Wind blows back into county’s lap

Commissioners noted that the Franklin County Planning Commission is scheduled to resume its work on the proposed zoning rules for “small wind” generators at 7:30 p.m. today at the Franklin County Office Annex, 1418 S. Main St., Ottawa. Once they’re done with their discussions, the planners will forward their recommendations to the county commission.

Planners have made changes in the proposed rules and may choose to make more tonight, Larry Walrod, county planning director, told county commissioners Wednesday.

Walrod said he’s looked at zoning rules for wind generators from several states but has modeled the proposed rules on Saline County’s, he said.

When the planners are finished, the county commissioners will likely schedule a study session to examine the rules, Commissioner Don Stottlemire said.

Proposed lot sites and setbacks for wind generators have stirred the most controversy.

According to the rules, wind generators must be installed on tracts of at least 40 acres.

With a special use permit, the generators can be installed on tracts of 10 acres or more, Walrod said.

Commissioner Ed Taylor said he’s talked to other county commissioners across the state about wind power and he’s heard from two commissioners who have their own generators.

They have their generators on smaller tracts, he said.

“I think our acreage is too restrictive,” Taylor said. “We could go maybe down to an acre.”

Walrod began working on the rules after an Appanoose woman sought to install one on her property and he discovered there were no regulations regarding wind generators. To allow her to build it, Walrod had to find a backdoor method that classified her generator as a utility — utilities are covered in the county’s zoning and planning rules.

More people are going to install wind generators and the county needs to be able to accommodate that, Taylor said.

“I don’t have any problem with my neighbors if they can run generators off the wind,” Taylor, who lives in a rural subdivision between Ottawa and Homewood, said.

The county commission would have the final approval on rules concerning wind generators.

The American Wind Energy Association calls generators geared to homes, businesses and farms “small wind” as opposed to the giant utility-sized wind farms in central and western Kansas.

The proposed Franklin County regulations don’t deal with the large wind farms, Walrod said.

The county will wait to see if the state legislature will deal with the topic first, he said.

Because of wind patterns and topography, it’s unlikely that any wind farms would be built in the county, he said.