PERTH - The Town Board made no decision on whether to regulate outdoor wood-burning boilers after a public hearing Thursday.
Supervisor Greg Fagan said the board will take its time.
"We're willing to take as long as it takes. It has become an emotional issue for both sides," said Fagan.
The town is considering a proposed law that would ban products such as painted wood, plastic materials, rubbish and newspaper from being burned in the boilers. The law would require the boilers to have smokestacks at least 18 feet above ground and 150 feet from the nearest property line. Only certain types of wood boilers could be operated in the summer.
If the town significantly changes the draft, the board would have to restart the process, said town Attorney Carmel Greco.
People use wood boilers to heat their homes. Wood-boiler opponents say the boilers create hazardous smoke. Proponents say the boilers give homeowners a less-expensive heating alternative.
Of the residents at the hearing, the majority was in favor of boilers.
Kevin Smitka, who owns Alternative Fuels, a town of Amsterdam business that sells wood boilers, said, "People have been burning wood since the beginning of time. Fossil fuels have a larger footprint on the ozone than any wood boiler."
Roger Tyler argued that outside wood boilers are more harmful to the environment.
He and his wife are asking the town to ban the outdoor boilers because of the smoke from a neighbor's boiler.
Gary Gutowski, Dave Altieri, Pat Centore and his wife, Dru Centore, all Perth residents, disagreed with the Tylers.
Gutowski said it's unfair for a law to be established for a minority of people who oppose the units.
"Why should a couple of people be able to change it? What if I didn't like dirt bikes and the noise they make, so I wanted to ban them? Would I be able to come in here and make you go through the same process?" Gutowski said.
Dave Altieri said he's done all he can to try to compromise with his neighbors.
"I put a 30-foot extender on top of my boiler and a 90-degree elbow pointing away from the one neighbor I have. I don't know what else I could do."
Pat and Dru Centore live on 380 acres of farmland. They said they don't see the purpose of removing their outdoor wood boiler when they aren't harming anyone.
"We have spent thousands of dollars to install our boiler. It does everything for us, not only heating our house, but it heats our swimming pool in the summer, also," said Dru Centore.
Councilwoman Gay Lewandowski said she's received complaints about wood boilers.
"There are more people that are not present who feel that the boilers are improperly being used. They have neighbors who burn garbage and other things. These are the people that are ruining the wood boilers for all," she said.
