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Holy Trinity Monastery
Herkimer
County
landmark status: National Register Eligible
threat: Unsympathetic
development in proximity of Monastery; loss of rural character
due to proposed large scale wind turbine project
The proposed site
of the Jordanville project impacts two nationally significant cultural
landmarks; the Glimmerglass Historic District and the Mohawk Valley/Erie
Canal National Heritage Corridor. As a result of impact concerns,
the original project of 68 turbines was reduced to 49 by the State’s
Public Service Commission in August 2007. However, that decision
also provided project approval. In its present form this project
would have negative impacts on the Holy Trinity Monastery near
Jordanville hamlet.
The campus of the Holy Trinity Monastery, Cathedral
and Seminary encompasses 750 acres of agricultural and scenic lands
with multiple buildings and structures including three cemeteries,
the 1948 Byzantine style Cathedral and a later belltower. Located
within a rural agricultural and woodland landscape on a high plain,
the Monastery, founded in 1928 as a refuge for religious freedom,
serves as a world-renowned center of the Russian Orthodox faith.
From the Monastery complex there are extensive panoramic views
and spiritual places of prayer. Of particular significance to this
denomination are the views to the east, associated with liturgical
practices.
While the PSC’s
decision addresses the southern end of the proposed project, the
visual impacts on the north side and particularly on the Holy Trinity
Monastery are potentially significant and were not addressed. The
remaining 49 turbines, all to the east, will be 399 feet tall and
with rotors about 256 feet in diameter. Of these, 24 will have
night beacons. The project’s roads, new buildings, meteorological
towers and an overhead 230 kilovolt line will introduce an industrial
land use in a scenic and tranquil landscape less than a mile from
the Monastery property. The turbines would be four times higher
than the belltower (or about 40 stories tall and taller than the
Statue of Liberty). Even with the PSC’s turbine reduction,
remaining turbines will be about four miles from the north end
of Otsego (Glimmerglass) Lake, thus visible on the horizon above
the lake.
objectives: Due
to the significance of the Holy Trinity Monastery, identified as
National Register-eligible even by the wind energy developer’s consultant, the Preservation League
calls for a thorough evaluation of the project’s negative
impacts on the Monastery area. This site is no less deserving of
the consideration given to the Glimmerglass Historic District and
action by the PSC. Working with area stakeholders, the Preservation
League also calls for statewide siting guidelines for industrial
scale wind energy projects such as the one near Jordanville. Such
guidelines would serve property owners, municipal officials, preservation
and environmental groups and developers by alerting all concerned
parties to the historic, cultural and scenic resources of a potential
project site at the earliest opportunity.
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