The Buchanan County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted last night to adopt the new wind turbine ordinance proposed by the Planning and Zoning Commission. This ordinance strikes a middle ground of protecting the rights of both landowners who want wind turbines on their land, while also protecting the rights of their neighbors.
The new ordinance provides reasonable setbacks and other protections for non-participating landowners while also protecting the rights of people to put wind turbines on their land. Our P&Z worked long and hard on this. And we are very grateful to the BOS for supporting their efforts.
This is a developing story.
Hi David,
First, let me profusely apologize for not seeing this. After the BOS officially adopted the ordinance, we had every intention of shutting down this website. It sat idle for several months. Unfortunately, that will now not be the case, as the entire State of Iowa is under attack from the wind companies once again. You can read more about that on this page: https://bucoa.org/2025/02/24/the-state-of-iowa-is-trying-to-force-wind-turbines-down-our-throats-again/ You can also look up SF Bill 376 which is now in the Senate Commerce Committee. You’ll find that here: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=91&ba=SF376
I will attempt to answer the questions that I can:
– The setback for neighboring property lines is 1.5 times the height of the turbine.
– The setback for neighboring dwellings is 4.5 times the height of the turbine.
Other than setbacks, protection for neighbors who do not want them is a difficult question to answer. In reality, there is nothing that can truly protect the people who are forced to live near turbines.
Who pays for the fragments of fiberglass that come off the blades? If they end up in your field or yard, you do. Your only recourse would be to sue the wind company and the landowner.
Unfortunately, we are not comfortable giving out names of participating landowners, although I believe that information may be available at the courthouse. Non participating landowners would include most of the county.
All of that being said, our P&Z did their best to walk a very tight line. Because our Ordinances have always used “less than CSR 55” as the cutoff for WECS land use, that was continued in the updated Ordinance. NextEra was not able to profitably implement their plan of 70 turbines with that stipulation. Bill 376 will abolish that requirement completely, along with most other requirements. Please read the referenced article and the proposed Bill. The WECS the State proposes to put in place is a wind company’s dream and was probably (no doubt in my mind) written by one. Please spread the word and send emails to or call government officials with your opinion of this bill.
Again, I apologize for not seeing your response until now.
Bonnie
You did not tell us what the reasonable setback for non participating neighbors are??? Are we suppose to guess? Also how does it protect the rights of neighbor’s that do not want them?
And does it protect the taxpayers that pay for the turbines and also do not want them?
I also wonder who pays for the fragments of fiberglass that come off the blades over time and contaminants the their land and the neighbors?
Thank you for answering, and could you put me in touch with some of the landowners that are participating and some that are not participating?
Thank you , thank you!!!!!