“It has been a long and busy year fighting to preserve Buchanan County’s rich soil which is to be used for food and fiber,” said Chris Urban. “I salute the hard working P&Z Commission and the Board of Supervisors for trying to keep it that way. Wind turbines covering half the County is not the answer.” “With all we know about the dangers of wind turbines — especially fires causing contamination on other people’s land,” said Mike Urban, “I just want to thank the BOS for supporting the reasonable restrictions that our P&Z, and indeed all concerned citizens of our county, spent a great deal of their own time crafting. Many of us had to basically put our lives on hold for an entire year. But this outcome was worth it.”
“It has been a long and busy year fighting to preserve Buchanan County’s rich soil which is to be used for food and fiber,” said Chris Urban. “I salute the hard working P&Z Commission and the Board of Supervisors for trying to keep it that way. Wind turbines covering half the County is not the answer.” “With all we know about the dangers of wind turbines — especially fires causing contamination on other people’s land,” said Mike Urban, “I just want to thank the BOS for supporting the reasonable restrictions that our P&Z, and indeed all concerned citizens of our county, spent a great deal of their own time crafting. Many of us had to basically put our lives on hold for an entire year. But this outcome was worth it.”
BRANDON – On Wednesday, May 29, the Buchanan County Supervisors held the third and final Wind Energy Conversion Systems (WECS) Ordinance Amendment Public Hearing at the Brandon Area Community Center.
Comments were heard from those in favor and those against the stipulations and limitations of the ordinance. Comments mostly pertained to property rights and land use.
The WECS Ordinance odyssey began in the summer of 2022 when Chad Beatty, Environmental Health and Zoning Administrator, presented the Buchanan County Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) a proposal from Next Era Energy to erect potentially 67 to 70 wind turbines across southern Buchanan County. Following existing protocol Beatty also presented the project to the Buchanan County …
... more [truncated due to possible copyright]BRANDON – On Wednesday, May 29, the Buchanan County Supervisors held the third and final Wind Energy Conversion Systems (WECS) Ordinance Amendment Public Hearing at the Brandon Area Community Center.
Comments were heard from those in favor and those against the stipulations and limitations of the ordinance. Comments mostly pertained to property rights and land use.
The WECS Ordinance odyssey began in the summer of 2022 when Chad Beatty, Environmental Health and Zoning Administrator, presented the Buchanan County Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) a proposal from Next Era Energy to erect potentially 67 to 70 wind turbines across southern Buchanan County. Following existing protocol Beatty also presented the project to the Buchanan County Board of Health.
In July 2022 P&Z discussed WECS Ordinance amendments and recommendations so it would be similar to the recent Solar Ordinance recommendations regarding the application process and requirements.
On August 29, 2022 the Board of Supervisors approved the WECS Ordinance presented by a vote of 2-0 (Ohrt & Shonka). On Sept. 6, 2022 the Second Reading was approved 3-0 (Ohrt, Gissel, & Shonka). On Sept. 12, 2022 the Third Reading of the ordinance was denied 3-0 (Ohrt, Gissel, & Shonka) with the request to have Beatty work with P&Z to remove the Manufacturing District requirement and increase the CSR level to 71 CSR.
The P&Z discussed the requests, but elected to resubmit the original amendment proposal on November 14, 2022 to the Board of Supervisors. In a vote of 2-1 (Ohrt & Gissel, yes / Shonka, No) the amendment was rejected.
Meanwhile, in anticipation of proceeding with the project, Next Era Energy contacted area landowners about easements.
With the election of November 2022, a new Board of Supervisors was installed in January 2023. John Kurtz and Dawn Vogel joined Clayton Ohrt on the Board.
In February 2023 Next Era Energy made a presentation directly to P&Z and held three public meetings (Brandon, Rowley, and Jesup) over the following months.
In May 2023, the Board of Supervisors voted to place a moratorium on any WECS projects for one year.
P&Z began to break down the ordinance into sections and reviewed them very carefully over the fall of 2023. Other individuals and groups attended Supervisor and P&Z meetings to share concerns, both for and against, for several months.
In December 2023 P&Z passed along meeting minutes and ordinance recommendations to the Office of the Buchanan County Attorney. In January 2024 the County Attorney’s Office responded. In March 2024 reviewed those recommendations and in April 2024 the Supervisors once again reviewed the proposed ordinance. The Supervisors also renewed the WECS project moratorium for another year. By the end of April 2024 the Supervisor set public hearings to occur in May.
At the May 15 hearing, the Supervisors voted 2-0 (Kurtz & Vogel, yes / Ohrt, abstain), but to have security fencing requirements eliminated and add to shadow flicker verbiage.
