It is difficult to please everyone

Lawyers often refer to a standard of reasonableness when settling disputes.

And last week’s action by the Jay County Plan Commission probably meets that standard.

Because Scout Energy had followed the rules set out in the county’s zoning ordinance, it was only reasonable that the permit for the controversial wind farm in Jefferson and Richland townships should be approved.

And because folks objecting to the county’s second wind farm raised a number of issues, it was reasonable to conclude that maybe the restrictions in place ought to be examined and that, in the meantime, there be a moratorium of three years on any further wind farm projects in the county.

But sometimes reasonable isn’t enough.

The same week that the plan commission was weighing Scout’s application, officials in Henry County were running into a buzz-saw of criticism from every possible angle.

There, as we understand it, a moratorium had been put in place so that Henry County’s zoning rules on wind farms — setbacks, etc. — could be tightened.

In other words, they were doing essentially what the moratorium backers were proposing for Jay County.

Trouble is, Henry County’s rewritten zoning limits managed to satisfy absolutely no one.

Wind farm opponents insisted the setback requirements were still insufficient. Those in favor of wind farms — including property owners who would benefit from leasing their land — viewed the new requirements as so restrictive that they amounted to an unconstitutional infringement on their property rights.

An attempt at reasonable compromise had fallen short, and the only real outcome of the moratorium was that positions had hardened and the community had become more polarized.

Would that happen here? We hope not.

But it’s certainly a cautionary tale and a reminder to local officials that sometimes when you go looking for a reasonable solution you are doomed to fail. — J.R.