackouts, brownouts, the State of California said you have to have 1 acre of land, 65 feet high. That's the law in California, statewide words, so people like me don't have to waste your time any time people want to do this in Morris or Bethlehem, or wherever. I've got inundat= ed with calls of support on this. The neighborhood had taken a brunt on it, we have people driving by my house, Ned and Mike stopped in from Taft School (inaudible).= 10 minutes later I'm meeting with Congressman Murphy on sponsoring a bill for Southwest Tower's call on the (inaudible). It's= got to start some place. I'm just= the first guy to raise my hand and say I'd like to do it.

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Mr. Sarandrea: The thing I'm concerned with is we don't have any regs. I'm for wind power myself, but we don't have any regs in place and it's kind of tough. I know you can put this thing up, I think you can put this thing up if you go under 35 foot.

Mr. Karpavich:<= /b> Well I'm at a 35 foot level, the n= ext door neighbor's are going to see.

Mr. Sarandrea: I know, I'm just tryin= g to put something out there. What= I'm concerned with is if we let you put up a windmill, and I'm sure, the Chairm= an of Planning and Zoning is here, when is our next comprehensive plan?

Mr. Minnich: Soon.

Ms. Wick: We haven't finished this one.=

Mr. Sarandrea: Maybe we've got a shot= . I'd kind of like to have Planning a= nd Zoning look at all this stuff, maybe it won't have to come before the Zoning Board of Appeals, it could happen that way. I just think you're a little prema= ture right now. I'm just talking m= yself, throwing it out there, we listened to everybody tonight and that's my only concern is that, see we have regs on everything else. For instance he's coming with his = deck, I don't know what he's doing yet, but we can go out there, look at his neighborhood and see if it's conforming.&n= bsp; We have regs that we can look at and Zoning Codes and Building Codes that we can look at, on a deck, on a sidewalk, on a fence. We don't have anything on a windmil= l, and that's the only thing that concerns me right now. It's a real tough job. For myself, I don't know how the r= est of the Board feels, it's a tough job right now. I mean I think it's a great thing,= I'm not saying it's going to get denied, I'm the Chairman but I'm only one memb= er, but that's the only problem I have myself, is that we don't know enough abo= ut where things should be located. I mentioned last month at the meeting, I can remember Wheeler Farm when there= was nothing there, I mean I used to sit up on that hill on a snowy night and lo= ok out and it was beautiful. Now= there are houses. What can you do?<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> That's progress. I'd hate to do something that mayb= e you might have to take it down, or maybe Planning and Zoning will say that neighborhood up there sits up high on a hill, maybe we'll grant the neighborhood a windmill and you can power the whole neighborhood, which I stated last month. I don't know. It's a great thing, but= it's tough. I'm hoping we are the = first town to do it, but I'd just like to get something to help me know if we're = doing the right thing right now. Wh= ere you place it, that's all I'm concerned about. Maybe Planning and Zoning is going= to say you have to have an acre and a half, or we can only allow 6 windmills in this neighborhood. It's a gre= at thing, but it's kind of confusing to me right now. That's my take on the whole thing = right now.

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Mr. Roger: For the people in the audience here that maybe don't know, he's here for a height variance. If we don't give him the variance,= at this point going on the regulations we have, to the best of our ability, he= can put this up anyway. It will b= e at 35 feet and it will be there. The height variance of 20 foot is for optimum performance and tree lines and there's multiple hardships that stated my opinion, I mean some people don't believe there is a hardship and some people believe there is. I just want to make that clear for everybody that is here tonight.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Bob Chew, Bristol, RI

Mr. Chew: I'm currently working = with many communities helping them get through this, putting regs in place, and = I'm not aware of any regs that have been passed in any community that I'm deali= ng with and we have offices in 6 states now that if they were passed, I'm not aware of any ordinances that have been passed in the last 12 months that wo= uld preclude this unit with the 20 foot height restriction from being installed= . The main requirement is that when = it falls, it falls within the property and that's usually determines the heigh= t is the size of the lot. We were carefully citing this in that the other house that's probably 30, 35 foot h= igh, the land does drop off and we're looking at the tree line in the back yard = so although there's not trees near where the wind turbine is, 50 feet away the= re are tress and that's the reason for the hardship that we're looking for rel= ief from the zoning variance. I'm= very experienced in zoning variances. I've rec= eived over 150 of them in a 29 year career as a designer/builder and to me I think he's clearly identified the hardship, and again I'd be more than willing as= I mentioned last month, if the Zoning Board of Appeals would like a copy, I c= an email them a wind zone ordinance I put together that will discuss not only residential wind turbines, commercial wind turbines, (inaudible) farms, very easy all you have to do is take it, change the name to your community and h= elp get this through.

Mr. Sarandrea: For instance now if Mr. Daddona was to want to put up, say he puts his up and he says wow that's co= ol, I'd like to get one, where would he put his? We can wind up with 30 windmills on that, I mean would he have to put his somewhere where it wouldn't be affect= ing the air that hits these blades? The houses are close.

