Wind turbine puts neighbors in a spin
WOODSTOCK – The latest effort by a local computer business to go green has some residents in a nearby subdivision seeing red.
Other World Computing’s new wind turbine, 131 feet tall not counting its three 63-foot-long blades, towers over the open space and farmland that surround it just southeast of Woodstock. But some residents of the Savannah Grove subdivision 1,600 feet to the west say it towers over them, as well.
The refurbished turbine went up over the course of an October weekend to many residents’ surprise, homeowner Ron Cyscon said.
The truck driver and his wife, Kathy, moved there in 2006 because the home abuts an open area of wetlands, grasses and trees.
“Granted, [the turbine] is a wonderful thing if it does what it’s supposed to do, but it’s an eyesore,” Cyscon said. “You no longer see the beautiful wetlands, the beautiful trees – the focus is this giant, giant wind turbine.”
The OWC turbine is projected to generate an estimated 1.25 million kilowatt hours a year, or about enough energy to power an average-sized subdivision, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. It will generate between 150 percent and 200 percent of what the company needs, and surplus power is sold to ComEd, OWC logistical manager Larry O’Connor Sr. said.
The turbine is the latest of many green innovations undertaken by the Internet service provider and Mac products manufacturer and re-seller, such as smart sensors to adjust energy in unused rooms, water-permeable pavers and a geothermal heat pump. But while Cyscon and resident Scott Klimczak said they appreciated OWC’s green efforts and environmental stewardship in general, they would have liked advance notice of the turbine.
Klimczak said the large turbine altered the view from pristine and natural to “ … somewhat like a toothache – always peripherally in view or thought, annoyingly unable to be ignored.” Klimczak and Cyscon said they also were concerned about whether the turbine’s blades would hurt property values or the native and migratory birds drawn to the wetlands and open space.
“Now it’s as if someone painted a ‘Go Green’ button on the Mona Lisa,” Klimczak said. “Nice sentiment, wrong place.”
O’Connor disagrees. He said the turbine was well clear of area homes and that the residents’ view also includes cell towers that are taller than the turbine. He also said that OWC received no negative feedback on the project and that residents of the nearby Woodstock Commons apartments were satisfied with it.
“We have gotten very positive comments. We’ve gotten comments from people living in the apartment complex that they are pleased with it, and very happy with how quiet it is,” O’Connor said.
The company followed all proper procedures in building the wind turbine, McHenry County Planning and Development Director Dennis Sandquist said. But the regulations that govern such uses have limits.
County ordinance requires a setback of 110 percent of a wind turbine’s height, and Sandquist said the tower is in compliance. The turbine land is zoned for agriculture, for which there are no height restrictions under county zoning codes. Cell towers and wind turbines are exempt in ordinance from any height restriction, and they do not require rezoning or a conditional-use permit, which requires notification of owners of neighboring properties, Sandquist said.
O’Connor said the permit process took about nine months.
“We didn’t rush into this. We didn’t try to sneak something through,” O’Connor said. “This is a long process. We spent a lot of time making sure we followed the rules.”
But residents, several of whom aired their concerns at an Oct. 20 meeting of the McHenry County Board, said they would have liked notification, given the turbine’s size. Sandquist said he is open to revisiting rules governing turbine placement when the department reviews its zoning ordinance, after the approval of the 2030 Land Use Plan under final review by the County Board. Its Planning and Development Committee have pushed back expected ratification of the plan from January to March, Sandquist said.
Sandquist said he would be watching Lake County’s efforts to develop a wind ordinance to govern wind turbines and wind farms. Thirty Illinois counties have such ordinances, according to the Institute for Rural Affairs at Western Illinois University.
Cyscon and Klimczak said they hoped that the county would enact stricter policies as more companies seek to build turbines of their own. Another was erected during the summer just north of Snug Harbor near McHenry. The wind industry nationwide has installed more than 5,800 megawatts of wind power generation through the third quarter of 2009, according to the American Wind Energy Association.
“Why wouldn’t you go to a small community of 102 homes and ask them what they think about it?” Cyscon said. “I wonder if the gentleman who owns the company had lived in this small community, would he have put it where he put it?”
By Kevin P. Craver
Northwest Herald
12 November 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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