October 18, 2011
Virginia

Floyd County Supervisors seek wind turbine ordinance

By: Ken Heineck, www2.wsls.com 17 October 2011

FLOYD COUNTY, VA – David Dixon wants the view from his home in Floyd to remain the same: A mountain ridge that does not have any wind turbines on it.

“Floyd is marketed as a rural, natural setting, with this view of the pristine ridge lines. And to go in an put 15 to 17, 450-490 foot wind turbines along the ridge will just destroy that,” said Dixon.

But Floyd County leaders are willing to consider changing the horizon, for a company called Horizon Wind Energy. The company wants to put up more than a dozen windmills along Wills Ridge.

Supervisor Virgil Allen says board members are learning as much as they can, before making up their minds.

“We’ve heard a lot of talk about the noise they make, but according to the people up there, they have a breaking system that does not allow the propeller to turn but so fast, so it won’t tear up the gearboxes,” said Allen.

Supervisors we talked to say most people they have heard from, are against the plan for wind energy like this in Floyd.

While many of the supervisors still remain on the fence on this issue, they have asked the county attorney to draw up an ordinance giving them more control over the height of anything built on this ridge line. The board says it has to take some kind of action, or a company like Horizon could put whatever it wants on property it has control of in Floyd.

“I want to do what’s right by the citizens. If the height ordinance regulates that then we need to do that,” said Allen.

The next step in this process is a November 9th meeting, where board members will get their first official look at the potential ridge line ordinance.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/10/18/floyd-county-supervisors-seek-wind-turbine-ordinance/