If a company added turbines like these close to your home, without consulting you at all, what would your concerns be? 

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Adams County Wind Ordinance
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Letter to the Board: Amend the Ordinance
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Join Group: Advocates for Responsble Wind Development
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Safety & Health Issues
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Flicker, Noise,
& Air Evac

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Real Estate Values
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Crop Dusting & Agricultural Issues
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What You Can Do
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Other Helpful Links
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Contact Us:
responsible.development@hotmail.com

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Quick Links:

Acciona turbines allegedly sicken people in Australia; one home abandoned, company buys home of leading critic.

Landowners individually named in lawsuit re: DeKalb, IL County Board Wind Ordinance, 1-9-2010

A Wisconsin farmer talks about his regrets

A medical doctor's plea
for longer setbacks, based on recent evidence,
Jan. 8, 2010

Follow up info for Quincy WGEM news quote:  Safety manual for turbine safety workers warns against 1300 feet perimeter, or being in line with revolving blades

Noise contaminated home assessed at 50% previous value

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We are not against wind energy.  Rather, this website includes important questions about the best ways to develop our Adams County Wind resources, and it reflects our obvious concern that the Adams County Wind Ordinance fails to protect the interests of all of our residents.  The public deserves a far better deal than this ordinance provides.

Thank you for considering this information; we promise to respect those who have differing opinions, and we hope for the best future for our beautiful and beloved Adams County.

 
 
 
Wind Farms in Adams County
Wind Development should be
Safe, Fair, and Open

   Life in an Adams County Wind Farm: Good or Bad?
It Depends on:    1) Safe "setbacks"
                                 2) Fair compensation, &
                                3) An open, public process

 

Photo Credit:  Betterplan.squarespace.com

What an Illinois Windfarm is Doing to a Family and their Dream Home

This site features some impressive videos of the daily "shadow flicker" that this DeKalb, Illinois family must live with for 45 minutes every morning.  It also includes their day to day entries about the noise and other effects of living in the middle of a wind farm.  They are now talking about moving out of their dream home...do you think they'll find a buyer who will pay fair market value for a home with 13 huge wind turbines within a mile of it?  The nearest turbines to them are 1400 feet away--not 1000 feet, like they are proposed for Adams County.  Our setbacks should be no less than 1/2 mile...or we will be doing this to people in Adams County too.

This site is a "Must See"--please forward it to others:

 

June 8th, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
John Wood Community College Auditorium

Public Hearing on Adams County Wind Ordinance

This is your chance to speak up:

* Should setbacks (safety zones) be measured from your home's foundation or your property line?

*  What is a safe and fair setback distance?

* Will there be any compensation for lost property values?

* How will excessive noise and shadow flicker be addressed?

* Will huge turbines be "off limits" in the 1.5 mile zones around towns?

* Will schools or nursing homes receive any special consideration?

* What impact will it have on Air-Evac Service in Adams County?

* There are many other important questions...

Those who wish to speak must sign up at the door; each speaker gets 3 minutes, plus 1 minute to answer one question if asked by a County Board member.  Even your presence there will be a way to "speak" that you care about this issue. 

This matters for decades to come...don't wish later you would have spoken your mind after it is too late to change where hundreds of turbines are put in Adams County.  Right now a company from Spain is making their plans for our county--do you want a say in it?  That's up to you.  The county board has given the public 90 minutes to speak.  It's not much, but let's use it.

 

 

Current Status of Wind Farm Development
in Adams County

1.  Clayton/Golden/Camp Point: 

According to an Acciona representative speaking to the Adams County Board, they have 77 leases covering 12,000 acres of land so far between Golden and Clayton, east of Highway 94 and on both sides of Highway 24.  We have heard firsthand reports of several parcels of land leased within Clayton's 1.5 mile zone, extremely close to the city.   The developer (Acciona & Global Winds Harvest) stated they need to acquire another 6000-8000 acres (up to 20,000 total acres) for this wind farm. 

2.   Quincy/Mendon/Ursa/Marcelline:   

At the Adams County Board meeting, the Acciona representative stated he did not know who was developing this wind farm, and stated that "there may be other developers working in the county."  Therefore, the identity of that developer is a mystery, and they have not taken part in the dialog about the Adams County Wind Ordinance. 

However, we have received secondhand reports of parcels of land already leased beginning 1.5 miles north of Quincy, between Highway 96 and Interstate 172, including the Ewbanks area, and continuing north past Mendon, Ursa, and Marcelline.  We have been told about land leased quite close to each of these towns, including next to one nursing home and bordering the city limits of at least two towns. 

