September 11, 2019 at 4:21 p.m.
Ordinance hearing
Public will have chance to comment on proposed changes for wind farms
Ordinance hearing
A committee has recommended updates to the county’s wind farm ordinance.
The public will now get its chance to offer comments.
Jay County Plan Commission will hold a public hearing on proposed ordinance changes, including updates to wind farm rules and a new section covering solar farms, during its meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday in the auditorium at Jay County Courthouse.
Changes have been in process since last summer when Jay County Commissioners followed a plan commission recommendation to impose a three-year moratorium onn ew wind farms to allow time to review and revise the wind farm ordinance. That decision came in response to a local group’s opposition to Scout Clean Energy’s Bitter Ridge Wind Farm, which was approved under the current rules and is expected to go into operation by next fall in southwestern Jay County.
A study committee made up of two plan commission members, a county commissioner, a Jay County Council member and wind farm opponents and proponents was assigned to review the ordinance. That group presented its recommendations for changes to the ordinance in March to the plan commission, which then spent several months reviewing and revising those proposals.
The ordinance sets forth a series of increased and added setbacks:
•1.5 times the height of the turbine away from the property line of non-participating landowners, up from the current 350 feet or 1.1 times the height of the turbine.
The public will now get its chance to offer comments.
Jay County Plan Commission will hold a public hearing on proposed ordinance changes, including updates to wind farm rules and a new section covering solar farms, during its meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday in the auditorium at Jay County Courthouse.
Changes have been in process since last summer when Jay County Commissioners followed a plan commission recommendation to impose a three-year moratorium onn ew wind farms to allow time to review and revise the wind farm ordinance. That decision came in response to a local group’s opposition to Scout Clean Energy’s Bitter Ridge Wind Farm, which was approved under the current rules and is expected to go into operation by next fall in southwestern Jay County.
A study committee made up of two plan commission members, a county commissioner, a Jay County Council member and wind farm opponents and proponents was assigned to review the ordinance. That group presented its recommendations for changes to the ordinance in March to the plan commission, which then spent several months reviewing and revising those proposals.
The ordinance sets forth a series of increased and added setbacks:
•1.5 times the height of the turbine away from the property line of non-participating landowners, up from the current 350 feet or 1.1 times the height of the turbine.
•1,500 feet from residential dwellings for non-participating landowners, up from the current 1,000 feet.
•1,500 feet from any church, school, business or public building.
•One-half mile from any nature preserve, park or recreational use area.
The proposed updates also call for any buried cable to be at least 5 feet deep with warning mesh at 3 feet. They would also need to be marked at road crossings, creeks, river beds and property lines.
It also addresses issues such as shadow flicker — the shadow produced by the rotating blades.
The proposed solar ordinance — county zoning rules do not currently address such facilities — follows the parameters of the wind farm ordinance when it comes to decommissioning and road use agreements. There would also be a $20,000 application fee and a permit fee of $1,750 per megawatt hour.
Solar farm energy systems, described as those on 5 acres or more, would be required to have setbacks of 150 feet from the property lines and homes of non-participating landowns, churches, schools, businesses or public buildings, areas zoned commercial or rural residential, the road right of way and any nature preserve, park or recreational use area. All access driveways would have to be 300 feet from the property line of any non-participating landowner.
The proposed ordinance also calls for solar panels to be no taller than 20 feet at their highest point. All such facilities would have to be enclosed by a fence that is 6 to 8 feet high and have a 25-foot wide buffer that includes evergreen vegetation.
While there are no imminent plans for solar farms in the county, Chicago-based sustainable energy firm Invenergy has been purchasing easements in Penn Township over the course of the last year.
Proposed changes to other sections of the county zoning ordinance include:
•Deleting the section regarding urban residential districts, none of which exist in Jay County.
•Requiring all new homes have more than 950 feet of occupied space. (The current ordinance does not include size requirements.)
•Adding a section about conflicts of interest to mirror language in state code.
•Increasing setbacks for ponds to 75 feet from a right of way. The current setback is 50 feet.
•Clarifying that the sections of the ordinance directly addressing specific items, such as wind farms and solar farms, supersede other sections of the ordinance when addressing such developments.
Members of the public who want to speak about the ordinance changes will sign up to do so when they arrive at Thursday’s meeting. Each will get a limited amount of time to do so.
After the public hearing, plan commission can vote to advance the various ordinance updates. If approved, they would advance to Jay County Commissioners for their final approval.
If the wind farm ordinance updates get the OK from commissioners, they would at the same time eliminate the moratorium.
•1,500 feet from any church, school, business or public building.
•One-half mile from any nature preserve, park or recreational use area.
The proposed updates also call for any buried cable to be at least 5 feet deep with warning mesh at 3 feet. They would also need to be marked at road crossings, creeks, river beds and property lines.
It also addresses issues such as shadow flicker — the shadow produced by the rotating blades.
The proposed solar ordinance — county zoning rules do not currently address such facilities — follows the parameters of the wind farm ordinance when it comes to decommissioning and road use agreements. There would also be a $20,000 application fee and a permit fee of $1,750 per megawatt hour.
Solar farm energy systems, described as those on 5 acres or more, would be required to have setbacks of 150 feet from the property lines and homes of non-participating landowns, churches, schools, businesses or public buildings, areas zoned commercial or rural residential, the road right of way and any nature preserve, park or recreational use area. All access driveways would have to be 300 feet from the property line of any non-participating landowner.
The proposed ordinance also calls for solar panels to be no taller than 20 feet at their highest point. All such facilities would have to be enclosed by a fence that is 6 to 8 feet high and have a 25-foot wide buffer that includes evergreen vegetation.
While there are no imminent plans for solar farms in the county, Chicago-based sustainable energy firm Invenergy has been purchasing easements in Penn Township over the course of the last year.
Proposed changes to other sections of the county zoning ordinance include:
•Deleting the section regarding urban residential districts, none of which exist in Jay County.
•Requiring all new homes have more than 950 feet of occupied space. (The current ordinance does not include size requirements.)
•Adding a section about conflicts of interest to mirror language in state code.
•Increasing setbacks for ponds to 75 feet from a right of way. The current setback is 50 feet.
•Clarifying that the sections of the ordinance directly addressing specific items, such as wind farms and solar farms, supersede other sections of the ordinance when addressing such developments.
Members of the public who want to speak about the ordinance changes will sign up to do so when they arrive at Thursday’s meeting. Each will get a limited amount of time to do so.
After the public hearing, plan commission can vote to advance the various ordinance updates. If approved, they would advance to Jay County Commissioners for their final approval.
If the wind farm ordinance updates get the OK from commissioners, they would at the same time eliminate the moratorium.
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