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Champaign panel seeks to increase wind-farm buffer zone

News-Gazette|Mike Monson |May 9, 2009
IllinoisZoning/Planning

At the city's plan commission meeting this week, members voted 5-0 to not protest a proposed county zoning ordinance text amendment that would allow wind farms in the county Agriculture 1 zoning district with approval of a special-use permit by the Champaign County Board. But the plan commission is also suggesting - at the planning staff's recommendation - that the county board should not approve a wind farm unless it is at least 2 1/2 miles from a municipal boundary. That's a mile beyond what the county board had been considering.


CHAMPAIGN - City planning officials like the idea of using wind farms to generate electricity. They really do.

But not in the city's backyard.

At the city's plan commission meeting this week, members voted 5-0 to not protest a proposed county zoning ordinance text amendment that would allow wind farms in the county Agriculture 1 zoning district with approval of a special-use permit by the Champaign County Board.

But the plan commission is also suggesting - at the planning staff's recommendation - that the county board should not approve a wind farm unless it is at least 2 1/2 miles from a municipal boundary. That's a mile beyond what the county board had been considering.

An extra mile buffer "would allow the city to grow as …

... more [truncated due to possible copyright]

CHAMPAIGN - City planning officials like the idea of using wind farms to generate electricity. They really do.

But not in the city's backyard.

At the city's plan commission meeting this week, members voted 5-0 to not protest a proposed county zoning ordinance text amendment that would allow wind farms in the county Agriculture 1 zoning district with approval of a special-use permit by the Champaign County Board.

But the plan commission is also suggesting - at the planning staff's recommendation - that the county board should not approve a wind farm unless it is at least 2 1/2 miles from a municipal boundary. That's a mile beyond what the county board had been considering.

An extra mile buffer "would allow the city to grow as guided by our comprehensive plan rather than by wind-farm development," said city land development manager Lorrie Pearson.

Current state law gives the cities the authority to regulate wind farms within their extra-territorial jurisdiction, or 1 1/2 miles outside municipal boundaries.

Pearson wrote in a memo that "as the city grows, the ETJ (extra-territorial jurisdiction) grows. A wind farm sited just outside the ETJ today may be within the ETJ or even within the city's growth area in the future.

"The wind farms may act as a de facto growth boundary for the city," she wrote.

City Planning Director Bruce Knight said the city would "like to control our own destiny as much as possible." He also said the ultimate decision rests with the county board's Environment and Land Use Committee, which will meet at 7 p.m. Monday to discuss the issue.

"We'll just have to see how they respond," he told the plan commission, adding that city staff isn't opposed to wind farms in general. "They bring an alternate form of energy that is very low-impact on the environment."

The Urbana City Council last week did not protest the proposed amendment and didn't ask for the additional mile buffer.

The county board is expected to consider the wind-farm zoning amendment at its May 21 meeting. Passage will require a supermajority of 21 of the 27 county board members because the Newcomb Town Board has formerly protested the proposed wind-farm zoning amendment.

The county board is dealing with other suggested changes as well.

The Champaign County Farm Bureau is asking the county to consider adding a "wind farm overlay zoning district."

John Hall, planning and zoning director for the county, said an overlay district would require the county board to approve a zoning change, in addition to a special-use permit, to allow a wind farm.

An overlay district would give protest rights to neighboring property owners and the local township board, which would trigger a supermajority voting requirement on the county board if a town board or 20 percent of the adjoining property owners objected to a wind farm, Hall said.

County Farm Bureau President Jerry Watson wrote that an overlay district "does allow for greater transparency in the process."

Champaign County officials have heard from three different firms interested in establishing a wind farm in Champaign County, Hall said. He said he expects the first application for a wind farm to be submitted this summer.

Hall said county residents' views on wind farms are sharply divided - which he said is not surprising, given that wind farms could occupy thousands of acres, with turbines standing 400 to 500 feet tall.

"Many people think this is fantastic news we could get this kind of development," he said. "Other people think this is the worst kind of thing that could ever happen in Champaign County."


Source:http://www.news-gazette.com/n…

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