Plans for what could be the first major wind project in the heart of the Finger Lakes may introduce a spinning skyline to the region. 

Developers aim to build 14 to 16 wind turbines across a 250-acre patchwork in the eastern portions of the towns of Catharine and Hector in Schuyler County. Company representatives say they want to build 100 megawatts of energy capacity, enough to power 24,000 homes for a whole year. 

The proposal is in its early stages, and many area residents are trying to understand how this project could change their rural community. 

The majority of the project will be sited in Hector, home to about 4,900 people, and bordered on the west by Seneca Lake and on the east by Tompkins County. It is known for its rustic character, wineries and waterfalls, but the town lacks strong land use laws and area residents have begun to worry about how the Azalea Wind project could affect the town’s aesthetics and economy.

“This is to some degree or to a large degree removed from our hands.”

Hector Town Supervisor Justin Boyette

The plans come from Colorado-based company Bedrock Renewables, which is developing the wind farm through a subsidiary, Azalea Wind. It is one of three proposed projects Bedrock Renewables has in New York state and its largest project so far. The company aims to begin building turbines between 2028 and 2030.

The Azalea Wind proposal comes almost a decade after plans for another wind energy project in the region  were cancelled. The Black Oak Wind Farm was proposed in the Town of Enfield in Tompkins County, but it never took off due to sustained community opposition.

Bedrock Renewables hosted an informational session for its Azalea Wind proposal on Aug. 27 at the Mecklenburg Fire Company in the Town of Hector. Dozens of attendees showed up with feelings ranging from cautious optimism to anxious anticipation.

Local residents gather around poster board depicting the area of interest of the wind farm. Credit: Fernando Figueroa / The Ithaca Voice

During the event, people flocked around a poster board with a map of the proposed project area. At one point, a local told a company representative she painted landscapes of the area where the wind turbines would be built in. She complained that the turbines would negatively alter the Schuyler County countryside she loves to paint.

“How long do I have?” she asked the representative.

She was wondering how long she had before Hector’s landscape would be dominated by the 600-foot structures.

By comparison, that is more than three times the height of the highest building in Ithaca, Titus Towers I, a 180-foot, 15-story building.

Karina Ryan and her husband’s home is on one of the project’s boundary lines. When she first saw a promotional photo for the wind farm, Ryan said she wondered whether a wind turbine would be placed across the street. 

“I’m all for renewable energy. So, I’m a little disappointed in myself that my first reaction was like, ‘Oh, not in my backyard,’ because I don’t want to be that person,” Ryan said. “But I legitimately just have concerns and want to know more.”

Ryan’s additional concerns ranged from whether the project would affect her utility bills, to its environmental impact and how the Town of Hector’s land use laws — or lack thereof — would affect the project.

The Town of Hector began to develop a draft zoning law in 2017 but five years later the proposal was abandoned after it proved to be too contentious. As a result, the town does not have any zoning laws. It also lacks a planning board.

Without any zoning laws to regulate development at a municipal level, Ryan said she was in favor of the town exploring local laws or revisiting a zoning ordinance to protect residents from unwanted development.

But the prospect of a large wind farm being developed by an out-of-state company gives her pause. Ryan said she wants to see the needs of the community protected.

“I think that especially because the people that benefit are the people who are operating for profit and not necessarily doing the right thing,” Ryan said. “So I do think that zoning is a measure to protect people residing in this area. I’m not on the extreme either way.”

“Let’s think about what makes sense for people that are living here,” she added.

Local officials blown away

Town officials are reeling from the scale of the project and trying to assess what their response should be.

“I didn’t know about the size of the windmills potentially until about a month ago and it was pretty — if I’m being direct — it was pretty shocking,” said Anthony Mansfield, a Hector Town Board member. 

During the event, Mansfield was approached by Enfield residents who shared the negative experiences they had during the planning process for the Black Oak Wind Farm. One Enfield resident shared his concerns with shadow flicker, which is the flashing effect that occurs when the rotating blades of a wind turbine cut through sunlight, especially when the sun is close to the horizon.

Local residents gather around poster board depicting the timeline of the wind farm permitting process. Credit: Fernando Figueroa / The Ithaca Voice

Hector Town Supervisor Justin Boyette said because the project exceeds 25 megawatts, regulating it is left to the state through the New York State Department of Public Service (DPS), the agency that oversees electric, gas, telecommunications and other utility industries.

Specifically, it is the agency’s Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission that will oversee the project.

“This is to some degree or to a large degree removed from our hands,” he said.

Boyette said the Town of Hector is working with an attorney to research local laws they could enact to protect the town, such as ordinances to address the potential impact on the area’s lush views and excessive noise, as well as rules to regulate the wind farm’s cumbersome construction. 

Boyette’s hope is that these laws would not just protect Hector as plans for the Azalea Wind project are pursued, but also from future proposals.

