Small Town News

Citizens: UD too quick to install wind turbine

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Group also questions city, state actions

A group of Lewes citizens alleges the University of Delaware, City of Lewes and Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control moved too quickly to install the wind turbine adjacent to the university's Lewes campus.

Gerald Lechliter, a Lewes homeowner, said he and several other homeowners are considering a legal challenge based on failures to comply with laws and follow required procedures.

"There were a lot of due processes safeguards that were bypassed," Lechliter said.

He said Nancy Targett, dean of the College of Earth, Ocean and Environment, pushed DNREC for permits he said were needed to secure federal funding.

He said in a February 2010 email to DNREC Deputy Secretary David Small, Targett asked that the wind turbine's stormwa-ter and sediment permit be moved "to the top of the pile."

Lechliter said in her email, Targett told Small the project couldn't wait the required 30 days to obtain the permit.

Targett said she did not ask

Small to provide a specific decision on the permit; she said she wanted to know where in the pile the permit was and

whether the department could look at it.

Targett also said there's no validity to Lechliter's charge the university was concerned about losing funding for the project.

"We had industry, federal and university funds," Targett said. She said there was a window of opportunity to get the turbine constructed.

"As the economy softened, cranes were available that might not have been available in the future," Targett said Lechliter contends DNREC never approved a required change of use for the open space tract on which the wind turbine is built. "That takes time, but it didn't happen. Why not? Because the university wanted the wind turbine up in 2010," Lechliter said.

Targett said the wind turbine is permitted where it is. "Construction of the wind turbine is within what we were already permitted

to do with the easement the University of Delaware has on the property," she said.

Mayor: Procedures were followed

Lewes Mayor Jim Ford said he has had extensive written correspondence with Lechliter. Ford said from his perspective, he thinks the city followed proper sequence and procedures in its handling of the wind turbine.

"He has a different opinion of it," Ford said of Lechliter.

Lechliter said the city violated open-meeting laws when mayor and council went into executive session to discuss the wind turbine in a January 2010 meeting.

Lechliter said executive sessions are to be used only when discussing pending legal or personnel matters and collective bargaining.

Ford said during the meeting's open session, Jeremy Firestone, an associate professor at the UD College of Earth, Ocean and Environment and an expert in offshore wind, talked about everything the university planned relative to the wind turbine.

Ford said a wind turbine memorandum of understanding between the city and university was being discussed and was handled in accordance with open-meeting law.

He said before going into executive session, he told the public what was being discussed.

Ford said during executive session, there was no one else in the room other than elected city officials. He said they did discuss the wind turbine contract, which, he said, is permitted.

Ford said they came out of executive session, had a discussion with Firestone in a public session, and asked questions about the city-university agreement.

He said the panel told Firestone it wanted to eliminate a provision allowing advertisement on the wind turbine tower and use of the tower for purposes other than electric generation; those items were removed.

Lechliter contends the city allowed the wind turbine tower to be erected without going before the Lewes Board of Adjustment to obtain a height variance.

Ford said the city does not have a zoning classification for the wind turbine structure.

"The best analogy is that it's an electrical transmission tower," he said. He said such towers are exempt from height restrictions and are not required to go before the board of adjustment. Ford said Lechliter and others don't agree with the tower classification.

Ford said the city and its attorney stand behind the opinion that it fully complied with open-meeting laws.

He said the city's viewpoint differs from that of Lechliter on a number of things related to the wind turbine.

Targett, too, said the university followed all required rules and regulations in constructing the wind turbine.

"We did everything in good faith and have been as transparent as we could be. We did it as openly as we could," she said.

Lechliter said if legal action is

taken, concerned Lewes homeowners would have to raise at least $150,000 to hire an attorney





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