Highly restrictive wind turbine/tower ordinances

[deloiter]

All of the recently created subdivisions in Iowa are immediately zoned as residential.  I assume there is some monetary advantage for the developer.   In my immediate area there are three different subdivisions that offer 3 to 6 acres per lot and are generally affordable.  They are all miles from the nearest town.  I have identified one that meets my needs.   I went to the Zoning and Planning commission to find out what was required in the line of use and construction permits and I was handed a copy of Chapter 48, relating specifically to small wind turbines.   These zoning regulations basically mimic a standard model that is being adopted by many of the cities in Iowa.  I have found that most the counties already have or are planning to adopt this same model. 

These ordinances prevent the erection of any type of guyed tower allowing only self-supporting monopole towers.  I have talked to several members of the commission and was told that I could petition for modification of this ordinance but it would require a high degree of proof to show that the ordinance was unreasonable.   

I currently have 40 ft of guyed Rohn 25G tower supporting a 12ft turbine of the Piggott/Dans design.  My wind turbining days are over as soon as my move is completed unless I can find a cheap monopole tower.

Here is the relevent portion.  I am curious if this type of restriction is totally legal.

Title V - Property and Land Use
Chapter 48
48.02 SMALL WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEMS ORDINANCE FOR THE UNINCOPORATED AREA OF DALLAS COUNTY, IOWA

5. SMALL WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEM, FREE STANDING: A SWECS
which is elevated by means of a monopole tower only and is not located on another supporting structure except that the tower shall have an appropriately constructed concrete base. Lattice, or other non-monopole style towers are allowed only in commercial, industrial and agricultural districts.

Full Chapter 48 can be found at: http://www.co.dallas.ia.us/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=4485

[Bruce S]

That is kind of strange to be reading.
While driving up 218 I saw no less than 5 different water pumpers and one heck of an Active Pitch unit where 218 & 380 come together.
Most of the water pumpers where in fact working spinning and moving water right along.
The unit at 218 & 380 had blades that were twice the size of the unit here in St Louis!! (which is a mere 1.5Mw unit)
The two units up 29N where even bigger, but not active pitch, at least not where I could tell.

Best of Luck!
Bruce S

[just-doug]

i think you should research the laws on ractering.there specs are to tight.they do everything but demand the manufacturer.they can demand goals,but when they get to thight,it steers money in to certain peoples  pockets.this historicaly was done with terpintine .i believe the laws on anti-trust,are also used to defend people from these abuises of power.might start your own tilt up tower company  and sue them for you resulting loses.

[fabricator]

Welcome to my world brother, I have been fighting that exact wording here in MI for two years, also know this, your building inspector who is the one who will give you a permit will require a state stamped drawing for the tower and the foundation, and there is also more than likely wording in the ordinance that the turbine must meet all the pertinant federal and state guidelines which means it also must have a stamped engineers drawing.
All these local units of government belong to a state municipal association, which in turn belongs to a national municipal association, this one has people who are paid to dream up model ordinances to hand to state governments who in turn hand them to local units of government to use as a template or enact in total, most enact them without even reading the whole thing through and have no idea of the physical and economical realities of small wind, nor do they care.
The ones you see pumping water are exempt, they are for agricultural purposes, you may also see some wind turbines on other than monopole towers, they were up before the ordinance took effect and are grandfathered.
The National Municipal Association has decided they do not want to see residential wind turbines anywhere, and that is the way it's going, you cannot fight the Borg, you will be assimilated.

[JW]

Its not just the DIY turbine sector.

For years people have estimated that if we clean the dead wood out of our forests, we could reduce the impact of wild fires while simultaneously supplimenting the grid. Hell its easier to get permiting for a coal burning powerplant, that a biomass one.

The Biomass energy industry gets accused of wanting to de-forest the national preserves, its just not the case. You would be amazed at the legitimate effort being put into biomass, with DIY turbines the foot print is relatively harmless. Granted a "bad installation" could cause local liabilite worry's but one would think there's somepart of infrastructure missing, at this point.(ie: safe tower sizes). If your turbine falls on the neighbors roof, its not going to be good.

