Project Near Gorman : Planners Say Wind Farm Proposal Needs Revision

Los Angeles County planning officials are recommending that a proposal to erect power-generating windmills near Gorman be rejected unless the developer can move the project’s giant towers--some as high as 150 feet--away from a scenic ridgeline.

A report prepared by the Department of Regional Planning staff also recommends that the project be denied unless Tehachapi-based Zond Systems can prove that the windmills’ spinning blades would not endanger rare birds.

The five-member Regional Planning Commission will consider the staff recommendations at a hearing at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in Santa Clarita City Hall. The staff report was released Friday.

Committee Encouraged

The report encouraged members of the Save the Mountain Committee, which opposes Zond’s plan to build what would be the county’s first wind farm. “It’s the first indication we’ve had from the county on how they’re leaning,” said Susan Hulsizer, co-chairman of the committee. “But the five people on the Planning Commission are the ones we have to convince.”

Zond, the largest producer of wind energy in California, plans to build 350 turbines on 270 acres northeast of Interstate 5 and California 138.

James Dehlsen, president of Zond, said Monday that the company would try to be responsive to the concerns of county planners and Gorman residents.

County planners also said the windmills would mar the scenery of the hills outside Gorman and recommended that the wind farm be moved north, out of view.

The Save the Mountain Committee has said the wind farm would create visual blight, lower property values and destroy the rustic character of Gorman, a tiny truck stop just south of the Kern County line.