May 25, 2007
Illinois
Illinois
Changes to the Iroquois County Wind Energy Ordinance were discussed by the Iroquois County Board’s Planning and Zoning Committee Wednesday.
Zoning Administrator Gloria Schleef said she has checked with other counties that have wind energy ordinances to see how those ordinances are worded.
Before going through the ordinance, however, Schleef asked the committee about zoning hearings.
She said under the current zoning ordinance, a separate hearing must be conducted for each tower, so if 50 towers are proposed, 50 hearings must be conducted.
“There’s no way we can do them all at once,” Schleef said, as the towers will be on different properties with different property owners. Even if towers are on two properties owned by the same person, she said one tower may not be a problem, while another might be.
Committee members agreed the hearings must be separate and agreed the $500 hearing fee should be charged for each tower.
To discuss the ordinance, committee members read through it together and discussed each section, making changes as needed.
Under the section regarding compliance with the Federal Aviation Administration, one suggested change is to regulate what type of lights can be on the towers. In the Otsego County, Mich., ordinance the committee received tower lights are to be shielded to a degree allowed by the FAA to reduce glare. Also, flashing lights or other white lights are not allowed.
Committee members agreed to add those lighting restrictions to the Iroquois County ordinance.
This story appears in the May 25 edition of the Times-Republic.
By Erin Doss
Reporter
Times-Republic
25 May 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/05/25/county-committee-discusses-changes-to-ordinance/