|
The Proposed Adams County Wind Ordinance |
|
Read the Adams County Wind Ordinance, The above file is a text copy of the ordinance; you may request a formatted copy from the Adams County Clerk at the courthouse, or call to request a copy by email. Phone 217-277-2150. If you have questions or opinions about it, here is the contact information for your County Board Members: County Board members, addresses, & phone numbers Meanwhile, some of the key provisions in it include the following: 1. The county is divided into "participants" and "non-participants." Participants are landowners who have signed a binding contract with the wind developer to host a wind turbine on their property. Non-participants include everyone else. 2. "Setbacks" are defined as the distance from the foundation of an occupied home (not the property line) to the center of a wind turbine tower. Buildings such as detached garages, sheds, and barns do not count in the setbacks. 3. The setback requirement for wind turbines from the foundation of a non-participant's home is 1320 feet. The setback requirement for participants is only 1.10 times the height of the wind turbine (for example, the center of a 400 foot tower could be located only 440 feet from the foundation of a participant's home. This could place the spinning blades about 320 feet from a participant's roof.) 4. There are no regulations or setbacks governing the placement of electrical sub-stations (which can also be huge), roads, buildings, weather towers, or any of the other elements that make up a wind farm--the setbacks only apply to the wind turbines themselves. 5. Wind turbine towers must be setback 1.10 times their height from roads, power lines, and 1.5 times their height from non-participant neighboring property lines (as long as they are also at least 1320 feet from your home's foundation). So if you own a large piece of land, the wind turbines can be crowded close to your property line everywhere except near your existing house. If you want to build another house elsewhere on your property in the future, it is a good idea to get it done in the next few months before a permit is issued to put turbines close to where you might be hoping to build a house or sell ground for a subdivision. 6. Wind Developers are now required to submit a shadow flicker study, showing how much shadow flicker they will be subjecting non-participants to endure. The Board decided to allow such an annoyance for up to 20 hours per year per home; any shadow flicker over that cumulative total (if you keep track) would give you the right to complain; if the company does not figure out a way to make you happy again, you can go to an arbitrator, but at the end of the arbitration process, the company does not have to do what the arbitrator says would be fair. Your last option is to sue a multinational corporation to seek justice, or just put up with however much shadow flicker they give you. 7. Wind turbines are allowed to raise the noise levels at the homes of non-participants up to the limit of the Illinois Pollution Control Board standards. However, those standards only speak to audible noise; most of the complaints related to wind turbines have to do with the low frequency vibrations felt in the body, and that penetrate the walls of homes. A recent article in a national magazine for professional audiologists (hearing doctors) discusses the effects on hearing and health of such constant exposure to low frequency noise, and there are many other articles and studies about this issue. Again, you can complain to the arbitrator if you find you cannot live with the amount of noise the company gives you. 8. The appendix of the Adams County Wind Ordinance gives an applicant an example of the kind of "offer" Adams County hopes they will make so that if/when the tax laws change, the wind development will continue to generate revenue for the county. The appendix is only an example, and not one of the rules an applying company must live by.
|