In response to Wayne Auto Spa’s revised application for a wind turbine that conforms with all zoning laws, the Wayne Township Council & Planning Board IS CHANGING THE ZONING LAWS IN WAYNE!!!

The new ordinance, which will be formally adopted on Wednesday, September 3, at Wayne Town Hall, 475 Valley Road, Wayne at 7:30 pm, prohibits wind turbines from being within 1,640 feet of residential property or property on which a school or day care center sits. (Wonder how that was calculated….)

My compromise proposal submitted back in April, intended to satisfy all of the supposed concerns raised by the Township at our first hearing in February. Currently, our proposed turbine is only 50 feet high and is more than 100 feet set back from the road. Rather than review this compromise Wayne Township has decided to simply change the rules.

I guess the way it works in Wayne’s local government is: if we can’t beat the wind turbine at the car wash because it now complies with the rules, change the rules so they cannot be complied with under any circumstances!!!

Oh – they also didn’t even have the courage to tell us about their proposed ordinance. In fact, the ordinance was circulated to the Town Planner in a memorandum dated August 14th. You would think that in a meeting not a week thereafter to review comments from the Town Planner & the Town Engineer to our current proposal, that the Town Planner might have mentioned that the rules are being changed to thwart our currently conforming application.

Nope! Not in Wayne Township.

I had to find out about the proposed ordinance from a newspaper reporter. The Township must be confident in their strategy, huh? Never mind a search for the truth and for facts upon which to make a propoer decision.

Wayne’s new anti-car wash wind turbine ordinance flies in the face of a massive body of NJ public policy. Its inconsistent with the State’s Master Plan. It’s also contrary to legislation pending in Trenton that declares wind turbines to be “inherently beneficial.” These words are legal terms of art – they mean that zoning boards will only be able to deny wind turbines in very narrow circumstances. The legislation has already passed through committee in the Senate and enjoys strong bipartisan support. Governor Corzine has already indicated that he will sign this legislation when it hits his desk later this year.

Instead, Wayne’s ordinance essentially eliminates the possibility of this important, clean, renewable energy technology from its municipal limits.

A bizarre observation – heliports in Wayne may be placed closer to homes and schools than wind turbines!

Wayne Township government leadership is out of touch with the energy & environmental challenges we all face together. Rather than facilitating the solution, they have become the problem.

– Wind turbines adorn the property of public schools, universities, private schools and municipally owned property throughout the United States.
– They power single-family homes, including in New Jersey.
– NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently announced plans to place wind turbines on bridges throughout New York City as well as on skyscrapers.
– Revered oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens has made wind power the center-piece of his energy plan, which is intended to stem the largest transfer of wealth in the history of the world – a wealth transfer from the United States to the oil producing countries.
– Ocean Gate, NJ Mayor Paul Kennedy is building big turbines to power their municipal complex. Sparta, NJ is about to do the same.

But Wayne Township has decided NOT to participate in the solution but rather to stifle it – all because their egos are bruised.

Well, you can be sure that we have begun our work to challenge Wayne Township’s latest blunder in court.

As a reminder, our hearing for our application for minor site plan approval remainis on the calendar for Monday, September 22, 2008 at Wayne Town Hall, 475 Valley Road, at 7:30 pm. We will present our case to make a record for our court appearance. Hope to see you there.

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