While no action was to be taken, a discussion regarding township and county-wide maps of setback requirements in the proposed zoning ordinance for wind turbines in Floyd County was voted off the agenda for Monday (09.30) afternoon’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
The Board met in regular session, but at 3:30 pm Monday in the EOC/Training room of the Floyd County Courthouse in hopes it would allow more people to attend the discussion slated to begin at 4 pm. Still, Supervisor Jim Jorgensen motioned to remove the item from the agenda.
Jorgensen, along with Supervisor Dennis Keifer have proposed several ordinance amendments that would inhibit the future of wind farm development in the county, including capping the number of wind turbines to 70 total, including the 50 already operated by MidAmerican Energy.
The amendments would vastly alter the ordinance formulated by the Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Commission. P&Z chair Dean Tjaden, a farmer himself, expressed frustration over the removal of the discussion item.
Tom Treharne with NextEra Energy, looking to develop a wind farm of about 40 turbines in the Marble Rock/Rockford area, said he would welcome seeing the setback information before discussion proceeded.
Supervisor Chair Mark Kuhn, who was outvoted 2-1 by Jorgensen and Keifer to remove the agenda item, said it was disappointing that a lot of work by a lot of people wouldn’t get seen and heard Monday.
Supervisors are scheduled for the third reading of the wind ordinance at 6:30 pm October 9th in the courtroom of the Floyd County Courthouse. If approved, NextEra and Invenergy have said the amendments will kill their projects.
