Norcross studio seeks OK for wind turbine

The owner of a Norcross music recording studio has applied for permission to build what would be Gwinnett County’s first wind-power turbine, according to county planners.

Tree Sound Studios owner Paul Diaz is applying to put up a 65-foot turbine identical to the one a Grant Park couple put up over the objection of some neighbors last year.

But what Diaz really wants, and eventually plans to request, is a 150-foot tower that would be built by a cellular company, topped by a turbine and outfitted with a big screen showing how much power the thing is generating.

“It’s to make a point,” Diaz said. And the point, he says, is that alternative energy is a viable option here.

So far, the request has not generated any public opposition.

The tower would be the first in the county, development director Kathy Holland said in an e-mail. She did not respond to telephone messages and e-mails seeking further comment on the application.

Diaz operates a recording studio with a voracious appetite for electricity, but he’s been trying to incorporate conservation-minded practices into his business for years.

The water heater is primarily solar-powered. A biodiesel tank in the parking lot fuels company vehicles. Barrels capture rainwater for the organic gardens. And the mobile wind-and-sun powered generator can power sound equipment sufficient to ring the ears of a thousand concert-goers for more than 12 hours.

Unlike the Grant Park homeowners who had to fight for permission to erect a wind turbine in a residential area, Diaz’s business is located along a busy stretch of Peachtree Industrial Boulevard dominated by commercial and industrial uses.

Diaz thinks he’ll get approval — particularly if he partners with a cellphone company used to pushing permits through the county. If not, he says he might bring some of the big-name talents who’ve recorded at his studio into the fray.

That it’s not yet been scheduled for a public hearing nearly five months after he filed the paperwork is frustrating to Diaz.

“I know it’s the first one and all, but five months? Can’t they just ask Atlanta? They know how to do it.”