In 2007, then-Councilman & Planning Board Member Paul Margiotta addressed my plans for a wind turbine at my car wash by saying that he’s not against ALL wind energy, he’s just against wind energy at my car wash. He went on to say that he approved the wind turbine that the Town planned to install at Wayne Valley High School. Margiotta continued, saying that 140 feet is just too tall, and if I would make it shorter it would be acceptable. (It was never 140 feet, incidentally; it was 120 feet.)
In the spirit of compromise, I subsequently reduced the height of the planned tower from 120 feet to 43 feet.
That wasn’t good enough, despite Margiotta’s earlier claims.
The next complaint was that the turbine would be too close to the road. It would replace a 63 foot tall flagpole, setback 20 feet from Hamburg Turnpike. I wondered why the turbine being in the same spot as a taller flagpole was of such a great concern. But then I decided that, in the spirit of compromise, I would move the turbine 100 feet back from the road.
That still wasn’t good enough. And the Planning Board rejected my application for site plan approval, even though my plan fully complied with Wayne’s ordinances. Passaic County Assignment Judge Donald Volkert overturned the Town’s rejection of my plans, and ordered my site plan approved. The Town has refused to issue building permits.
In 2008, chief antagonist Scott Rumana (former Wayne Mayor & current Assemblyman) wrote a letter to the editor of The Bergen Record newspaper, following the paper’s stinging editorial that sharply criticized the Town for rejecting my application. Rumana advocated for a vertical axis turbine — which is bladeless and silent. He said, a vertical axis turbine is “a solution to Burke’s dilemma.” In a separate article, Mayor Christopher Vergano also endorsed this style of turbine. (Never mind that thereafter the Town adopted an ordinance banning ALL turbines from city limits.)
As reported in yesterday’s Bergen Record, I am now offering a third compromise — to install a vertical axis/bladeless wind turbine.
If the Town does not accept this compromise to resolve our disputes then we can conclude what we already know: their resistance to my wind turbine plans isn’t about any concerns they have about wind turbines. I’m agreeing to install what they have publicly deemed acceptable. If their recalcitrance continues there can be but one conclusion: their opposition is driven by antipathy toward me, political retaliation.
Well, I might be upset too if I were them. The Town just wrote $50,000 of checks to lawyers because they violated the Open Public Records Act. The Town was just disgraced by the forced resignation of Jerry Bello from the Wayne Environmental Commission; Bello was serving illegally. Bello has a lifetime prohibition from serving in an office of public trust because of his conviction for Official Misconduct in connection with a scheme in which he extorted money and took bribes from a small business.
Well, I will keep you posted. Ironic though, huh? I’ve won every time a judge has made a decision — about 6 times — yet I continue to offer compromises. What does that tell you?
