| Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005. |
Lee County rejects new wind rules
Credit: BY DAVID GIULIANI, www.saukvalley.com 15 May 2012 ~~
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
DIXON – The Lee County Board this morning voted 18-4 against proposed wind energy rules, which would have been more strict than those in place.
Meanwhile, Mainstream Renewable Power announced this morning that it has applied for 60 wind turbines in Lee County. The announcement was made before the board vote on wind rule changes. The firm said its plan would “largely reflect those [proposed changes].”
The proposed changes to the ordinance were recommended by the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Supporters and opponents of wind farms agreed the new rules would have been tougher than the existing ones. From there, they disagreed.
The opponents wanted an ordinance with even greater restrictions on wind farms. They proposed requiring wind turbines be at least 2,000 feet away from the property lines of nonparticipating landowners.
The Zoning Board proposed in its ordinance a setback of 1,400 feet from homes’ foundations or 3.5 times the height of a turbine, whichever is greater. For a 500-foot turbine, the setback would have been be 1,750 feet.
Wind farm supporters said the county needed to encourage such development. They argued that the county could ill afford to pass up a chance for more tax revenue to help schools.
“We’re under the old ordinance,” board Chairman Jim Seeberg, R-Ashton, said after today’s vote.
This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.
The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.
| Wind Watch relies entirely on User Funding |
 (via Stripe) |
 (via Paypal) |
Share:
[ Short URL: https://wind-watch.org/news/?p=23202 ]