[fabricator]

Our ordinance is a blanket, it covers one lot or a 500 acre farm, I have looked into every monopole available, the best price is from ARE, they are made in China to US standards and can be stamped for all 50 states, the best price for a 60 foot tilt up monopole is $8K, not including concrete and lots of rerod of course.
I'm a steel fabricator by trade, certified welder, I went to several engineers about designing a monopole and foundation, I could build, no problem, their prices ranged from $10K to $20K just for the stamped drawings.

[JW]

This was the one thing I was worryied about, the difference between "rural" and "urban"

If a turbine is erected and cannot fall on a pre-existing structure it should be ok, like guidewire radious from center. If it does fall, and hits nothing it should be allowed to exist, tower-wise. In urban areas this would be a serious concern with tower failure, but I dont see that problem in rural areas.

[fabricator]

I'm on eighty acres, my nearest visible neighbor is 1/2 mile away, I live on a gravel road, the 60 foot tower would be 500 feet from the nearest property line and 130 feet from my pole barn.
And they wonder why people go round the bend?

[Valalvax]

Once you have the $10-20k drawings, they belong to you right? As in you can sell them, or split the cost between 10 or more people?

[fabricator]

Nope, every tower is built for the specs of a particular turbine, and I believe you would be sued out of existence by the engineer if you sold or shared stamped drawings unless he  went over the specs for the new turbine and restamped them.

[deloiter]

Some followup comments:
My initial posting was meant to be specific to the state of Iowa.  Other locations may be more or less restrictive.

My 40 ft Rohn 25G cost $75 used and even included good guys cables.  I had my choice of four on craigslist.  I have yet to see a used monopole tower and the new ones are just too expensive for a DIYer like me. 

Keep in mind that residential is not the same as urban.  Every new rural subdivision I've checked out is zoned residential, even though it may be 10 miles from the nearest town.  It doesn't matter if you are in the country or how many acres you have.  What counts is how the land is zoned. 

I have decided to stay at my current location until I can find a piece of land that is still zoned as ag. 

[fabricator]

Just make sure the ag zoning you find doesn't have a wind ordinance, I'm zoned ag.

[thingamajigger]

@deloiter

I have decided to stay at my current location until I can find a piece of land that is still zoned as ag

I'm zoned as Ag as well in Alberta, Canada and I bought the property specifically for my renewable energy projects. One thing I was looking for was the right terrain which plays a major role with wind power. While some of you may need very high towers to get good wind my situation is different because I planned ahead, my house overlooks a shallow coulee running North-South with another slightly deeper coulee running East-West across it. The wind is predominantly from the SE and this drops into the coulee's and is accelerated to god awful speeds like I have seldom seen. If fact I'm losing the damn shingles on my house and out-buildings on a regular basis so I see no need for a tower over 20 feet because my biggest problem seems to be fairly constant high winds. It's funny that the moment I saw this property I knew this was the one because of the terrain and my wife thought I was nuts because I would run up the coulee ridge, then run back down, then back up measuring the wind speeds, lol. As well I should mention on a good clear day I could probably watch my dogs run away for days because here on the praries it's pretty much wide open.

Another bonus was a creek within 90 feet of the house in the coulee which was measured at 2 m/s, 2m wide and 1.5m deep which runs hard 6 months out of the year so water is definitely not an issue. I have also been looking into in-stream micro-hydro as well however we all seem to face the same issues here, that is most off the shelf products are way over priced and of questionable quality. So I will have to do what I normally do and invent a better/cheaper way which is also way more fun.

Just yesterday I got up for work at 6am and found four white tail doe's within 30 feet of the front deck, counted four or five ring neck pheasant crowing and strutting their stuff and probably 10 mallard duck's in the air as the whole creek and dugout area is usually just littered with the damn things as well as a few Canada geese. So if your going to take the time to find a new home then make it a good one, I spent probably 10 years looking for the best location until I found this spot and bought it at a very reasonable price, I got lucky because in this area property usually sells within a matter of days.

