CHERRY VALLEY - Cherry Valley supervisor Tom Garretson said this week that the town is working on developing a local ordinance which would regulate wind turbines.

Garretson said he is working with planning board chairman Jeffrey Wait to develop the ordinance.

"I intend to pursue a local wind turbine ordinance. It will be a tool for the planning board to use if and when there is an application," he said. "Site plan review laws don't address anything of this magnitude."

Garreston said he and Wait are planning to distill the best features from laws adopted by other towns across the state.

"We are currently reviewing ten wind turbine ordinances that other towns have developed. We will take the best of the ten and make our own," he said.

He added that Cherry Valley's law will be the "gold standard" for local turbine ordinances.

Garretson said one of the most important aspects of the law will be the required setbacks from residences. A setback is the distance which must be maintained between a turbine and nearby homes. He did not indicate what distances are currently under consideration because they are still reviewing other ordinances.

The supervisor said he would like to propose the local ordinance during the town board's May meeting and conduct the required public hearing within the following two months.

Garretson still maintains that a moratorium on wind development in the town is unnecessary at this time, but continues to be an option if the process begins moving too quickly.

News of a local wind turbine ordinance was greeted enthusiastically by both sides of the issue - the opposition and the developer.

"The Advocates for Cherry Valley applaud the initiative of Tom Garretson and Jeffrey Wait. Their decision to proactively engage in writing a wind turbine regulation is very encouraging. They have responsibly decided not to do what so many towns in the area have done - allow developers to write the regulations themselves. There are many critical issues in writing so complex a document. We hope they are not neglected. For instance, just recently the French Academy of Medicine warned that medical studies need to be done on noise induced stress associated with close proximity to turbines. In the interim, they recommend that the government prohibit turbines within 1,500 meters of any residence. They also recommend, for regulatory purposes, that turbines be reclassified as "industrial facilities". In Scotland, because of the difficulty in modeling noise patterns, acoustic engineers have suggested a minimum of one-and-one-half miles from residences. So our final comment must await the public hearing on the completed document," said Lynn Marsh, president of the Advocates for Cherry Valley.

Reunion Power's project manager David Little said, "Frankly, I think it is a good thing. It's good the town is doing its homework. A better informed town is a good thing."

Little said Reunion Power is still on its schedule to have turbines installed on East Hill and operational by the end of 2007. The company is continuing its work on information that will be incorporated into the application. He said it would be possible to submit an application that still required additional information, but Reunion's approach is tosubmit one that is complete, including a full environmental impact statement.

He said the application could come as soon as a "couple of months", but certainly sometime this summer.

"That's our goal," he said.