Article
WTG language sent to Lansing for OK
Gaylord Herald Times|Mary Jergenson, Staff Writer|February 21, 2006
LIVINGSTON TWP. - Otsego County Commissioners on Thursday unanimously approved the Wind Turbine Generator (WTG) Ordinance recommended to them by the county Planning Commission.
LIVINGSTON TWP. - Otsego County Commissioners on Thursday unanimously approved the Wind Turbine Generator (WTG) Ordinance recommended to them by the county Planning Commission.
The ordinance applies to any private WTG more than 35 feet high with a 15-foot above ground rotor blade clearance.
The ordinance requires a special-use permit for any commercial or private WTG which must include a site plan, detailed analysis by a professional engineer licensed in Michigan, and a study by a professional engineer documenting the site has sufficient resources for the proposed equipment. The permit also requires an avian study based on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service “Guidelines to Avoid and Minimize Wildlife Impacts from Wind Turbines.”
To protect residents from some of the issues affecting residents near Mackinaw City's wind turbines, the planning commission included a noise propagation study requirement as well as the …
The ordinance applies to any private WTG more than 35 feet high with a 15-foot above ground rotor blade clearance.
The ordinance requires a special-use permit for any commercial or private WTG which must include a site plan, detailed analysis by a professional engineer licensed in Michigan, and a study by a professional engineer documenting the site has sufficient resources for the proposed equipment. The permit also requires an avian study based on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service “Guidelines to Avoid and Minimize Wildlife Impacts from Wind Turbines.”
To protect residents from some of the issues affecting residents near Mackinaw City's wind turbines, the planning commission included a noise propagation study requirement as well as the need to show documentation projecting shadow flicker, and the assurance any potential ice throw from the rotating blades will not cross property lines.
Otsego County attorney Susan Topp, who has regularly attended the planning commission meetings as the group prepared the document, still has a few major concerns about the ordinance. “The commission did a tremendous job researching many of the important issues,” noted Topp prior to Thursday's meeting. “I am still very concerned about the height allowed in the ordinance and the disruption to the nighttime sky and potential loss of property value.”
Topp, who attended the commissioners' meeting but was unable to stay to make a public comment noted, “I wish the commissioners would weigh factors and reduce the height requirement. They need to remember they can't be selective about height once the ordinance begins allowing these tall structures.”
“I think this is a good start,” Elmira Township landowner Gene Fleming said Friday, “and a step toward tapping alternative energy sources. There may be some challenges along the way by property owners and developers, but as I told commissioners, I wouldn't mind having a wind turbine generator in my backyard.”
The ordinance will now be sent to the Michigan Dept. of Labor and Economic Growth. “If we don't hear anything in 30 days we can assume the state has no problems with the ordinance,” stated Otsego County Land Use Director Richard Edmonds. Following state approval, the ordinance will take affect eight days following publication in the Herald Times.