If the reports in the media are accurate, then at least 150 leases have been secured in Adams County already; therefore these two wind farms will cover at least 24,000-40,000 acres of ground, before they continue to expand in future years (as is typical in other places).

3Three Additional Wind Farms?

At a presentation in Mendon, a public announcement about the representative of the wind developer said he is working on "five wind farms in the area," but it is unknown where the other three might be--only the developer knows where they plan to build their wind farms at this time. 

4.  In other news--Current Recommendations for June 8th hearing:

  • The Adams County Board passed an ordinance on January 12, 2010 laying out lenient requirements that a wind developer must meet to get a permit from the Adams County Board to build their wind farm here. 
     

  • On March 9th the Adams County Board asked the Transportation, Building, and Technology Committee to reconsider the terms of the Wind Ordinance. 
     

  • On May 10th, the committee gave the following recommendations to the full board (with a public hearing scheduled for June 8th, and a final vote on June 15th):

A.  NOT to recommend changing the setback of 1000 feet (foundation to turbine) from non-participant homes

B.  To add a setback of 1500 feet, measured from the property lines, for all school property.

C.  To require developers to submit a "shadow flicker mitigation plan" with their application to show how they intend to address the problem of shadow flicker

D.  To hold a public hearing before they vote on a particular permit application for a wind farm.

E.  To change the application procedure to give themselves more time and flexibility in reviewing a permit application.

 

5 Camp Point Public Hearing--not yet scheduled:

The Camp Point Village Board is ALSO considering adopting an ordinance that would either allow or prevent wind development within the 1.5 mile zoned area outside of the city limits.  At stake is whether Camp Point can grow in the future, the quality of life for those living in town, and the real estate values for property in the town and surrounding area.  This hearing has not yet been scheduled.  Watch for details. 


Click here if you would like to add your voice to ours

            

Testimony about Noise Effects on an Ellsworth, Illinois Family
(from a tower 1500 feet away from a home--the Adams County setback is only 1000 feet)

"Living with turbines has caused us to change many things in our lives.  While we retain the use of our property, much of the time we are no longer able to enjoy it.  We do what we need to do outside and hurry back inside, confined to our house to avoid the constant sounds from the turbines and substation...

"These sounds can clearly be heard inside our home...every member of our family has experienced difficulty sleeping, headaches, irritability, pressure in our ears, and fatigue since the turbines closest to us began operation...Some in our family have also experienced heart palpitations.  My youngest daughter tells me it feels like a hamster running inside her chest...the noise is most common at night and occurs often between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m.  We are often awakened by the noise and find it very difficult, if not impossible to go back to sleep..."  

-- Rene Taylor, rural Ellsworth, IL  from testimony given before a Union, WI planning commission on 5-28-08.  The closest tower to her home is 1500 feet away--(we only have a 1000 foot setback in Adams County)

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A Wisconsin Farmer's Regrets
Why can't he speak openly about it?
When you sign a 20-30 year contract to host a wind turbine on your property you may be signing away many rights you're unaware of. A confidentiality agreement in the contract may mean legal action can be taken against you if you complain publicly about the project.  A Fond Du Lac farmer signed away his rights.  He was interviewed by Don Bangart who wrote the following on behalf of the farmer, whose contract with the wind company prevents him from speaking openly about any problems.
(Read this Farmer's Story)
 

View from one person's home near the proposed development area for the new wind farm.  There is no compensation for loss of view in the ordinance, but what are the rural Adams County views of sunrise, sunset, and expansive horizons worth to you?  Wind farms dominate the horizon for miles in every direction, so we might want to ask if there are any areas of the county where we want to preserve the beautiful views.

Photo Credit:  Betterplan.squarespace.com

Wind turbines located near homes can negatively affect the value of that real estate.  (see more details). To be fair, shouldn't the wind developer submit a plan to compensate those landowners for any loss of value? 
 
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Real Estate Values:  Conclusion of Iowa State University Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation

“At present time, anecdotal data indicates that wind turbines have a depressing effect on nearby land values and are a drag on the ag real estate market.  Most recent anecdotal data from Illinois indicates that assessed value on farmland is dropping approximately 22-30 percent on farmland that is near land where wind turbines have been placed.  Also, the increased risk of getting sued for nuisance has a dampening effect on value.”  

Source:  Iowa State University Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation

“Wind Energy Production: Legal Issues and Related Liability Concerns for Landowners in Iowa and Across the Nation”  www.calt.iastate.edu        

These wind turbines are being built out west, far from anyone's home, which is a responsible way to develop wind power.  And if they need to be built around people's homes, then we think conservative safety guidelines should be followed, affected people should be fairly compensated, and the process should be public and open. 
Those are the issues we're raising...
do you agree these are reasonable things to request?

 

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