Regards

[deloiter]

An update.  I've had conversations with the zoning managers of two local cities and one county.  They are totally convinced that the ordinance is good because it has been adopted by so many other agencies.  I wanted to say that a mistake is still a mistake no matter how many times it is repeated but I resisted.  To make matters even worse, I just read in the Omaha paper that Sioux City and 35 other cities and counties in Iowa have also adopted this same standardized regulation.  Does anyone know the origin of this standardized ordinance?

48.02 DEFINITIONS
5. SMALL WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEM, FREE STANDING: A SWECS which is elevated by means of a monopole tower only and is not located on another supporting structure except that the tower shall have an appropriately constructed concrete base. Lattice, or other non-monopole style towers are allowed only in commercial, industrial and agricultural districts.
 
48.03 GENERAL REGULATIONS
5. Tower: Only monopole towers shall be permitted for freestanding SWECS in residential districts. Lattice, guyed or towers of any other type shall be permitted in commercial, industrial and agricultural districts.
 
48.04 BULK REGULATIONS
Clearance Of Blade: No portion of a horizontal axis SWECS blade shall extend within 30 feet of the ground. No portion of a vertical axis SWECS shall extend within 10 feet of the ground. No blades may extend over parking areas, driveways or sidewalks. No blade may extend within 20 feet of the nearest tree, structure or above ground utility facilities.
 
complete Dallas County, IA ordinance: http://www.co.dallas.ia.us/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=4485

[gww]

fabricater
Have you put up your ham radio tower yet.  I hate zoning, nec, or any rule.  I follow the sensable portions of nec cause it seems to work better and I want to protect my equipment.  But if I had 4/0 marine wire and wanted to use it for battery interconnects I would even though it doesn't meet nec.  I did put a turbine at my house on a twenty foot inch and a quarter water pipe.  I did this in town and the pole did bend 90 degrees in a storm and ended up laying on the roof of my house.  Do I feel bad about it?  No,  I would have had to pay if it would have did damage but it was worth the price to be able to experment.  I did use a illeagle gti.  It was fun and I wanted to see it.  It didn't produce well but now I know.  I have heard many referances that we really just rent our land from the government.  I agree this is close to the truth.  I have avoided home associations like the plage as they are even more restrictive then town rules.  Believe it or not I have never had many issues with my neibors and hope I never do.  ecept for the last four years I live in the country and nobody cares.  What you guys are dealling with scares me to death.  The smoking laws already make me want to be a hermit.  what you guys have to deal with and I may also have to deal with might just drive me over the edge.  I can't beleive americans like this crap but theres been no revolt and people sure seen to like to be protected from everything even if it means they can't do anything.  I think I will go hide now.  I hope you find a way to have it all.
good luck
gww

[fabricator]

An update.  I've had conversations with the zoning managers of two local cities and one county.  They are totally convinced that the ordinance is good because it has been adopted by so many other agencies.  I wanted to say that a mistake is still a mistake no matter how many times it is repeated but I resisted.  To make matters even worse, I just read in the Omaha paper that Sioux City and 35 other cities and counties in Iowa have also adopted this same standardized regulation.  Does anyone know the origin of this standardized ordinance?

48.02 DEFINITIONS
5. SMALL WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEM, FREE STANDING: A SWECS which is elevated by means of a monopole tower only and is not located on another supporting structure except that the tower shall have an appropriately constructed concrete base. Lattice, or other non-monopole style towers are allowed only in commercial, industrial and agricultural districts.
 
48.03 GENERAL REGULATIONS
5. Tower: Only monopole towers shall be permitted for freestanding SWECS in residential districts. Lattice, guyed or towers of any other type shall be permitted in commercial, industrial and agricultural districts.
 
