Floyd County continues to gather input on wind energy zoning amendment

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Floyd County officials and a consultant covered mostly familiar ground at a public “listening session” held this week about commercial wind energy zoning.

Several of the questions by the 20 or so members of the audience were about specific regulations that would be part of the zoning ordinance amendment, such as how far setbacks would be, how potential ice throw or noise would be addressed and how neighbors who don’t want to be part of a wind project would be treated.

But John Robbins, senior planner with the North Iowa Area Council of Governments (NIACOG), explained that the session was to gather information and hear concerns by the public, and that the input would be considered when decisions about those specific rules are being made.

Although various setback distances are the usual way to deal with almost all the concerns, none of those decisions have been made yet, said Robbins, the consultant who has been hired by the county to help with the zoning amendment process.

A fairly typical setback distance is 110% or 120% of the height of the wind turbine tower at the highest point the blades reach, he said, although that varies among counties and according to the concern being regulated.

The Iowa Environmental Council at the University of Northern Iowa recommends a setback of about 1,000 to 1,250 feet from residences, Robbins said, as another example.

There might be other setbacks established, such as the setback from residential districts or particular zoning districts or conservation areas, and setbacks from neighbors who are not participating in the project.

But he again emphasized, “We haven’t decided anything” regarding which setbacks will be included in the ordinance and what the distances will be.

One person asked about the blade height on the turbines.

Isaac Lamppa, a project manager for renewable development for Invenergy, one of the companies working on a project in Floyd County, said it depends on the project and the size of the generator.

For example, he said, in the Chickasaw County Wind Energy Center, the blades there are about 200 feet long, “maybe a little less.”

“Typical length is 90 to 250 feet,” he said.

Lamppa said the Federal Aviation Administration regulates the height of any structure more than 200 feet tall, particularly as it impacts air traffic around an airport such as the Northeast Iowa Regional Airport east of Charles City.

Thomas Treharne, senior project manager for NextEra Energy, another company looking to develop a Floyd County project, said the technology keeps improving.

For example, NextEra recently “repowered” a wind farm south of Clear Lake that originally had 55 turbines. They took those out and replaced them with 16 turbines that are generating the same amount of power.

Robbins said the ordinance will be designed to regulate any wind energy proposal that comes to the county and will not be developed with any specific project in mind.

There were also questions about how the power generated by the turbines is transported from the towers (on underground buried cables), recycling (all the copper wiring and steel is recycled, the concrete is ground up for aggregate, and now even the blades can be ground up and used as aggregate or filler in other projects) and decommissioning plans (typically requiring everything within the top four feet of the ground to be returned to as close to original condition as possible).

Treharne said the Clear Lake project is a good example of what an area looks like after a project is decommissioned and he would be glad to show anyone where the original 55 turbines were and how the land looks now.

Asked about the timetable for a new zoning ordinance, Robbins said it is somewhat flexible, but he has already started a draft proposal of a new ordinance using what he has heard at previous Floyd County meetings.

On Nov. 20, 2023, Floyd County passed a moratorium on accepting applications for new commercial wind projects for six months, until May 20. That can be extended to July 1 if needed.

Supervisor Chair Mark Kuhn said the goal is to have the process finished by those deadlines, a​​nd Zoning Chair Dean Tjaden said his commission fully intends to meet that goal.

“I don’t want to drag it out,” Tjaden said.

Mike Cadbury, outreach director for Bright Future Iowa, an organization that promotes the advantages of renewable energy, said there are a lot of county wind energy zoning ordinances in place, including examples where “everybody wins.”

“You don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” he said. “You’ve got other documents from people who have done this before. You can cut and paste or beg, borrow and steal.”

Robbins said, “I assure you, we will be stealing all the time.”

This was the third joint public meeting held by the county Planning and Zoning Commission and the Board of Supervisors. The meeting was held at the county Fossil and Prairie Park Preserve near Rockford, and about 30 people attended, including county officials.

The first session led by Robbins had been a teaching session, giving the members of the Planning and Zoning Commission and the supervisors information on how commercial wind energy projects can be regulated and the process of amending the county’s zoning ordinance.

The second session was an opportunity to hear from representatives of MidAmerican Energy and Alliant Energy about the process energy companies go through to decide where to build a new wind project and the steps they need to take with local, state and federal authorities to get one approved.

Neither of those companies is currently proposing projects in Floyd County, although the project Invenergy is proposing to build is near the existing MidAmerican wind farm south of Charles City. Recently in Chickasaw County, Invenergy developed and built a new wind farm, then MidAmerican purchased it and is operating it.

The fourth and maybe the last Floyd County listening session is planned for Wednesday, Feb. 21, at 6 p.m. in the EOC room in the atrium between the county courthouse and the Law Enforcement Center.