VALPARAISO -- County officials are preparing for wind power as an energy alternative, both for private companies creating it and for residents' using it to defray bills.
The Plan Commission voted Wednesday to send two new windmill ordinances to the County Commissioners for a vote Oct. 6.
The need for the ordinances came about because Tradewinds, an Italian-backed power company, approached the county last winter about erecting up to 150 windmill towers on about 30,000 acres between Kouts and LaCrosse.
The towers would be up to 500 feet tall, higher than the ones in Benton County, County Planner Robert Thompson told the Plan Commission.
"They could sell electricity basically anywhere east of the Mississippi," Thompson said. However, the company is talking to power companies in Virginia and Indianapolis.
The ordinance would regulate height, distance from adjacent property and proximity of windmills to each other.
Noise from the huge blades of the windmills is not a problem, and they generate about the same amount of sound as a refrigerator.
"We stood directly under them, and we could barely hear them," Thompson said.
He also noted that most wind power companies are foreign-backed.
"There's not one company in the United States that's doing this," Thompson said.
For those installing a wind-powered energy generator for their own homes, they will need to have at least two acres of land. Anything less, and they will need to go before the Board of Zoning Appeals.
Plan Commission Attorney Scott McClure said the BZA would grant special exceptions instead of variances, which means more specific rules for what would be allowed.
Although some Plan Commission members spoke against restricting the ordinance by the amount of energy current models can produce, McClure said that the intent is to watch an unfamiliar situation.
With changes happening quickly, the county could review and update the ordinance every six months.
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