At a public meeting Monday night in council chambers, the city will outline a proposal to regulate wind turbines within the city, although its policy could be overruled by a provincial policy as part of the Green Energy Act.
"We want to gauge what the public thinks about wind turbines, as we develop a policy," said Ward 7 Coun. John Brassard, in whose ward the city has its only application from Jackson's Toyota, located on Mapleview Drive West.
In April 2008, Jackson's outlined a plan for a 123-metre, 1.5 megaWatt turbine that could supply the grid with enough power for 500 homes.
Bob Jackson said he's receiving a lot of interest and support for the project.
"I have 99.9-per-cent support from the public," Jackson said. "People at the grocery store and gas station ask why would the city hold me up.
"If I had known it would be this difficult to go through the planning process, I wouldn't have done this. I've done bird studies, wind studies, flicker studies, magnetic interference studies, and aircraft flight pattern analysis. The latest is an HVAC study."
City planning staff is expected to outline proposals for setbacks, heights and accessory structures relating to small, medium and large turbines, at the start of the public meeting at 8 p.m.
Premier Dalton McGuinty, however, has said municipalities must accommodate wind turbines and other green energy sources - and the province will not tolerate NIMBYism as a reason in denying projects. The only acceptable grounds, he said, would be environmental and safety.
The city is also assessing the feasibility of a turbine on the north edge of the Sandy Hollow Landfill Site, and partnering with the Barrie Windcatchers in a year-long wind study, which began last October.
"It's proving to be a moderate wind. We're really not too excited, but we are optimistic," said Windcatchers spokesman Barry Green, adding the non-profit co-operative is working towards a community-owned 1.5 megaWatt turbine.
"I see real opportunity in education. One wind turbine will not make a difference in power-generation needs, but one turbine will have an incredible difference in teaching children about alternative energy."
Barrie has been struggling with the issue. In December, politicians rejected a proposed policy which some councillors, like Lynn Strachan, said did not examine the possibilities for small and medium-sized turbines, as well as the larger ones.
In February, city staff outlined a plan for various setbacks and standards for turbines, which will be detailed again Monday.
"We need to be paying attention to the Green Energy Act and how it will impact us," said Strachan, who challenged her council colleagues to live up to their strategic priority of being at the forefront of environmental issues.
"We need to be as progressive as we can."
More about both projects can be found online. Jackson's has a Facebook group, Support Barrie's First Wind Turbine and a petition (http://www.petitiononline.com/Jax2592/petition.html), while the Windcatchers has a site, www.barriewindcatchers.com.