Subject to the provisions set forth hereinafter, WECS shall
be a use which shall be allowed only in Agricultural (A) Zoning Districts.
Any WECS shall be treated as a single unit and will require
a special use permit issued by the Town Planning Board and shall be
subject to site plan review under § 106-35 of the Code of
the Town of Geneseo.
The minimum setback distance between a wind power unit and all
surrounding property lines, overhead utility lines, dwellings, and
other generation units, shall be equal to no less that 1.5 times the
proposed structures height plus the rotor radius. No experimental,
home-built, or prototype wind turbines shall be allowed without documentation,
substantiated by a professional engineer licensed to practice in New
York State, of their maximum probable blade throw distance in the
event of failure and determination by the Planning Board of appropriate
setback distances based on that documentation.
A WECS shall not produce a noise level at any lot line greater
than the ambient nighttime level of the area.
Contiguous resident property owners may construct a wind energy
conversion system for their use in common. If property held by more
than one single owner is used to meet setback requirements, a site
plan establishing easements or reserved areas must be submitted to
the Planning Board for approval. The common property owners must appoint
one owner to be the joint spokesperson and agent authorized to act
for the group. Applicants shall provide written evidence of the legal
arrangement for common use, by contract or other written legal instrument.
The total height of the structure shall not exceed 120 feet,
as measured from the highest point of the arc of the blades to the
ground level at the base, unless otherwise prohibited by any state
or federal statute or restriction. The Planning Board may permit a
higher height, at its discretion, taking into consideration the location
of the unit(s) and the impact on the viewshed.
The minimum distance between the ground and any protruding blades
utilized on a WECS shall be 15 feet as measured radially from the
point of the arc of the blades to the ground.
No individual tower facility shall be installed in any location
that would substantially detract from or block view of a portion of
a recognized scenic viewshed, as viewed from any public road right-of-way
or publicly owned land within the Town of Geneseo or that extends
from the Town of Geneseo.
Use of nighttime and overcast daytime condition stroboscopic
lighting shall be required only if otherwise required by law to satisfy
tower facility lighting requirements for the Federal Aviation Administration.
Such lighting shall be subject to on-site field testing before the
Planning Board as a prerequisite to that Board's approval.
No individual tower facility shall be installed in any location
where its proximity to existing fixed broadcast, retransmission, or
reception antennas (including residential antennas) for radio, television,
or wireless phone or other personal communication systems would produce
electromagnetic interference with signal transmission or reception.
Alternately, WECS generators and alternators shall be properly filtered
and/or shielded in order to avoid electromagnetic interference and
shall comply with the rules and regulations of the Federal Communications
Commission contained in 47 CFR parts 15 and 18.
Prior to issuance of a building permit, the applicant shall
provide the Town proof, in the form of a duplicate insurance policy
or a certificate issued by an insurance company, of liability insurance
of a level to be determined by the Town Board in consultation with
the Town's insurer to cover damage or injury which might result
from the failure of a tower or towers or any other part(s) of the
energy generation and transmission facility.
Emergency shutdown procedures shall be filed with the Code Enforcement
Office.
Any WECS that is not operated for a continuous period of 12
months shall be considered abandoned, and the owner of such WECS shall
remove same within 90 days of receipt of notice notifying the owner
of such abandonment. Failure to remove an abandoned WECS within said
90 days shall be grounds to remove the WECS at the owner's expense.
As a condition to the approval of any special use permit, the Planning
Board may require the posting of a performance bond to secure compliance
with this section.