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The draft law aims to make it easier for people to take advantage of wind turbines, an environmentally friendly and renewable form of electricity, to help power their homes.
"It's a great thing if people can produce their own clean energy," said County Council member Barbara Brenner, who, along with council member Carl Weimer, pushed for rules allowing residential wind energy systems. "My biggest concern is if we make it too difficult or cumbersome to get through the process, probably a lot of people who would have done it won't."
But the rules are also likely to draw opposition from people concerned about views, dead birds and noise.
"It's a neat way to generate electricity, but where's the trade?" said Kelvin Barton, chairman of the Birch Bay Steering Committee's subcommittee on land use. "Yes, renewable energy is wonderful. It's important. But there is a reason why they have those height restrictions."
Many Birch Bay residents love their homes because of views of the bay and islands. And, Barton said, many like the fact that Whatcom County doesn't have the constant background noise of more urbanized counties.
Following are the proposed allowances and restrictions if somebody wanted to install on their property a 100-foot, 100-kilowatt tower (about what it takes to run a refrigerator):
-- Allowed throughout unincorporated Whatcom County, including urban growth areas.
-- Wouldn't require notifying neighbors or taking public comments, and no special approval would be needed.
-- Must be painted a non-reflective, unobtrusive color.
-- Must be set back from neighboring property lines at least 1.2 times the tower's height (for ones taller than 100 feet, the maximum setback would be the tower height plus 20 feet). That could be reduced if a neighbor is OK with it or if "other acceptable mitigation is approved by the Zoning Administrator or Hearing Examiner."
-- The blades, for safety, couldn't come closer than 15 feet from the ground.
-- Couldn't be louder than 55 decibels from a neighboring property line, or the noise of light traffic or a vacuum cleaner 100 feet away. "The planning staff believes this is a safe level of noise that would not unduly burden neighboring property owners but will still allow for windmills to operate effectively," a staff report stated.
Some wind turbine industry members told county planners that 100 feet is still too low to capture enough wind in some places.
The draft law allows property owners to install multiple towers and more powerful ones, but there are limits on where those can go and they require special approvals.
The county Planning Commission unanimously recommended to the County Council approving the law as drafted.
The county is proposing the law change because it's seen more interest in wind power, but current laws make wind energy system installation difficult and expensive.
Brenner said she wants to see a flexible ordinance to encourage the systems, which she doesn't believe are obtrusive or will wreck anybody's view.
"I think things are beautiful that other people don't think are beautiful," she said.
Others aren't so convinced. Sandra Stillion, president of the board for Birch Bay Village, where views are especially prized, said she expects some residents of the village's nearly 1,000 homes to propose a wind tower. But the homeowners association already has rules on flag pole heights, and board members probably wouldn't allow wind towers.
"There would be plenty of people that objected to that," she said. "They would become unsightly if you had very many of them going, although the concept behind that is understandable."
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