[BCNnet] urban public park wind turbines at the bi-state Wolf Lake

[Carolyn A. Marsh]

Installing wind turbines in an urban public park needs to be challenged.
Hammond is "low fruit" but this placement will set a bad precedent for
turbines where they don't belong. BCN should take a position against
placement in an urban public park in a migratory flyway and an Important
Bird Area.

 

Carolyn Marsh. 

 

The Hammond Port Authority sent a "Notice To Owners of Affected Property"
(January 9, 2009) within 300 feet of two wind turbines. The HPA is
requesting Special Use, which would allow the placement of two (2) wind
energy conversion system (WECS) turbines, one (1) at Wolf Lake Memorial Park
(four separate properties are listed for the Special Use) and one (1) at
Forsythe Park/Wolf Lake.

 

This special use is being requested pursuant to the Hammond Zoning
Ordinance, specifically, Title XIII, S-! Open Space and Recreational
Facilities District, Section 13.10 Permitted Uses.  Additionally there is a
Petition, Z-09-02, by the Hammond Port Authority, for a Developmental
Variance from height regarding the same two (2) WECS turbines to allow the
petitioner to exceed the 35 foot height restriction to 98.4 feet (30 m), or
an additional sixty four (64) feet more or les as measured from the base of
the tower on the concrete pad to the top of the tower, plus an additional
maximum of thirteen (13) feet of blade height.  This developmental variance
is being requested pursuant to the Hammond Zoning Ordinance, specifically,
Title XIII, S-I Open Space and Recreational Facilities District, Section
13.20 Height Regulations.   

 

A public hearing will be held by the Advisory Board of Zoning Appeals on
Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Hammond
City Hall, 5925 Calumet Avenue, Hammond, IN. Contact Andrea Edwards,
Secretary, to the Board of Zoning appeals at (219)853-6318 for more
information.

____________________________________________________________________________
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Background

November 20, 2008

Without any state policy on wind turbines, the Indiana Office of Energy &
Defense Development awarded $24,250 to the Hammond Port Authority as part of
an $110,000 project to install two 115-foot wind turbines at Wolf Lake in
Hammond. 

 

No public input, nothing. All the Hammond Port Authority did was apply for
the grant on September 19, 2008 and it was awarded on October 9, 2008! If
the state gets away with this, then no other wildlife area is sacred.

 

While wind turbines are an excellent source of alternative energy, other
states are first developing criteria for wind turbines that include the best
placement for them. Wisconsin, a Great Lakes state, with public involvement,
is drawing up guidelines for wind turbines that recognize and avoid
environmentally sensitive wildlife areas such as migratory bird flyways. <
<http://psc.wi.gov/globalWarming/05EI144/index-WindonWater.htm>
http://psc.wi.gov/globalWarming/05EI144/index-WindonWater.htm>

 

Wolf Lake is part of the tri-lake State Line/Calumet Region Important Bird
Area, a National Audubon Society program. The area was also the site of a
Field Museum BioBlitz in August 2002
<http://www.fieldmuseum.org/bioblitz/results.html>
http://www.fieldmuseum.org/bioblitz/results.html.The BioBlitz included
Eggers Woods Forest Preserve and Powderhorn Lake Forest Preserve that
neighbor Wolf Lake on the west side in Illinois. It connects to the Lake
Calumet Audubon Important Bird Area. These green ways are listed in various
bird guide books.

 

A wind turbine will be installed in two different areas of parkland next to
Wolf Lake in a working class urban area. Wolf Lake is bi-state with half of
the lake in Chicago, Illinois, the William W. Powers Fish & Wildlife Area.
The Hammond half of the lake is now managed by the Hammond Port Authority.
They took control of the Wolf Lake from the Hammond Parks Department without
any public meetings. The Chicago half is managed by the Illinois Department
of Natural Resources. 

 

The wind turbines will be built at Wolf Lake so they can be seen by
thousands of Indiana Toll Road riders, as the toll road bisects the lake.
More green washing since the turbines will supply only 10-kilowatts to power
a seldom-opened shelter at Forsythe Park and to light a sanitary district
pumping station, which drains runoff into Wolf Lake. 

 

Any surplus energy from the wind turbines will be sold to the NIPSCO grid.
NIPSCO's parent company, NiSource, is a corporate council member of Chicago
Wilderness, an organization that was established to protect biodiversity in
the Great Lakes region. NIPSCO should know better than to approve wind
turbines at Wolf Lake when there are many other places they could be
installed without causing confrontations with bird lovers. 

 

The Hammond Port Authority is notorious for its global-warming developments.
Examples are the Las Vegas style Harrah's Horseshoe casino and the Lost
Marsh golf course. The casino was once a riverboat but now is a
multi-layered big box built on top of four joined barges inside the Hammond
Marina. Shoreline parking garages block the sky, huge windows reflect the
water and stadium lights pollute the night sky. 

 

At the south basin of George Lake, once a prime wildlife area, is the white
elephant Lost Mash Golf Course where a new massive environmentally
unfriendly banquet hall is being built despite the golf course operating in
the red.

 

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