A new tourist attraction. 200 feet of trash, on what was once a beautiful hill.

Optiwind is no favorite in the city… and the opposition is growing, now that neighbors got a taste of the way they were treated in this process..

Pay close attention to the fact that the Optiwind design has never been tested… This is going to be a headline around here when this finally goes up.

TORRINGTON — The Optiwind company cleared what was likely its biggest hurdle toward the eventual construction of a 199-foot wind turbine Wednesday night as the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission granted it a special zoning exception.

The proposal was unanimously approved with little discussion from the commission and no public comment. A public hearing was held June 10 with a majority of residents voicing their support for the plan.

The exception was needed because the turbine would be taller than standing zoning regulations allow in the area.

Optiwind will now construct a meteorological tower at the 725 Klug Hill Road site to gauge wind conditions there as they wait to obtain a building permit from the city.

“You just saw the ball go over the hill,” said Optiwind vice president David Hurwitt, who credited the Torrington Planning and Zoning Commission for the relatively painless process thus far. “I think the process was clearly defined.”

Earlier efforts by the company to build a turbine in neighboring Goshen failed as residents opposed the project.

The meteorological tower on Klug Hill Road will likely be put up within the next week, Hurwitt said.

George “Butch” Klug, a dairy farmer who owns the 167-acre property where the turbine will likely be constructed and has supported the proposed plan, said he was pleased by the ruling. The turbine will likely help create jobs in the area in addition to easing energy costs at his farm, he said.

Discussion from the Planning and Zoning board was limited before a motion to approve the exception was made, with City Planner Martin Connor reading a memo he had written supporting the move.

“In my opinion, the… requirements have been met,” he said.

Commission member Doris Murphy briefly expressed some concern over potential noise coming from the turbine, because Optiwind has not provided the city with data as to how loud it would actually be. But Chairman Richard Calkins said it shouldn’t be a concern, citing tests done by students at top engineering college Clarkson University.

“It’s never been tested full scale… but I’m comfortable with the results,” he said.

In any case, the resident who would be most affected by noise from the turbine would be Klug, who originally approached Optiwind about building it, he said.

Connor laid out the conditions of the approval prior to the vote, stipulating that in the event that the turbine is ever abandoned or no longer in use, the city must be properly notified and the structure removed.

Dan Ivers can be reached by e-mail at editor@registercitizen.com.

Let the market decide…. Sounds like it already has…. Optiwind defeated because of ugly design.

Let’s not worry about it.

We have plenty of better designs to consider and then there is solar technology, the ultimate winner to be in all of this.

You do have to admit this thing is unbelievably ugly. It looks like a giant emergency siren.

No one is going to want to be anywhere near this thing.

Once I looked at the images included here, I couldn’t believe they were actually going to give Optiiwind a permit for that thing. Anything is possible these days when money is involved.

Go Goshen!

The reason the permit was overwhelmingly rejected, was because the Optiwind design would have had an adverse affect on the property values and the character of the neighborhood.

This should pretty much close the argument above about what’s important in a windmill design. It needs to fit into the landscape.

It cannot be an eyesore.

You should have heard the snikering in the crowd…. and some laughs.

Just about everyone I spoke with remarked about how huge and intrusive the design is, and how difficult it would be to get it past a zoning board, let alone public acceptance.

This is just another technically focused company that rejects the “total design” philosophy which says a design must fit well in all its primary aspects to be competitive…. Here, Optiwind just rejects public’s sentiment over the need for a favorable appearance…

In Goshen, the neighbors are fighting hard to keep Optiwind out….. I can see why.

After seeing what Optiwind has been designing, I am very confident we made the right selection. I cannot imagine something like that placed beside our school. Optiwind has missed something very important here.

Have you ever seen a wind farm? Gosh!

I can only imagine an Optiwind – wind farm….. Gosh squared!

Fact: Optiwind has never built one of these things, and only assumes it won’t need a lot of maintenance. The other windmill vendors also thought they didn’t need much maintenance, that is until they actually built one. Optiwind is due for some surprises as well.

Fact: Optiwind calculates cost versus solar systems based on theory. Again, they have never built one. According to the company, they have built a “two foot high model” that represents their tests… What a joke. Build one, and then come tell us how much it actuially costs.

Fact: The Optiwind design is particularly ugly. The company keeps saying that doesn’t matter. The neighbors and the public says it does. They do not have issue with traditional windmills.

Fact: Optiwind is backed by a rich Boston finance company with tons of money which they use to push neighbors around who disagree with them. So who is acting like the “greedy rich” in Goshen?

Fact: Residents of Goshen, CT are working hard to keep Optiwind from building their ugly windmill in their town. These are residents who are already using alternative energy systems, and who respect the environment. They have put their money where their mouth is. Why are they fighting so hard? The Optiwind design is really ugly!