Floyd County Planning and Zoning discusses wind energy ordinance priorities

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

First drafts of a new Floyd County commercial wind energy and battery storage ordinance should be available in about a month, according to the consultant helping the county with the ordinance update.

John Robbins, senior planner with the North Iowa Area Council of Governments (NIACOG), spent almost the entire Planning and Zoning meeting last Thursday morning, March 7, going through feedback the group had received during previous listening sessions, and talking with commission members about their priorities.

He then spent time Monday morning talking with the county Board of Supervisors about what he and the Planning and Zoning Commission had discussed. The supervisors agreed to hold another joint meeting with the commissioners, to talk with zoning officials from several other counties that had developed wind energy zoning ordinance.

Planning and zoning commissioners are leaning toward continuing with the current zoning ordinance process of requiring a conditional use permit for new commercial wind farms, rather than using a wind energy zoning overlay. The difference is the five-person county Board of Adjustment would make the conditional use decision, rather than the three-person Board of Supervisors making a zoning decision.

“I like five people making the decision,” said Commissioner Ben Rottinghaus.

Commissioner Guy Carpenter noted that the Board of Adjustment members are appointed by the Board of Supervisors.

Robbins said some counties are going the zoning route because they like a board of elected officials making the decision rather than a board of appointed officials.

Robbins said that regardless of which approval method is required, the ordinance can require that a wind farm application go through the Planning and Zoning Commission first, but he reminded the commissioners that “planning and zoning is always an advisory body. You’re not a decision-making body.”

Candice Brandau Larson, a new member of the P&Z Commission, asked if something could be put in the ordinance requiring that a company interested in starting a wind energy project notify the county before talking with landowners about potential easements.

Robbins said he didn’t think that would be possible, because the wind companies are private businesses making real estate contracts with private landowners.

Brandau Larson pointed out that with the proposed carbon dioxide pipelines, the companies were not allowed to talk to any landowner in a county until a public meeting had been held in the county to explain the project.

Robbins said the winds farms are dealing with voluntary agreements, and need to see if there is interest among landowners before even deciding where a project can be located. The CO2 pipelines are regulated by the state, are more limited in where they can run to reach sources of CO2, and the Iowa Utilities Board can grant the company the right of eminent domain to force access even where landowners don’t want it.

The group talked about other priorities and made some preliminary suggestions on things that should be in the new ordinance, including:

• Requiring a company that has made an application for a permit to hold a public informational meeting, usually 30 to 45 days before the public hearing on the project and before a decision is made, and notify every landowner within a mile of the project by direct mail when and where the meeting will be held.

• Considering asking the Conservation Board and possibly other county departments to provide input on the new ordinance, and possibly having the Conservation Board play a role in evaluating wind farm permit applications.

• Requiring some sort of financial security that the county holds to guarantee that funds are available to decommission a wind farm if it is abandoned or after its useful life is over, and reevaluating and updating that requirement over time to make sure it remains adequate to cover the cost.

• Setting the depth into the ground that must be returned to original condition when a wind farm is decommissioned. Robbins said 4 feet is typical, but some counties are requiring 6 feet.

• After a permit is granted, requiring a road use agreement for vehicles using county roads for construction and maintenance of the turbine sites. The agreement should leave it up to the county engineer to set the rules, and require “anything they break they have to fix,” Robbins said, although he added that often the roads are left in better condition than before the project started because the company may have to upgrade roads or improve intersections to allow heavy equipment to use them.

• Including safety aspects such as turbine site security, blade ground clearance, emergency contacts listed on every turbine and emergency action plans.

• Consider requiring lighting that turns on only when planes are in the area (but subject to the Federal Aviation Administration allowing it to be used at a site).

• Consider whether distance to property line or distance to residence is more appropriate for some setbacks. Robbins said he advocates at least 1,400 feet from a turbine to an occupied building, and some wind farm developers voluntarily use larger distances than that.

• Consider whether to use a distance setback or a decibel level to regulate noise from the turbines, and whether to require a sound study be done by the energy company prior to permit approval.

• Consider requirements for the maximum amount of shadow flicker that will be allowed per year on an occupied building.

• Consider whether to have setbacks from city limits to allow for future growth.

• Consider the complaint process for people who think there have been violations of the rules of the ordinance, but probably requiring that the landowner first try to work with the developer.

Robbins and the commissioners also talked about looking at other counties’ ordinances, and he said he would send them several examples. He also said he could get the zoning administrators from some other counties to attend a meeting either in person or by teleconference if the commissioners thought that would be valuable, and he could see if the supervisors wanted to hold another joint meeting for that purpose.

Supervisors and planning and zoning commissioners have held five joint meetings together so far to talk about the process of amending the zoning ordinance, hearing from the wind energy companies interested in creating wind farms in the county, and gathering input from concerned county residents and others about what the new wind ordinance should include.

Once the Planning and Zoning Commission agrees on an ordinance recommendation and holds public hearings it will vote to make a recommendation to the Floyd County Board of Supervisors.

The Board of Supervisors can approve the recommended ordinance, amend it or send it back to the Planning and Zoning Commission with suggestions for changes.

Once it is ready to approve the ordinance the supervisors must hold a public hearing, then the ordinance must be approved at three separate meetings. The board could agree to waive one or two of the readings to pass it more quickly.

Two energy companies, Invenergy and NextEra Energy, are working in Floyd County to create wind energy projects, but both have said they are still a year or two from submitting an application for a permit.

The Board of Supervisors has passed a moratorium on accepting wind energy permits until May 20 with a possible extension to July 1 if needed, to allow time to update the county’s commercial wind energy ordinance.