Mr. Chew: Usually it's 3 times the width of = the blade sweep, so if a neighbor put one up it would have no impact on, if eve= ry neighbor had one you wouldn't have a loss of performance because everybody = had a wind turbine. The other thi= ng is, to answer a few more questions, I'm currently working with MA Audubon and CT Audubon and we're trying to put these eon, MA Audubon has 400 properties and they'd like to put one of these on every one of their properties that has g= ood wind resources, so again the Audubon Society is very supportive of wind so = that answers I think that one question about birds. They also feel that climate change= is much more of an issue for birds than wind turbines.

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I think I mentioned last time that I have a degree in Environmental Science a= nd I've been doing this for a long time, and as important as conservation is a= nd efficiency, like (inaudible) there, we're not going to do it by efficiency = and conservation. We have to do i= t by bringing (inaudible) into the mix and it's not an easy thing. I don't see this wind turbine havi= ng, again we're not 35 feet or 35 feet or whatever, if we have a 50 foot, it ha= s to be at least 50 foot away from the property before it hits the neighbor's property and his house has a setback too so it's going to be a little furth= er than was described.

Mr. Sarandrea: You're preaching to the choir. I mean all I'm saying,= I wish we had the luxury of opening up our reg book and looking at Section 12= -13, no, you don't have an acre and a half, you can put it 50 feet, we don't have that, and that's the only thing that's concerning me. I think the idea is great, we have= to start doing these things, but like I say, we may have him put his windmill = in, they're in the Comprehensive Plan, guess what? He's going to be here next year, I'm probably going to be in court.

Mr. Chew: To answer the question about the u= tility companies, I had lunch yesterday with Joe Debs, who is the head of the interconnecting renewables for CL&P, is very supportive, we told him we were going to the meeting tonight, he's keeping his fingers crossed, the ut= ility companies see the problem too. Even though every time you put a wind turbine or solar system up it takes money = out of their pocket, they see the problem and they're very supportive of (inaud= ible) so again I thank you for inviting me back.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Dave Daddona, 48 Farm Circle Watertown, CT&nbs= p; 06795

Mr. Daddona: I have a picture to sh= ow the tree line and how it slopes in the back. It's hard, it's a dark picture, his house is here and the tree line in the back slopes down. You can pass it around, so that tr= ee line in the back is nowhere near for the height (inaudible) the tree line, = so that they're hearing it, is not up high.&n= bsp; Some of the quick things, (inaudible) some of the concerns. He mentioned that he never install= ed one of these units before and I just want to make that . . . .

Mr. Chew: Correct.

Mr. Daddona: Okay, cause they were saying they had 300, I don't want people to think that, they're being a lit= tle misled that they put 300 of these in, cause they have never installed one of these windmills ever, just want to point that out.

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

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<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Jackie Daddona, 48 Farm Circle, Watertown CT 06795

Ms. Daddona: I just want to say to = Mr. Cruz, I think you're trying to diminish the noise because I remember clearl= y, I can't remember your name, I apologize, but the installer at the site walk h= ad said that it did have some noise and that the higher the windmill was place= d, the less noise there will be, so obviously it’s not equivalent to a h= ouse fan, because he was stating the higher the windmill was going to up, there obviously was some noise and concern with the noise. Thank you.

Mr. Sarandrea: Okay, you're the last = one, cause we have to get going.

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Jim Jarsbeck, Middletown, CT

Mr. Jarsbeck: I just heard 3 things = go around, if this guy is allowed to put his windmill up at the approved site which is 20 feet, where will that put his windmill? Right eyelevel. And if that's true with the noise = that you were just talking about, wouldn't you want to get it higher above so you don't hear it? It might be to= your benefit, if he's going to put one up no matter what, wouldn't it be better = to get it out of your sight, out of the noise, if there is a noise? Just a thought. Thank you.

Mr. Cruz: I've got to get on the road, thank= you.

Mr. Sarandrea: Is there anyone who wa= nts to speak that hasn't spoken yet?

<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Gary Davis, Morris, CT

Mr. Davis:<= span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-weight:bo= ld'> I believe in giving the power back= to the people, not (inaudible.). Thanks.

MOTION: &= nbsp;     (Mr. Roger, sec. Mr. Griffith) to Close Application #845 of Kurt Karpavich for 20 feet height variance to permit the installation of a 55 feet high wind turb= ine on a residential property at 60 Farm Circle, Watertown, CT.

Discussion:       None<= o:p>

MOTION PASSED UNANIMOU= SLY

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

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MAY 23, = 2007

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Public Hearing Closed at 9:40 p.m.

Respect= fully submitted,

&n= bsp;

&n= bsp;

&n= bsp;

Enrico Sarandrea, Chairman

Zoning = Board of Appeals

  &nbs= p;         _________________= _________________

  &nbs= p;         Lynn M. LaForme, Minutes Secretary