Proposed wind ban urged at St. Joseph, Missouri

 

When a County Planning and Zoning Commission in St. Joseph, Missouri recently voted in support of a proposed total commercial ban on wind energy, the crowd in attendance stood and applauded.

Now Buchanan County Commissioners will consider the proposal and Presiding Commissioner Lee Sawyer said that the commissioners have three options: to pass the proposal, deny the proposal or provide comments and suggestions and send the proposal back to planning and zoning.

Sawyer said as of now there is not a strict timeline on when the commissioners will act on the proposal. He said they look to do research on other counties that have established a total wind energy ban according to the News-Press NOW.

“The Planning and Zoning board has spent a lot of time looking at it, so we just need to decide what’s best moving forward,” Sawyer said.

The Planning and Zoning Commission voted in favor of a commercial wind band by a vote of 8-4. Sawyer said the process, starting with public forums and gathering research from an engineering firm, was a long, new process for the Planning and Zoning Commission and he was proud with how it all worked out.

“This is just kind of been a unique animal for them and for all of us,” Sawyer said. “We’ll take what they recommended and we’ll make a decision and decide what we’re going to do going forward.”

Sawyer said it is a challenge balancing the public feedback received on wind turbines so far. He said the people who are opposed are more vocal, while the people who are for wind energy are usually more behind the scenes.

Source: News-Press NOW