By: Deborah Johnson Wood
The Ottawa County Planning Commission recently released a unique model wind energy ordinance. The ordinance was sent to local units of government within Ottawa County as a possible guide to assist them in adopting standards.
The uniqueness of the model is that it addresses suggested regulations for more than just the utility wind turbines — those that loom 120 feet in the air and would be used to generate massive amounts of wind energy for sale to utility companies.
“Most ordinances out there take a one-size-fits-all approach and regulate the larger turbines only,” says Nate Lisenbee, Ottawa County Planning and Grants Department spokesperson. “This ordinance addresses four different sizes with separate standards for each size, which allows urban land owners and businesses to take advantage of wind energy.”
The four sizes are: small structure-mounted wind energy turbine, small tower-mounted wind energy turbine, medium wind energy turbine and large wind energy turbine.
The model ordinance also addresses other issues, including noise level, tower height, wind energy overlay districts, site design requirements and safety issues.
“Local units determine their own zoning for their areas,” Lisenbee says. “They are not obligated to use this zoning model, but we’ve had a lot of requests for this. They can use it as a tool to develop their own set of standards or they can adopt the whole thing.”
Source: Nate Lisenbee, Ottawa County Planning and Grants Department
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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