April 9th, 2018
CANISTEO, NY – The Town of Canisteo’s board met Monday night and heard a presentation from Aaron Mullen, attorney for the Invenergy and the Canisteo Wind Project.
According to Mullen, the town of Canisteo is in the pre-application phase for the upcoming wing project and now dealing with article 10 regulations.
Article 10 provides for review of major electric generating facilities in New York State by the Board on Electric Generation Siting in a unified proceeding instead of requiring a developer or owner of the facility to apply for numerous state and local permits.
According to Invenergy, they have met with a wide range of stakeholders and have begun the studies required to assess potential environmental impacts. They also continue to discuss the project with stakeholders and landowners interested in participating, and to evaluate the best wind turbines for the project, and to develop the project layout.
41 exhibits or regulations were presented to the board in a lengthy document and it will be up to them to review the relevant ones and suggest any changes or concerns within the next month and a half.
Also the topic of expanding the Canisteo Police Department was again brought up with some in attendance questioning why more information on the subject was not presented to the public. Town Supervisor Steve Weed explained to all in attendance that it is pretty much a dead issue now that the board voted it down and the only way it can be revisited if a motion is made followed by a unanimous decision.
That does not seem likely in the near future as one board member commented that people in the town and village are having enough problems paying their taxes already, and that the added tax expense could push some residents into foreclosures.
Steuben County legislator Tom Ryan was in attendance and announced that the Steuben County Sheriff’s Dept. will be adding 4 new positions to the force, mostly pertaining to drug interdiction.
And finally, after the owner of property recently purchased on Travis Hill found out that his property is now landlocked because of a recent decision by the town board to close the road accessing it, wants the board to consider reopening it. According to Weed, they have no plans to reopen the road or revisit the idea.
