Boone, Iowa—The Boone County Board of Supervisors have approved the first consideration of amendments to the current county zoning ordinance dealing specifically with commercial wind generation.  The public hearing was attended by about a dozen people, some with interests in the development of wind farms and others with concerns about the encroachment of wind farms.  The interest in amending the zoning ordinance began after the Beaver Creek Wind Farm was constructed by MidAmerican Energy west of Ogden.

The Supervisors asked the county Plan and Zoning Commission to make some recommendations on possible amendments that could benefit residents and still allow the development of commercial wind farms.  The amendments given approval by the board were an increase in setback from a residence from 750-feet to 1,250-feet.  The second change improved language specifically saying the county wanted any applicant to provide a bond or other security acceptable to the county in an amount of at least 110-percent of the decommissioning cost as set out by the decommissioning estimate for a facility.

At least one question was raised about the set back indicating a desire to make the setback from the property line rather than the residence itself.

A second public hearing on the ordinance amendment will be held by the Supervisors at their next meeting on July 31st.

Meanwhile, APEX Clean Energy has a petition before the county Plan and Zoning Commission next Monday seeking to locate another meteorological tower north of Boone near the intersection of “R” Avenue and 140th Street.  The 184-foot tower will be used to collect weather data to assist the company in locating commercial wind turbines.