\u2014Chris Shannon, Cape Breton Post<\/a> (10\/6\/10)<\/p>\n

Sitting at their kitchen table Bruce and Janet Fraser stare out the window to see five sleek giants just beyond their backyard, churning in a counter-clockwise direction and changing line with the wind speed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s become the couple\u2019s nightmare.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s in your face, you can\u2019t escape it,\u201d Janet Fraser said during an interview in the kitchen of the couple\u2019s nine-year-old custom-built, two-storey home.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t go outside to relax and you can\u2019t stay inside to relax. There\u2019s no enjoyment. There\u2019s no peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

The wind farm\u2019s seven turbines have lined the shore facing the north Atlantic since 2006, producing 16 megawatts with a yearly output of about 55,000 megawatt hours that\u2019s sufficient to power 6,000 homes. It sits next to the coal-fired Nova Scotia Power Lingan generating station.<\/p>\n

The turbines were part of the Glace Bay-Lingan wind farm that had been operated by Cape Breton Power Ltd., before being sold to Confederation Power a couple of years ago.<\/p>\n

The Frasers say the wind farm has invaded every aspect of their lives.<\/p>\n

Janet said between April and September, with the worst period being the July to August time frame, the huge 35-metre long blades which are attached to 65-metre high steel towers create a \u201cstrobe effect\u201d as the turbines cast continuous shadows on the house in the early daylight hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a flickering,\u201d she said, adding the blades impressive shadow pass through the house 60 times per minute.<\/p>\n

Bruce described it as a light switch being turned on and off repeatedly in their bedroom with no way to stop it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt almost feels like we\u2019re in an experiment like a mouse in a box,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The constant \u201cswoosh\u201d of the blades makes sleeping difficult leading to sleep deprivation and that worries them as the sound, which becomes more pronounced during humid nights and during wind storms, keeps their two-year-old Harland awake.<\/p>\n

They both worry about his development if he continues to have sleepless nights.<\/p>\n

And even the use of earplugs and face masks haven\u2019t helped Bruce and Janet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds like a baby\u2019s heart beat in an ultrasound. It\u2019s that whump, whump, whump, and it\u2019s high, low, high, low,\u201d Bruce said, despite having exterior walls of 2\u00d76 feet with heavy insulation.<\/p>\n

Other than sleep deprivation, Janet said the family is dealing mainly with anxiety and their mental health is suffering.<\/p>\n

The only solution to their problem is to sell. But the fact real estate agents have said the home is worthless based solely on its proximity to the turbines, it\u2019s unlikely that will happen anytime soon, she said.<\/p>\n

The couple says they\u2019ve remained quiet until now, trying to deal with their problem by writing to Premier Darrell Dexter, and their MLA, Deputy Premier Frank Corbett. They\u2019ve also complained to municipal officials.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, they presented their concerns to the Cape Breton Regional Municipality\u2019s committee of the whole. They said the municipality erred when calculating the minimum set back of 175 metres for turbines to a maximum 76 metres in height.<\/p>\n

The Frasers are nearly twice the minimum distance from the closest of the seven wind turbines at 335 metres.<\/p>\n

The committee agreed to have staff review the setbacks and include it in an issue paper at a future meeting.<\/p>\n

CBRM planner Malcolm Gillis, who worked to include wind turbines into amendments in the municipal planning strategy and land-use bylaw in 2005, said the Frasers were aware they were building on a property in an area largely zoned industrial.<\/p>\n

The constant hum from the Lingan power plant next door is noticeable, but the Frasers said it doesn\u2019t bother them.<\/p>\n

Gillis said zoning is not always perfect.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe province does not oblige municipalities to have a land use bylaw. For example, much of Richmond County has no zoning whatsoever so at least we do have a setback, and the setback is correlated to the height of these structures,\u201d Gillis said following the committee meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the provincial law does go on to state because municipalities aren\u2019t obliged to have zoning, they could choose not to, they can\u2019t be held liable if someone claims they had been adversely affected by a development.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the home on Hinchey Avenue, the family has stopped keeping track of the number of light bulbs that have blown out since the turbines began operation.<\/p>\n

An electromagnetic frequency created from the turbine blades routinely cause interference with an older model television they own and it disrupts radio station frequencies as well.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2014Chris Shannon, Cape Breton Post (10\/6\/10) Sitting at their kitchen table Bruce and Janet Fraser stare out the window to see five sleek giants just beyond their backyard, churning in a counter-clockwise direction and changing line with the wind speed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It\u2019s become the couple\u2019s nightmare. \u201cIt\u2019s in your face, you can\u2019t escape it,\u201d Janet Fraser said during an interview in the kitchen of the couple\u2019s nine-year-old custom-built, two-storey home. \u201cYou can\u2019t go outside to relax and you can\u2019t stay inside to relax. There\u2019s no enjoyment. There\u2019s no peace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[166,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10469"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10469\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}