The company proposing eight wind turbines in the flight paths for Collingwood and Stayner Airports in southern Ontario has abandoned the project according to a local media report. Bayshore Broadcasting reported last week that an official with WPD Canada confirmed in an email to the radio station that the company’s board of directors had decided not to proceed further with the controversial development but declined to elaborate further.

WPD Canada had until Sept. 15 to appeal an Ontario Environmental Review Tribunal decision to revoke the project’s Renewable Energy Approval on the grounds that the 150-metre towers would pose a serious risk to human health since they were planned for sites within long-established flight paths for Collingwood’s municipal airport and a private strip near Stayner. COPA Counsel Glenn Grenier and Southern Ontario Director Conrad Hatcher directed a vigorous legal opposition to the plan.

Members of a group that organized to fight the project when it was first announced 10 years ago are claiming victory. For Betty Schneider and her neighbours, the turbines were less of a hazard and more of a nuisance but she said residents of the local community can feel relieved. “Their property value has just gone back up to where it should be,” she said.