As a group of residents works in an attempt to increase the setback distance for wind turbines in Fayette County, an examination of neighboring counties and their zoning ordinances shows setback distances are relatively consistent across the board in the Whitewater Valley.
The Wind Project Concerned Citizens group, comprised of residents from Fayette, Rush and Henry counties, formed earlier this year with the goal of having Fayette County amend its zoning ordinance on setbacks for commercial wind turbines from 1,000 feet to 2,640 feet from non-participating landowners.
The effort is in response to the planned Whitewater Wind Farm project by NextEra Energy Resources of Juno Beach, Fla., which would see the installation of 43 wind turbines in Fayette County – specifically in Posey and Fairview townships – along with turbines in Henry and Rush counties.
The project, with a proposed start date being in 2016, is estimated to bring approximately $20 million in property tax revenue to Fayette County over the next 30 years, and result in an investment by NextEra ranging from $120 to $141 million in the area.
Those landowners not participating in the project, however, have raised concerns about the environmental effects such a project will have on the area, along with possible health effects on residents and impact on property values, and in turn are seeking to have the setback distance mandated for such wind turbines – from their property lines – increased, according to the WPCC group.
“We feel if properly planned and regulated, a wind project can exist in our community and be largely supported by all the stake holders,” a statement from the group reads. “For this win-win condition to exist, local officials must be able to answer questions from the community utilizing information that has been independently obtained and verified, and be prepared to address concerns such as unnecessarily small setbacks of wind turbines to ensure that each of the citizens are able to have the full enjoyment and use of property that they have so heavily invested in.”
The Fayette County APC’s current ordinance on setbacks for commercial wind energy conversion systems, known as WECS, is 1,000 feet from a non-participating landowner’s property, with NextEra Energy Resources stipulating – in its agreements with Fayette County officials – that it would have a 1,400 foot setback for wind turbines in the Whitewater Wind Farm project.
In an analysis by the News-Examiner, Fayette County’s wind turbine regulations are consistent with several neighboring counties when it comes to setback distances.
In Rush County, which would also see wind turbines constructed as part of the Whitewater Wind Farm project, its setback distance mirrors that of Fayette County’s, providing for a minimum setback distance of 1,000 feet for a WECS from non-participating landowners.
The third county involved in the Whitewater Wind Farm project, Henry County, stipulates in its zoning ordinance that setbacks for WECS must be “1,500 feet or more from any residential zoning district or 1,000 or more from any business zoning district.” It doesn’t refer specifically to setbacks for non-participating landowners.
The setback distances are also similar for Wayne County and Richmond, which each have their own zoning ordinances concerning WECS.
For the city of Richmond, its ordinance stipulates that WECS should be a minimum of 1,000 feet from a non-participating landowner’s property, as does Wayne County’s.
Franklin County currently doesn’t cover commercial or non-commercial WECS in its zoning code, according to Cindy Orschell, executive director, while Union County is in the process of amending some of its zoning ordinances to cover wind projects.
Those changes, however, will focus primarily on non-commercial windmills, said Jeff Mathews, executive director of Union County’s Area Plan office. It currently has no ordinances covering the subject of wind turbines.
“We are in the process of making some changes to our ordinance that will include wind turbines,” Mathews said. “It’s one of those things, we know it’s coming. We haven’t had it here yet, but we know it’s coming. We’re not going to be a place that gets the big ones, like the wind farms. We’re more like the local guy that thinks he can make his money back by erecting it.”
Union County, according to Mathews, wouldn’t be suitable for a large-scale wind project.
“We don’t meet any of their specifications for wind speed in our county,” he said. “That kills them, right there. If you look at our state, all those wind turbines are north of I-70, where it’s flat ... we’re writing our ordinance to address the local guy that has one.”
The biggest issue with wind turbines, Mathews added, is the noise, hence why the county is making changes to its zoning ordinances to cover that area.
“They do make noise,” he said. “When they’re up and running, they make noise.”
In speaking of noise, the News-Examiner’s analysis of neighboring counties and their zoning when it comes to WECS discovered that area counties – and Richmond – also include stipulations concerning nuisance prevention, specifically noise.
In Henry County’s ordinance, for instance, it states in a section titled “Noise and vibration” that “At no point within 200 feet of a primary residence may the sound pressure levels exceed the following sound levels.” It then goes on to detail those sound levels – ranging from a maximum of 75 decibels to 41 decibels, depending on the octave bands – in a chart.
Noise is also addressed in Rush County’s ordinance, but only when it comes to non-commercial wind turbines, as it states no more than 60 decibels of noise vibration should be measured from the nearest residence.
The city of Richmond’s ordinance also addresses noise and vibration, but seemingly focuses on commercial WECS systems, stating that no more than 40 decibels should be created “at 1,000 feet from the large wind turbine system.”
Fayette County’s, much like Rush County’s ordinance, only addresses noise concerning non-commercial WECS, stating that the noise level shall be no greater than 60 decibels from the nearest residence.
To date, NextEra Energy Resources has not approached the Fayette County Area Plan Commissioner concerning its need for special exceptions and the land use agreements to construct the wind turbines for the Whitewater Wind Farm project.
According to a Facebook post from March 16 on the page “Whitewater Wind Farm,” created by supporters of the project, that likely will not occur until late April or early May.
“Just a little update to this project. Things are moving, but most tasks currently are behind the scenes. The next major hurdle will be application to the Area Planning Commissions and Board of Zoning in all three counties to get the needed site zoning approved,” the post states. “This is a tedious process to insure everything is correct the first time. Then the applications must be publicly advertised and a public meeting held. At this point, those meetings will probably not happen to sometime the end of April or May”
The post goes on to ask for supporters of the Whitewater Wind Farm to come out to those meetings and cites the economic impact the project is slated to have on the area.
“We will be asking for your full support when these occur by physically attending the meetings,” it reads. “This is such a great project for all three counties for decades to come and benefits all tax payers in those counties, not just the townships and landowners where the turbines will be located.”
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