A hearing was held before the Schuylkill County Zoning Hearing Board Thursday evening at the Schuylkill County Courthouse on the application of James Birdsall, of 51 Arrow Road, New Ringgold, to install a windmill on his 188 acre farm.

Birdsall told the board he would like to install a 34 foot tall windmill for residential purposes. The wires would run underground from the windmill to a panel in his home. He, who has lived at the site since 1975, said the windmill would not be detrimental to the area or reduce property values and the closest neighbor to the windmill would be about a half a mile. He also said although the windmill could be seen it would not be heard.Since the borough has no zoning ordinance of its own it comes under the jurisdiction of the county ordinance and the county board. The board announced it would render a decision in the near future.Restaurant approvalA hearing was also held on the application of Rodney Davidson, of 129 S. Line St., Frackville, who operates a pizza restaurant at 300 S. Lehigh Ave. He wants to update his business and move to a new location at 232 S. Lehigh Ave.He was requesting a special exception to the county ordinance to allow him to operate his restaurant without the required number of off-street parking spaces as is required under the ordinance for a business. Davidson said 85 percent of his orders are takeouts. The board ruled he had met all the requirements and granted his request.