The Galloo Island Wind Farm project is moving forward. The Town of Hounsfield Planning Board approved the site plan for the island. Our Katie Gibas tells us what this step means to the town, the people in it and the project as a whole.

JEFFERSON COUNTY, N.Y. -- There wasn't any controversy or opposition at this meeting and it took just about five minutes for the Town of Hounsfield Planning Board to approve the site plan for the Galloo Island Wind Farm.

"It's somewhat of a relief. All of us have stacks of papers, volumes that we've had to read and study to get to this point. So this part, it is a relief, but it's not the end," said Deb Johnston, Hounsfield Planning Board Deputy Chair.

They say for them, this project is a no-brainer.

"The slope, the magnitude of this project, I don't think we'll see anything like it again. If we throw this away, I wonder how willing other enterprises will be to come into this area," said Johnston.

At Tuesday night's Jefferson County Board of Legislators meeting discussing the Payment-In-Leiu of Taxes agreement, there was a lot of opposition to the project, but town officials say none of that opposition is coming from the people of Hounsfield.

"I really have not heard anyone from the Town of Hounsfield say they don't want this project," said Kathy Snyder, Hounsfield Planning Board Chair.

"I think it's solely people not from Hounsfield speaking out against it because I haven't heard people from Hounsfield speaking out against it. And the hearings have been held here in the town, so if they were against it, they would have spoken then," said Kathleen Mereand, Hounsfield resident.

Right now, the biggest issue holding up the project is the PILOT agreement. The school district and the town already approved it, but the county took the resolution off the table Tuesday, delaying the project further.

"I worry the way we jump on businesses and tax the living daylights out of them, I think we need to rethink that if we want to attract businesses to the community," said Johnston.

The PILOT agreement would help the developer get financing for the project and legislators say they might have to draft an entirely new PILOT and resubmit it.

The site plan allows the developer to build the wind farm. The next step is coming up with a new PILOT agreement that is acceptable to the county, developer and Industrial Development Agency.