The Impact of Wind Power Projects on Residential Property Values ...

construction. 77 All study area, spatial adjustment, and home and site characteristics are
significant at or above the one percent level and are similar in sign and magnitude to the
estimates derived from the post-construction Base Model.
<strong>The</strong> VIEW coefficients ( 4 ) are clearly affected by the change in reference category. All <strong>of</strong> the
VIEW parameter estimates are higher than the Base Model estimates for the same categories. Of
particular interest is the NO VIEW coefficient, which represents the values <strong>of</strong> homes without a
view <strong>of</strong> the turbines and that sold in the post-construction period, as compared to the mean value
<strong>of</strong> homes that sold in the pre-construction period, all else being equal. <strong>The</strong>se homes, on average,
are estimated to sell for 2% (p value 0.08) more than similar pre-construction homes. If an Area
Stigma existed, a negative coefficient for these NO VIEW homes would be expected. Instead, a
positive and statistically significant coefficient is found. 78 It is outside the ability <strong>of</strong> this study to
determine whether the increase is directly related to the wind turbines, or whether some other
factor is impacting these results, but in either instance, no evidence <strong>of</strong> a pervasive Area Stigma
associated with the presence <strong>of</strong> the wind facilities is found.
To test for the possibility <strong>of</strong> Scenic Vista Stigma, the coefficients for MINOR, MODERATE,
SUBSTANTIAL, and EXTREME views can be compared to the NO VIEW coefficient using a
simple t-Test. Table 16 presents these results. As shown, no significant difference is found for
any <strong>of</strong> the VIEW coefficients when compared to NO VIEW transactions. This reinforces the
findings earlier that, within the sample at least, there is no evidence <strong>of</strong> a Scenic Vista Stigma.
<strong>The</strong> DISTANCE parameter estimates ( 5 ) are also found to be affected by the change in
reference category, and all are lower than the Base Model estimates for the same categories.
This result likely indicates that the inflation-adjusted mean value <strong>of</strong> homes in the preannouncement
period is slightly higher, on average, than for those homes sold outside <strong>of</strong> five
miles in the post-construction period. This difference could be attributed to the inaccuracy <strong>of</strong> the
inflation index, a pervasive effect from the wind turbines, or to some other cause. Because the
coefficients are not systematically statistically significant, however, this result is not pursued
further. What is <strong>of</strong> interest, however, is the negative 8% estimate for homes located between
3000 feet and one mile <strong>of</strong> the nearest wind turbine (p value 0.03). To correctly interpret this
result, and to compare it to the Base Model, one needs to discern if this coefficient is
significantly different from the estimate for homes located outside <strong>of</strong> five miles, using a t-Test.
<strong>The</strong> results <strong>of</strong> this t-Test are shown in Table 17. <strong>The</strong> coefficient differences are found to be
somewhat monotonically ordered. Moving from homes within 3000 feet (-0.06, p value 0.22),
and between 3000 feet and one mile (-0.08, p value 0.04), to between one and three miles (0.00,
p value 0.93) and between three and five miles (0.01, p value 0.32) the DISTANCE coefficients
are found to generally increase. Nonetheless, none <strong>of</strong> these coefficients are statistically
significant except one, homes that sold between 3000 feet and one mile. <strong>The</strong> latter finding
suggests the possibility <strong>of</strong> Nuisance Stigma. It is somewhat unclear why an effect would be
found in this model, however, when one was not evident in the Base Model. <strong>The</strong> most likely
77 This slight change in performance is likely due to the inaccuracies <strong>of</strong> home and site characteristics and the
inflation adjustment for homes that sold in the early part <strong>of</strong> the study period. This is discussed in more detail in
footnote 50 on page 23.
78 For more on the significance level used for this report, see footnote 68 on page 30.
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