Wayne Business Sues Over Wind Turbine Zoning Rules

The ongoing saga of using local zoning rules to prohibit the construction of wind turbines for power generation now includes a lawsuit by a business prohibited from installing a wind turbine on its property.

The owner of the Wayne Auto Spa, who sparked controversy in proposing a wind turbine at his business, wants a judge to overturn new township zoning rules that prohibit the project.

The Township Council adopted a zoning ordinance in September that bans wind turbines within 1,640 feet of residential neighborhoods, schools or day-care centers.

Officials approved the measure while Robert Burke had an application pending before the township Planning Board for a nearly 50-foot-high turbine at his Hamburg Turnpike quick lube and car wash, about 120 feet from a preschool.

Burke argues in court papers that the township should not be allowed to frustrate state policy objectives that promote the use of wind and other renewable energy sources.

He also argues that he is being discriminated against because he supported a Democratic candidate in the 2007 election, who ran on a platform of supporting his wind turbine project.

Governor Corzine has backed wind power projects and alternative energy sources in the state; calling for the state to wean itself from petroleum and coal based energy sources. Burke is looking to carry out that policy, but is frustrated by the local zoning rule that prohibits construction of wind turbines within a quarter mile of residential areas. That effectively limits construction of wind turbines to a few locations in Wayne because of its mostly residential nature and the close proximity of residential locations to commercial sites.

If anything, the zoning rule is so restrictive that it limits the construction of turbines to a few locations along Route 46 and the spaghetti junction where Routes 23, 46, and I80 come together, including at the Willowbrook Mall and Wayne Town Center.

UPDATE:
Seems that local opposition to siting of wind power facilities isn't confined to the US or New Jersey towns. France has its share of issues with the siting of wind power turbines.

France's traditional attraction to new technology has blinded people to the drawbacks of les éoliennes. A BVA poll recently found that 79 percent of people favour wind farms in their region and 62 percent say that they would accept a giant turbine in their back yard -- or at least within a radius of a kilometre of their homes.

The opposition is coming from villages in the northern Picardy region and from the east and the west, where wind farms have been growing fastest. A dozen local mayors led a demonstration of about 800 people in Paris last month. They carried banners with slogans such "Wind farm lobby are murderers" and "No to the swindle of industrial wind farms."

The figurehead of the resistance is Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who was President of France in the 1970s. The aristocratic, 82-year-old "VGE" is hardly a symbol of modernity. But he has roots in the very rural Auvergne and his views are touching a nerve.