November 10, 2015
Arkansas

Elm Springs planning committee approves wind farm rezoning

By Dillon Thomas | KFSM | November 9, 2015 | 5newsonline.com

Elm Springs city officials elected to move forward with rezoning a plot of land, on which they said they will build a wind farm.

However, not all residents were in support of the proposal.

Jonathan Hamby lives near the land where the proposed wind farm would be built.

“There are a lot of reports of health issues [surrounding the wind farms.] Even reports of people abandoning their homes,” Hamby said. “If we ever want to sell that in the future, if there are 15 story wind turbines within 300 feet of people’s homes, it’s going to make our homes unmarketable, and unsellable.”

However, Mayor Harold Douthit said studies he has seen have suggested the opposite.

“Not one associated decreased property values with wind farms,” Douthit said.

Douthit said the proposed wind farm would not have the same impacts most wind farms do.

“This wind farm is not a prop driven windfarm that we see typically,” Douthit said. “This is new design and new technology.”

The Elm Springs city council will vote on the rezoning of the land on Monday (Nov. 16.)

Those who opposed the wind farm said the plan on creating a petition to force the issue to a vote.

City law states 108 signatures are needed to put the issue on the November 2016 ballot.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/11/10/elm-springs-planning-committee-approves-wind-farm-rezoning/