County of St. Paul plans to add 1.5 km setback requirement on wind turbines

County of St. Paul Coun. Darrell Younghans expressed concern about the overall process of amending the LUB.

ST. PAUL – County of St. Paul council has taken the first step to amend its Land Use Bylaw (LUB) to establish a 1.5-kilometre setback requirement for wind turbines from residential areas during the May 26 regular council meeting.

During discussions, Reeve Glen Ockerman said a 1.5-kilometre setback should suffice for the County, which is also the setback set by some Alberta municipalities, specifically the M.D. of Provost and Kneehill County.

The Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC), according to Ockerman, also seem to be going toward that direction, referring to the AUC proposing a standardized setback requirements for renewable energy infrastructure of up to 1.5 kilometres from dwellings like residences.

“I was hoping council would decide to go that way,” said Ockerman, before asking Director of Planning and Development Gary Buchanan if council could decide to amend the LUB.

“Yes, you can,” Buchanan said.

Buchanan was also directed by council during the May 12 council meeting to check the status of the AUC’s proposal. Reporting to council, “They’re still in their consultation phase.”

“They haven’t adopted this or rejected it outright, as far as I can tell,” said Buchanan.

Councillors Gerald Michaud, Dale Hedrick, and Maxine Fodness were not against amending the LUB for the setback, with Fodness motioning to drafting an amendment.

Councillors Louis Dechaine and Darrell Younghans sought more clarity on what amending the LUB may mean since the AUC has not yet formalized any regulatory changes concerning renewable energy infrastructures.

“What we’re doing right now . . . is no different than what we did with [setting] height restrictions,” replied Ockerman, referring to County previously restricting the setback of wind turbines no less than four times the turbine’s total height from all other property lines.

Younghans finds amendment process concerning

Younghans also expressed concern on the amendment process of council moving toward setting a setback when council had previously denied a request for setting a 10-km setback.

He questioned why council did not consider a 1.5 kilometre setback in the first place.

“I just have an issue where we've been thrown under the bus . . . because of that 10-kilometer ask and [our] refusal, and then all of a sudden, 1.5 [km setback] is good,” said Younghans. “There are some issues there.”

Younghans was referring to a request made by Wind Concerns, a group fighting against the development of industrial wind energy in the County of St. Paul. The group proposed to amend parts of the County’s Land Use Bylaw (LUB) that involve strengthening restrictions on commercial alternate energy developments and Wind Energy Conversion Systems (WECS).

A key proposed amendment from the group included requiring a 10-km setback between wind turbines and homes, which council defeated during the April 28 council meeting due to regulatory concerns, including whether the proposed changes could withstand scrutiny from the AUC.

At the May 12 County council meeting, council directed administration to verify if the AUC has formally adopted any changes in setback requirements between wind projects and human dwellings, with administration confirming AUC’s proposal to be still at the consultation phase at the May 26 council meeting.

Mark Mallet, spokesperson for Wind Concerns, previously told Lakeland This Week that the group assumed council would have at least considered a 1.5 km setback after denying its 10-km request.

Younghans said a 1.5-km setback proposal “would have been [an] easier decision than 10 [km], for sure.”

Coun. Shane Smith also had a procedural question about the council’s shift in its position.

“I think that there's a little bit of discrepancy between, you know, them asking for it [10-km setback],” said Smith, and council now proposing a 1.5 km setback based on what other municipalities have adopted.

Council directed administration to draft an amendment to the LUB, specifically to set a 1.5 km setback between a dwelling and a Wind Energy Conversation System (WECS) such as a wind turbine.

The draft amendment will be presented to council at the June 9 council meeting. If council passes the first reading of the amendment, a public hearing will be held before consideration of the second and third readings.