County adopts wind zoning ordinances

BAD AXE - After nearly a year of discussions regarding what, if any, changes should be made to the county's wind ordinance, the Huron County Board of Commissioners Tuesday adopted a slew of wind ordinance amendments to increase protections for nonparticipating landowners.

The resolution states that in response to concerns of residents near the Michigan Wind I development in Bingham and Sheridan townships, a revision of the county's wind ordinance was sought by county commissioners before any other wind energy facilities are developed elsewhere in the county.

The area's two existing wind farms will not be subject to the county's new setback, which increased from 1,000 feet to 1,320 feet, or new noise limit, which decreased from 50 to 45 decibels for nonparticipating landowners. That is because the two developments were in existence prior to the new standards.

Also during Tuesday's Huron County Board of Commissioners meeting, the board adopted an ordinance allowing small wind turbines in residential areas. A residential wind turbine ordinance also has been the focus of many discussions at the county level for quite some time.

Last week, the Huron County Planning Commission voted to recommend county commissioners adopt the wind ordinance amendments and residential wind turbine ordinance.

Prior to the planning commission's recommendation, there were some concerns raised during public comment regarding having setbacks set from a dwelling rather than a property line, as well as concerns about there currently being no funding set aside for decommissioning turbines. There also were calls for the county to impose a moratorium on future wind developments in Huron County so officials have time to do more research and not make any decisions in haste.

Many of these concerns were expressed during the public comment held prior to the Huron County Board of Commissioners vote Tuesday.