 |
|
|
|
|
Commissioners prepare for a new windmill law
By Oakley Brooks
Saratoga's planning commissioners have decided to hold off approval on a law before them last week that would have allowed small windmills to be built in certain areas of the city. Commissioners agreed that stricter conditions needed to be added into the ordinance.
Saratoga officials are considering the issue following a law passed by the state legislature last October--at the tail end of last year's energy crunch--that requires local governments to allow small wind-driven energy systems. Cities may establish their own ordinance governing windmills by July 1; if they don't, Saratoga property owners would only be subject to the state's minimum requirements for constructing a windmill.
The city's ordinance included the state requirements for wind machines--that they be allowed at up to 65 feet on 1- to 5-acre parcels, up to 80 feet on plots 5 acres or larger, and that noise levels of the turbines remain under 60 decibels. The machines would also be set back from property lines by at least the height of the entire structure.
Additionally, the state--and the city--would disallow windmills in open space or conservation easements, on certain farmland protected as open space, and near historical buildings.
The city ordinance considered by the planning commission Feb. 27 would also keep windmills out of the urban areas of Saratoga, limiting them to hillside residential and agricultural areas.
Planning Commission Chairwoman Cynthia Barry acknowledged that the likelihood of a windmill popping up in Saratoga was low.
But she and other commissioners wanted stricter conditions placed in the windmill ordinance anyway. They directed city staff to add language that would prevent placement of a wind machine on ridgeline areas. Planning commissioners also want discretion on the color of the machine, and an annual update on the use of the machine. Saratoga's proposed law allows the dismantling of a windmill if it hasn't been used for 12 months.
Commissioner George Roupe envisioned a "whole line of windmills like Altamont Pass behind Parker Ranch," in advocating for stricter conditions on wind machines.
If a law were passed, the planning commission would have a chance to review windmills when a property owner applied for a use permit for the machine.
The law, however, must first be approved by the planning commission and then enacted by the city council.
San Jose State environmental studies lecturer Frank Schiavo, who tried unsuccessfully to build a windmill of his own in San Jose, says Saratoga presents only a moderately favorable climate for wind power generation. While winter months might not be suitable, in the summer, the afternoon breeze blowing off San Francisco Bay could drive turbines effectively, Schiavo says.
He adds that he has only seen one operating windmill in Santa Clara County--near Hecker Pass in the Gilroy area.
|
|
|
|
Saratoga, California Since 1955
