June 11, 2015
Michigan

Mason County board approves planning commission wind turbine zoning amendments

By KEVIN BRACISZESKI, Daily News Staff Writer | Ludington Daily News | June 10, 2015 | www.shorelinemedia.net

After hearing several people in the audience urge them to approve changes to the Mason County zoning ordinance regarding placement of future wind turbines in the county, the county board did unanimously approve those changes.

“Thank you for approving the revisions. It was a lot of work,” Evelyn Bergaila, who lives inside the current Lake Winds Energy Park zone, told the board after the vote. She had previously attended all the planning commission meetings over the past year while the commission worked on the amendments.

“They worked really hard on these regulations,” Bergaila told the board before Tuesday night’s vote.

Bergaila also told the board she wishes the regulations were even tougher than they are, but said the zoning ordinance is a living document that can be changed in the future.

One of the big changes the planning commission made is increasing the setback distances between the base of wind turbines to nearby buildings and lot lines.

The old setback distance was twice the height of the turbine.

The ordinance amendments now change that to four times the height from the base to property lines and three times the height from existing buildings designed for human occupancy.

Read the full story in Wednesday’s Ludington Daily News print and eEditions.

[rest of article available at source]

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/06/11/mason-county-board-approves-planning-commission-wind-turbine-zoning-amendments/