Tilley urges caution with wind farms

Gordon Woods
Posted 4/11/18

Tilley urges caution with wind farms

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Tilley urges caution with wind farms

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CLINTON — As the county continues to develop an update to its comprehensive plan, one county board member on Monday urged members to take their time approving any wind farm proposals.

The comprehensive plan essentially spells out how the county will deal with future business, commercial and residential growth over a specified period.

During Monday’s meeting of the board’s land use committee, member Melonie Tilley implored members to slow down the process of any proposed changes to the wind energy ordinance, and she cited passages from the current comprehensive plan that addressed the maintenance of agricultural land, residential and commercial development.

“Farm land is too often excluded” from the comprehensive plan,” Tilley said.  

Tilley said the current comprehensive plan addressed specifically residential development in the Clinton and Waynesville areas, “approximately the footprint for the proposed wind farm.”

She said, in the 10-20-year plan, she could not find any language in the plan addressing how the “agricultural setting” should be managed or promoted.

Tilley said it was especially critical at this point to consider how the county should handle future use of agricultural land and to avoid making “rash decisions.”

“Why not promote the county as that agricultural, quiet setting in our next comprehensive plan?”

She said she felt the county would be better off promoting its rural setting for home development and the tax base it would help increase rather than what she considered the risky proposition of a wind farm.

The proposed wind farm would be built on privately-owned farm land, which landowners already have leased to Tradewind Energy.  The county board could consider amendments to the wind energy ordinance this month, which have been proposed to further regulate wind farms in the county, but the Tradewind proposal meets requirements of the ordinance currently in place.  The current ordinance was updated in April 2017.

The county still must approve special use applications for proposed wind towers.