CONNEAUT — A proposed tour of a New York wind farm could help City Council learn more about a similar project pitched for the community.
Interim City Manager Edward Somppi, at Monday's regular meeting, said he is trying to arrange a tour of a wind farm near Lowville, N.Y., a town of about 3,250 people northeast of Syracuse.
Council is deciding whether to sell 159 acres within the publicly owned East Conneaut Industrial Park to SGR Site Associates of Willoughby. SGR believes the property, when combined with privately owned land north and south of the city parcel, could be home to as many as 50 gigantic wind turbines.
SGR plans to conduct feasibility and impact studies that would take at least two years to complete. If results are encouraging, the company would market the land to utility companies.
Somppi said he believed council would benefit by visiting a wind farm and asking questions of the operators and government officials. Lowville's farm contains more than 150 turbines, council learned, many more than what has been proposed for the Conneaut site.
The city property targeted by SGR includes land north and south of Route 20 near the Pennsylvania line. The municipal land is needed to create a 2,500-acre tract, officials learned at an informational meeting last week.
Council members generally have no problem with the wind farm concept, especially since the property in question is primarily wetlands with little commercial value. However, some believe the price SGR is willing to pay, believed to be between $2,000 and $2,500 per acre, is too low.
Negotiations are continuing, officials are said. It’s believed the proposed pact would set a performance deadlines to ensure the land is bottled up for an unreasonable length of time. The agreement may also allow the city to reclaim the land if no turbines are built and buy back unused land for possible development if the turbine project proceeds.
Ward 2 Councilman Charles Lewis said he firmly believes the city would be financially ahead if it leases — not sells — the park property to SGR. Some communities with wind farms earn thousands of dollars annually per turbine, he said.
Somppi said he understood land leasing is used when the property is privately owned. His research has yet to uncover a case involving publicly owned land used for a wind farm.
In other business, council unanimously approved an amended ordinance that will appropriate $5,000 to pay a portion of Law Director Lori Lamer's salary once financed by Ashtabula County.
County officials recently notified the city it no longer will make the $5,000 contribution to Lamer’s salary it had provided for many years. The county is not legally obliged to make the payment, and is stopping the practice to cut costs, officials have said.
A similar payment from the county to Ashtabula's law office has also been rescinded, officials have said.
Council approved an amended ordinance that picks up the $5,000 cost, but also adjusts the figure should the county have a change of heart in the future and make a donation. Whatever sum the county should decide to contribution would be automatically deducted from the city budget, members agreed.
The county had made the contribution in recognition of the state cases handled by the local law office.
Local News
Conneaut council may take road trip to see wind farm
- Local News
-
-
Murder suspect kills self at mother’s grave
Madison Township police officers found the body of a murder suspect in the Alexander Harper Cemetery on Thursday afternoon, ending a day-long, multi-county manhunt.
-
Presses stopped
It was June 23, 1969.
-
Airport takes off with a new name
A new name for the Ashtabula County Airport is winding its way through the regulatory channels.
-
Property owners must pay for meth labs in Jefferson
An ordinance requiring landowners to pay for the clean-up costs of clandestine drug labs was unanimously adopted by Village Council.
-
Elections board gets help with time-consuming tasks
A Xenia company specializing in election services will take on some time-consuming tasks that should help contain the Ashtabula County Board of Elections’ labor costs, members said.
-
Commissioners pay to get the business
Commissioners on Tuesday approved a $15,000 contract with Growth Partnership for Ashtabula County to provide business service representation on behalf of the county’s One-Stop job training center.
-
Grand Valley sixth grader wins Ashtabula County Spelling Bee
James Elliott, a sixth grader at Grand Valley Middle School, clinched his win of the 29th annual Ashtabula County Area V Spelling Bee by successfully spelling the words “physique” and “daffodil.”
-
Sports, academics to come together
SPIRE Institute will expand its educational base and accept international students into its sports performance programs through a partnership with the Andrews Osborne Academy, Ted Meekma, SPIRE management team member, announced Wednesday.
-
Conneaut Chamber lauds top citizen, ‘Champions’
Nicholas Iarocci, Conneaut’s 2011 Citizen of the Year, needed plenty of gulps of water to complete his acceptance speech Tuesday night.
-
Felony charge filed in robbery
An Ashtabula woman who police said grabbed a woman’s purse inside a Conneaut supermarket late Monday afternoon faces a felony charge in Conneaut Municipal Court, according to reports.
- More Local News Headlines
-
