Sep 2, 2008 7:32 pm US/Eastern
NJ Town Fearful Of Proposed Car Wash Wind Turbine
Businessman's Green Idea Met With Trepidation Over 'Wind Turbine Syndrome' And 'Flying Ice Off Blades'
WAYNE, N.J. (CBS) ―
You've see them on television or in person on stretches of mostly deserted land, but what if power windmills starting popping up in your neighborhood?
A businessman in one local community wants to go green, but as CBS 2 HD found out the idea has some seeing red.
Rob Burke, the owner of a Wayne, N.J., car wash has gone to great lengths to make his business environmentally friendly.
He recycles his water and a portion of his electricity is generated by solar panels. But his plan to erect a 50-foot-high wind turbine at his car wash is being opposed by neighbors and the owner of a daycare center next door:
"You will see there's something called the wind turbine syndrome, which is from shadow flickering," Kimberly Scott said. The low frequency noises … all that can cause neurological damage."
Burke isn't buying that rationale.
"There's 300 of them at schools around the country," he said. "If these things are so dangerous why are they at schools across the country?"
The neighbors who oppose the wind turbine live directly behind the car wash. They say there simply hasn't been enough research done on wind turbines to see if they're safe in neighborhoods.
"We're concerned in the winter time with the ice throwing off ice off the windmills, the blades," neighbor Lou Hoff said.
A turbine manufacturer said no one has ever been injured by ice flying off of a blade, and that there are no medical studies suggesting turbines pose a risk to your health.
But Burke is facing another obstacle from the town, which is set to vote on an ordinance Wednesday to keep turbines within 1,600 feet of residential neighborhoods and schools.
Burke said if it passes he'll take the town to court.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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