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Wind Turbine Flicker Effect Irritates Kingston Neighborhood

KINGSTON (CBS) - When the town of Kingston partnered with a private firm to put up a wind turbine along Route 3, many people thought only the drivers on the highway would notice.

But in a neighborhood just to the east of the giant turbine, residents can't help but notice it. The shadows on sunny days creates a strobe effect in their homes for as much as an hour a day, for two months of the year. "It's been trying for us, very frustrating," says Dan Alves, who lives on Leland Street.

On a clear evening, the rotating blades create a constant moving shadow on homes and trees. It's steady and unrelenting. "It's like having a strobe light in your home, in the kitchen, and in your bedroom, for fifty or sixty minutes a day, depending on the clouds and the time of year," says Alves.

Alves and his neighbors have been battling the town for months, but to no avail. However, the Town Planner, Tom Bott, says they intend to study the area to see if anything can be done. "We're now working with the Mass. Clean Energy Center, to come up with a study of the flicker effect," he says.

But residents say Bott and other town officials have ignored their pleas for relief. "Tom Bott has done nothing for the residents of Kingston," said Doreen Reilly, "he and other officials are part of the problem."

So for now, the rotating shadows will continue to plague the residents just east of the turbine.

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