The Rye Park Wind Farm Community Open Day will be held at the Rye Park Memorial Hall from 9am to 5pm.

On display will be the project’s environmental assessment as well as the wind farm layout and general project information. 

The project manager and other members of the development team will be available throughout the day to discuss the proposal on exhibition. 

The open day follows a recent community consultation meeting held with concerned landholders and members of local Council on April 30 at the Soldiers Memorial Hall in Yass. 

The meeting, the seventh of its kind, included discussion about a potential community enhancement funding program stemming from the project, with a potential value of up to $100-150k per annum.

While any community enhancement fund established at Rye Park will not allocate funding for construction upgrades and repairs to local roads as this is managed separately in consultation with the local councils, the program could be used for next generation projects that will create jobs in computing or IT and to help keep families living in the area. 

“The community needs to think about the long term big picture issues and not simply build another new playground or sporting facility,” involved landowner Greg Medway told the committee.

While some landowners were opposed to community enhancement funding, stating it implied money solves the impacts that neighbours will potentially have to live with during the wind farms operations, others stated the project will be good for everyone living in the local area with increased job opportunities and expenditure ultimately flowing on to the benefit of the whole community.

The environmental assessment documents may be viewed on the DPI website at http://www.planning.nsw.gov.au. Any person wishing to make a submission must ensure it reaches the DPI by Friday, July 4. 

The DPI online submission form for this project can be found at http://www.majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au/page/on-exhibition.