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Resources for Zoning officials
Refer to a model ordinance for help in creating a sensible permitting process.
By MICK SAGrILLO
Mick sagrillo, a small-wind consultant, owns
sagrillo Power & Light
and is wind energy
specialist for Focus on
Energy, Wisconsin’s
renewable energy
program. Contact
him at msagrillo@
wizunwired.net.
This series of columns has examined the issues sur- rounding the zoning and permitting of small wind turbines. In this column, we’ll look at some of the
resources available to help planning commissions and
zoning administrators learn about the technology and how
to regulate it.
The best source of information available on small
wind turbines for zoning and permitting is the Small
Wind Toolbox at RENEW Wisconsin, renewwisconsin.
org/wind/ windtoolbox.html. The site contains about 110
fact sheets. They cover all the legitimate concerns that
need to be adequately addressed and also look at issues
that are just hype, with no basis in reality. Most of the
material can be found under the headings “Fact Sheets”
and “Information for Homeowners and Installers.”
While most of the fact sheets are applicable to any small-wind installation anywhere,
some of the information on
the web site is applicable
only to Wisconsin and its
renewable energy grant program, Focus on Energy.
The Small Wind Model
Zoning Ordinance under
the “Zoning” heading was
developed for Wisconsin but
should be broadly applicable
in most states. The model
was created by a coalition of
stakeholders: Wisconsin’s
Department of Administra-
tion, Division of Energy, Public Service Commission and
Focus on Energy, along with the University of Wisconsin Extension Service, the Wisconsin Towns Association
and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Three
of the people who advised the group, which included
myself, are attorneys with expertise in town and county
zoning. We feel that we developed a small-wind ordinance
that is fair and will stand up in court, should it be challenged. The Small Wind Model Zoning Ordinance has
been widely adopted by a number of communities in Wisconsin and used successfully to permit quite a few wind
turbines in our state.
The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA)
also has a series of fact sheets to address concerns about
small wind turbines. AWEA has also developed a guide
for state and local governments to wade through
the issues on small-wind permitting. Titled In the Public
MICK sAgRILLo
We developed
a small-wind
ordinance that
is fair and will
stand up in
court, should it
be challenged.
Copyright © 2009 by the American Solar Energy Society Inc. All rights reserved.
Interest: How and Why to Permit for Small Wind Systems,
the document is available at awea.org/smallwind/. Click
on the icon for the guidebook in the right-hand navigation bar. The book provides reasoned answers, based
on experience, to permitting issues. It contains a model
small-wind ordinance that zoning administrations can
consider adopting.
The purpose of both websites is to shed light on legitimate concerns, as opposed to spurious issues raised by a
disgruntled neighbor to delay or prohibit a small-wind
installation. Remember that any concern raised by a
neighbor at a zoning hearing is legitimate and needs to be
addressed with respect, regardless of how outlandish the
question might seem. While there are tens of thousands
of small wind systems installed in the United States, they
certainly do not exist everywhere, and there is an amazing
lack of familiarity with small-wind technology and installations in many areas of the country.
Most people remember the small wind turbines that
were installed during the late 1970s through the mid-
1980s. As is true today, a number of grants and credits
were then available to homeowners who installed wind
turbines or other renewable energy equipment. However,
that was an era of experimentation, funded by federal and
state governments in an attempt to wean the nation from
foreign oil. Most, but not all, of the small wind turbines
available today are not experiments, but mature products
that benefited from that era of experimentation 25 years
ago. Regulating wind turbines based on stories about
failed equipment or turbines that simply did not work
is akin to comparing today’s cars to the exploding Ford
Pinto of the past. Did Pintos explode? Sure. But we’ve
moved past that, by 25 years. Today’s successes are based
on yesterday’s experiments and supersede them.
Not that there isn’t experimentation still going on.
The rooftop and building-integrated wind craze is a good
example of resurrecting an old idea that never survived
past attempts at commercialization. For reasons of simple
physics, rooftop wind is not a viable technology, so neither
of the model zoning ordinances covers it. Instead, rooftop installations can probably be covered under zoning
requirements for buildings.
All of this is to urge planning commissions and zoning
administrators to think seriously about any ordinances
or regulations they put in place for small wind systems.
Basing permitting or an ordinance on hearsay, unfounded
claims and undocumented problems is just not sound governing. Turning lore into law is never a good idea. ST