Gabriel Wapner, a partner with Bedrock Renewables, told The Ithaca Voice that the project is required to try to adhere to local ordinances passed ahead of development “as long as that local ordinance is reasonable and that you could actually build the project.”

According to DPS, an applicant must justify a municipality’s local law as “unreasonably burdensome before seeking relief. Waivers to local laws are often partial and usually deal with “slight variations in working hours for construction, fence height, setbacks that are intended to avoid greater environmental impacts.” 

Developers anticipates submitting their application in early 2027. Afterward, the company is required to open up a public comment period. If any significant issues are identified during the review process, the company will be required to hold a separate public hearing. 

According to DPS, “a permit will only be issued if the application and exhibits demonstrate how the proposed project avoids, minimizes, and mitigates to the maximum extent possible any negative impacts, and how the project will […] comply with all regulatory requirements.”

In preparation for the project, Azalea Wind also produced a report reviewing sensitive areas in the Town of Hector across 16,000 acres. 

“We looked at all the endangered species, sensitive species within that area and the habitat, and then we actively look to avoid those areas during our site acquisition process,” Wapner said.

Some residents have raised concern that the documents the Azalea Wind project has submitted to the state are heavily redacted. So far, the company has submitted multiple requests for nondisclosure, which it justified because the documents could share trade secrets or provide the location of endangered species. 

As a result, an anonymous website was created to make public records more accessible to Hector residents.

According to a DPS spokesperson, “the location information in the wildlife survey has been redacted consistent with applicable provisions of the Environmental Conservation Law protecting sensitive information regarding threatened and endangered species.”

Leasing revenue could mean a windfall for some

As area residents and local officials try to wrap their heads around what the Azalea Wind project would mean for their community, developers are promising a boom of local property taxes and other economic benefits if everything goes according to plan. 

Bedrock Renewables projects that building the project will generate $7 million in construction wage payments, and over the 30 years of the wind farm’s operations, Azalea Wind will generate about $21.8 million in property tax revenue split among local school districts, Schuyler County, and the towns of Hector and Catharine.

For comparison, Hector raised about $3.2 million through property taxes in 2025.

The company also advertised that they would contribute $1,000 per megawatt of capacity — an estimated $100,000 — to a community host benefit program through the first 10 years of the project’s life. Operations are expected to continue for more than 30 years.

Developers have already secured easements totaling 5,000 acres from local landowners  for the Azalea Wind project.  However, Wapner said that the company is not planning to build turbines across that entire acreage. Bedrock Renewables is acquiring wind easements, which are legal agreements that give companies access to unobstructed wind flow over another entity’s property.

So far, the company has already constructed two 60-foot meteorological towers to measure wind speed, which allows them to verify whether the project will generate enough electricity to ensure it is  economically viable. 

He said the turbines themselves will take up half an acre each. About 5% of the project’s total acreage will be taken up by the turbines, access roads and other related infrastructure.

The rest, Wapner said, could be used for agriculture, forestry, hunting, conservation or other uses.

“Many of the landowners who have leased their land are farmers who previously said no to solar, but said yes to wind,” Wapner said, “Because at most, [they] would be losing 5% of the land.” 

Landowners are pitched to agree to wind easements as a way to diversify their revenue. 

While that may represent an economic opportunity for some, Boyette said one of his primary concerns is how the Azalea Wind project will impact neighbor-to-neighbor relationships as residents weigh whether to strike a deal.

Bergen Farms, a local dairy producer, is set to win big from the project. According to public records, the farm has already leased 60 unique parcels of land to Azalea Wind for the proposed development. Bergen Farms is one of the largest landowners in Schuyler County.

Mike Bergen, a Hector Town Board member and a partner in his family’s dairy business, has leased his property to Azalea Wind. 

Boyette said Bergen has already notified the town of the conflict, and will be recusing himself from any votes that would affect the development of the project. 

But other Bergen family residents are less up to date on the project. Justin Bergen, who used to work for Bergen Farms but is now employed as a union pipe fitter, said he first heard about the project approximately an hour before the event at the fire station on Thursday. 

“Looking at the map, I’m kind of in the heart of it,” he said.

Like many attendees, he’s concerned about the project becoming an eyesore and devaluing nearby properties. However, he remains optimistic that the wind farm will create jobs and benefit the local economy. 

In response to the concerns that the development could impact property values, Wapner said there are studies that show wind farms do not have an impact. 

At least that is eventually the case, according to a 2023 study published in the academic journal, Energy Policy. The study found that homes within one mile of a commercial wind turbine experienced a 11% decline in value following the announcement of a project. However, the property value impacts of wind farms became statistically insignificant five years after the start of operations.

Wapner noted that whether or not Finger Lakes residents find the wind turbines beautiful will come down to the individual, saying that “aesthetics are a subjective thing.”

“Many people find them to be attractive and like to look at them. Some people don’t,” Wapner said. “No one owns their view.”