Farm Bureau backs original wind proposals, not rewrites
Comments (...)In 2010, Ogle County Farm Bureau was asked to serve on a subcommittee of the Assessment Planning and Zoning committee of the Ogle County Board to review the standards used to site wind energy conversion systems.
Because Farm Bureau argued for fact-based regulation and questioned emotion-based appeals, we were seen as being an advocate for wind energy. We are an advocate for policy that protects public health, safety and property rights. Ultimately, it was apparent some on the wind committee were more interested in trying to prevent wind energy development than in crafting sound public policy.
At fact-finding hearings, the Ogle County Zoning Board of Appeals reviewed documents and listened to sworn testimony from people on all sides of the issue. The Zoning Board then recommended a set of standards based on the facts presented. While significantly more stringent than current standards, those still allowed for reasonable wind development in some county areas while protecting public health, safety and property rights.
Yet, those standards aren’t the ones that will be presented for vote to the Ogle County Board. Why? Because the Assessment Planning and Zoning committee, in an unprecedented maneuver, rewrote the recommendations of the Zoning Board. Without benefit of sworn testimony, expert witnesses or stakeholder input, the Zoning Board’s proposals were effectively negated. This sets a disturbing precedent.
The changes made by the committee failed to follow proper procedures, gave stakeholders no voice, and contradict both the Constitution and case law.
The committee changes to decibel levels allowed, and locations of sound measurement on neighboring properties, effectively prohibit wind energy siting and are examples of exclusionary zoning. They’re even more restrictive than the onerous recommendations made by Dr. Tom Thunder (wind committee, April 8, 2010) or the Illinois Pollution Control Board standards that are used to regulate wind energy sound in every other Illinois county.
The Assessment Planning and Zoning committee’s sound standards would subject our agricultural land to more stringent regulation than the Pollution Control Board recommends for residential areas.
If enacted, this regulation could be applied to all agricultural activities. Courts have stated a county cannot place noise regulations on one use in a zoning area without holding other uses in that area to the same standards. The Assessment Planning and Zoning committee unilaterally made changes in the areas of decommissioning, setback distances and shadow flicker on roadways that are also exclusionary.
Some try to justify the taking of an individual landowner’s right to either accept or reject wind turbines by claiming turbines make people sick. Science doesn’t support that position. Even the oft-quoted Dr. Thunder stated there’s no clinical, peer-reviewed data or evidence that low-frequency noise from wind turbines causes adverse health effects (wind committee, April 2010). The testimony of epidemiologist Dr. Carl Phillips offered no factual evidence to support his opinions about wind farms and health.
Our organization will always fight any attempt to strip people of control of their property. We urge our county board to vote against the text amendment as presented by the Assessment Planning and Zoning committee and to instead give full consideration to the original Zoning Board of Appeals’ recommendations.
Note to readers – Brian Duncan and his family own and operate a diversified grain and livestock farm north of Polo. He is president of the Ogle County Farm Bureau.
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