Both sides see hope in decision on wind bylaw

Focus: Both sides see hope in decision on wind bylaw | Law Times: 

Both sides are seeing hopeful signs in an April Ontario Superior Court ruling that considered the validity of a municipal bylaw that enacted greater restrictions on wind turbines than those outlined in the provincial Green Energy and Green Economy Act.
“I think this is the first judicial decision on municipal authority,” says Don DeLorenzo, counsel for the Corp. of the Township of Wainfleet in Wainfleet Wind Energy Inc. v. Township of Wainfleet.
“Obviously, we were disappointed in the loss, but I think there were a lot of beneficial findings by Justice [Robert] Reid,” adds DeLorenzo of Daniel & Partners LLP in St. Catharines, Ont.
The case dealt with the township’s 2012 bylaw applying to industrial wind turbines. It provided for a minimum setback of two kilometres from any property measured from the tip of the rotor blade in horizontal position; a maximum noise level of 32 decibels at the nearest property; and indemnification for any loss of property value or adverse health effects cause by a turbine. Wainfleet Wind Energy, which is in the process of developing a five-turbine facility in Wainfleet, Ont., took the township to court in a bid to have the bylaw declared invalid or to seek a finding that it didn’t apply to its project. It cited the conflict with provincial legislation that establishes a 550-metre setback and a noise restriction of 40 decibels. The project, according to DeLorenzo, was the first application for turbines in Wainfleet, a municipality in the Niagara Region.

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