At the May 22 hearing, the Supervisors voted 2-1 (Kurtz & Vogel, yes / Ohrt, no) to “adopt the WECS including security fencing requirements eliminated, added shadow flicker verbiage, and added zoning district verbiage after decommissioning is concluded.”
At the May 29 hearing, the Supervisors voted 2-0 (Kurtz & Vogel, yes / Ohrt, absence excused) to adopt the WECS Ordinance.
(All of the Board of Supervisors meeting minutes and the WECS Ordinance proposals have been published in the Bulletin Journal as Legal Notices.)
“I believe the process has been completed professionally, correctly, and we as a county have gone above and beyond to listen to the concerns of all of the Buchanan County residents,” said Beatty. “To my knowledge, no other county or city ordinance review, proposed amendment(s), or adoption process has been as detailed, recorded, or open to the public with this type of resident involvement or attendance as this one has. I’ve never attended or witnessed an entire ordinance read out loud to the public like these past three weeks.
“Ultimately, this process was selected and voted on by the Board of Supervisors on August 21, 2023 to appoint our 9 member P & Z Commission to review and amend the existing WECS ordinance which was previously adopted on September 14, 2020. This process, using our county zoning department and volunteer commission members saved the Buchanan County taxpayers thousands of dollars. WECS discussions and the evaluation process began almost two years ago on June 7, 2022 and several individuals have spent countless hours researching, listening, and learning about the best practices to help regulate an industry which collectively has multiple pros and cons. I believe our P & Z commission took this project very seriously, vested the appropriate time and energy, which has produced some amended local regulation which will ultimately protect both WECS applicants and Buchanan County from potential future nuisance complaints.
“I will add,” said Beatty, “although many claims have been made in regard to the vision of Buchanan County recently changing, when our county seal is an image of single bottom plow and this vision of being an agricultural county has been in existence since 1974, I believe the current Supervisors made the correct decision and supported the proposals brought forth by their appointed P & Z Commission. These amendments don’t or won’t eliminate Wind Turbines from being constructed in Buchanan County but, instead will assure WECS will potentially be constructed in places where all Buchanan County residents and their properties are protected.
“I’d like to personally thank the following individuals for their extra time invested over the past two years, said Beatty, “Amber Lorenzen, Kris Wilgenbusch, Josh White, Kathy Cole, Joan O’Loughlin-Good, Tracy Franck, Mike Robinson, Elena Schmitz, Wendy Sperfslage, Judd Taylor, Gary Waters, Bronson Wierck, and the three Board of Supervisors, John Kurtz, Clayton Ohrt, and Dawn Vogel.
Many long-time supporters of the WECS Ordinance were happy with the outcome.
“I’m so grateful for the dedication of our P&Z Commission and Board of Supervisors,” said Bonnie Urban. “Both have been entrusted to protect the farmland of Buchanan County for future generations, and they all take that job very seriously. I’m not against real clean energy, but I am against the damage that turbine fields will do to rich farmland, even extending to the neighboring fields and the neighbors, themselves. I do not believe they are meant for Buchanan County.”
“It has been a long and busy year fighting to preserve Buchanan County’s rich soil which is to be used for food and fiber,” said Chris Urban. “I salute the hard working P&Z Commission and the Board of Supervisors for trying to keep it that way. Wind turbines covering half the County is not the answer”
“With all we know about the dangers of wind turbines — especially fires causing contamination on other people’s land,” said Mike Urban, “I just want to thank the BOS for supporting the reasonable restrictions that our P&Z, and indeed all concerned citizens of our county, spent a great deal of their own time crafting. Many of us had to basically put our lives on hold for an entire year. But this outcome was worth it.”
“I think the P&Z, as citizens of Buchanan County, were better qualified to do what INRCOG was going to charge $25,000+,” said Bob Cue. “Kudos to the Board of Supervisors for their leadership to place the county and its resources and the health and safety of the citizens into the forefront. Thanks also to the 800+ people who signed the petition, those who placed ‘No WECS’ signs in their yards, and those who attended the meetings in support of the P&Z recommendations.”
Not all agreed with the decision.
“I think it the decision made shows the county government is Socialist,” said one local farmer. “The Supervisors are telling landowners what they can use their property for. It is not fair. It does not respect the people and rejects the potential for an economic boost.”
“It would have been more appropriate to wait to have all three Supervisors available for the vote,” said Diana Muchmore. “With a 1.5 ‘fall zone,’ the [WECS] ordinance makes all cell phone and other communication towers out of compliance. … We all need electricity.”
Other opinions are published as columns and Letters to the Editor in today’s Bulletin Journal.