More drama at the Planning Commission

The Jasper County Planning Commission met Monday evening at the Fairgrounds with two items on their agenda. The main item, changes to the wind farm ordinance, was first and was the reason for the sizable crowd, too big for the Court House but noticeably smaller than the crowd at last month's meeting. The meeting started with a notice that the Commission would discuss the ordinance among themselves and that no public comment would be allowed until the end of the meeting.

The Commission chair, Gerrett DeVries, asked the Board for comments. The first suggestion was that the zoning for a turbine be I-1, an industrial zoning, rather than A-3 as was suggested in the revision, because turbines were not agriculture. Someone pointed out that if the zoning were changed to industrial, a lot of other things could then be placed on that land. The rational for changing from A1 or A2 to A3 was that the Planning Commission would be able to review and potentially kill any wind turbine application.

Vince Urbano said that the existing ordinance does not protect neighbors, but the proposed ordinance goes too far in the other way by effectively banning wind farms and thus does not protect those who want the turbines. He said that the Commission needs to find the right balance and produce something that the Commissioners will approve. After some discussion, Mr Urbano made the motion to have an advisory committee, with representatives from both sides of the issue, try to come to a compromise agreement. Mr DeVries stated that he wanted something passed at the meeting.

An amendment was offered that until the committee reports, no permits and no applications be allowed. The amendment passed, as did the motion to set up an advisory committee.

The second item on the agenda was a change from five years to one year in the rule regulating how often land could be split. The current rule has in some recent cases prevented reasonable activity. It passed and will go to the County Commissioners.

The floor was then open to the public. The first speaker was Kevon Martis, who addressed the Commission in June. He noted that wind farms need a capacity of at least 50 megawatts to be worthwhile for the companies. He said that wind ordinances are either de facto bans or let the companies do what they want. He also said that when the setbacks get bigger than 1.5 to 2 times the tower height, wind farm companies lose interest in the county. If he is correct, the opponents of wind farms perhaps should have argued for just one simple change, a setback of five, six, or seven times the tip height of the turbine. Their proposal had multiple provisions that would kill wind farms, which may have been a weakness in terms of getting it enacted.

The next speaker was from out of county. She said she had served on a committee similar to the one that the Commission had just authorized and that it had been an exercise in futility. I suspect she is right. On this issue the sides are too far apart to allow compromise.

A speaker from the south end of the County said that they already have the negative consequences of turbines but none of the benefits because they are just over the county line. He asked why they and the County should not get the benefits as well by allowing them at the south end of the County.

Two speakers said that they were confident that NIPSCO is planning to replace the coal generation at the Wheatfield plant with gas generation. I hope they are right.

Mr DeVries told the crowd that he wanted an outright ban to large wind turbines, which was obvious to anyone watching the proceedings. He was frustrated that the Commission had not resolved the matter that evening. He said that other commitments would cause him to step down from the chair position at the beginning of next year.

So the drama continues. Given the intensity of the opposition and the number of people who share that opposition, I suspect we will not have wind turbines in the County in the foreseeable future.

The Rensselaer Republican has a nice article on the recent Cemetery Walk. I was involved in planning and I find it difficult to write about things in which I am heavily involved.

Work on the Mt Calvary/WS 231 intersection was finished on Wednesday except for sign removal. The retaining wall is finished.

The site for the Autumn Trace project seems to have finished hauling dirt and is now installing pipes that will be below the foundation.

The weather, lawn decorations, and flowering asters remind us that summer is coming to and end. The trees, though, are still green.

Addendum:

Farm Credit is offering at auction 869.2 acres of land that was recently owned by Saint Joseph's College. It is in 11 tracts. 746.4 acres are tillable, 94.27 are wooded, and 28.48 are non-tillable. The auction will be held on Oct 29 at 6:30 pm CST in the Community Building at the Jasper Count Fairgrounds. The auctioneer is Halderman. The link is here.