48.04 BULK REGULATIONS
Clearance Of Blade: No portion of a horizontal axis SWECS blade shall extend within 30 feet of the ground. No portion of a vertical axis SWECS shall extend within 10 feet of the ground. No blades may extend over parking areas, driveways or sidewalks. No blade may extend within 20 feet of the nearest tree, structure or above ground utility facilities.
 
complete Dallas County, IA ordinance: http://www.co.dallas.ia.us/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=4485

The ordinance comes from the National Civic League (made up of unelected menbers) they look for things that are popping up that are causing problems for local units of government, residential wind was first on the radar.
They don't have any power to make zoning laws but they draw up model ordanances which are then passed to state municipal leagues which then pass them down to the county level which then passes them to the township level where they can be adopted into the zoning laws.
Most township zoning boards figure if these models have come from the national level they must be a good thin so they adopt them with little or no investigation of their own.
So you can thank a bunch of non elected officials in DC who want to make sure residential wind goes away for your local zoning ordinances, their agenda was to make it so expensive to install residential wind that it would be completely stupid to do it.
If you study your ordinance closely there are likely several paragraphs that reference the fact that a turbine must meet all the standards set forth by the NREL and the AWEA and they must be UL approved, so even if you were to by a monopole tower you would not be allowed to put a home built mill on it.

[Jon Miller]

I feel sorry for you guys over the pond, we have the Micro Generation Schem (MCS) which is ment to cover build quality, but that has been tested and failed with the Proven P35 machine.  If I wanted to put a turbine up, I would just stick it up and wait to see who came around to complain then apply retrospectivly.  There is a 500kW EWT machine not to far from me http://www.dingle-bros.co.uk/  that still dosnt have planning and has been up for 7 months now. 

I get so pissed off when non engineer types start telling people what must have a stamp on.

There is a picture doing the rounds, cant find it now typically, where a news presenter reads through a list of congressmen and goes 'lawyer, lawyer, businessman' then says 'where are the engineers and scientists?'

Cheers

Jon

[fabricator]

If I knew then what I know now I would have just built a tower and put it up, which is what a friend of mine told me to do, but no I wanted to take the legal road not taking into account that imbeciles and individuals with agendas make zoning laws.
Sometimes I think the anarchists have it right.

[ChrisOlson]

Does anyone know the origin of this standardized ordinance?

They come from Public Service Commissions with input from industry professionals and most are written as models which are then adopted and changed slightly according to local needs and situations.
http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/pdfs/policy/2010/wind_energy_ordinances.pdf

I have dealt with several townships and zoning districts in both the US and Canada on wind turbine towers.  It is usually not hard to get a variance on certain conditions providing you have done your homework and are prepared to spend the time necessary to go the meetings and explain your situation.  Every one I have dealt with will require drawings and certification to be done by a licensed engineer.  In other words, if you apply for a variance from a monopole tower requirement with plans to put up a home-built guyed pipe tower, you will flat out rejected.  However, if you apply for a variance from the monopole requirement to put up a Rohn SSV lattice type, with all the engineering requirements met, there is a very good chance you will granted your variance if you can present the valid reasons for apply for it.  And you will find that using the fact that you want to put up a lattice because it's cheaper is not a valid reason for getting a variance in most townships and zoning jurisdictions.
--
Chris

[lakesidepark]

The ability to get a variance from any use standard is becoming more and more difficult. There has been a recent ruling in my state that will almost lock down the ability to get any type of variance, and this will affect variances for use and type of structure and offsets, etc. Only if you can demonstrate an extreme condition that creates a hardship that is part of the land itself....and money is not considered a property hardship. And getting a negative ruling in a board appeal hearing means bucks and a bias in the higher courts toward the local BZA decision.

So now you're away from working with the stupid bureaucrats, and back to appealing to the stupider politicians. They can't read the engineering and safety studies, only the letters from voters that say 'it don't look pretty, it makes noise, hurts my eyes'.

Just an FYI if that ruling starts to affect other states. Probably stuck with trying to get a change or amendment to the resolutions, and address not only the engineering and safety aspects, but the aestetics of monopole vs. lattice or guyed that neighbors will argue reduce property values. Y'all already know more about that one than I do.

Damn I didn't know I had to be a zoning expert to fly a turbine...glad I got a head start in my education, and already cleared the first resolution I needed without even knowing it. Too bad it cost two years and five-digit expense. But that new law throwing the case against us out of court - that was actually an old law, found in a pile of papers being moved, from 1991, and protected all prior-use from new regulations.

Least now I know what I need to get up as soon as possible to lock in the prior-use clause.

No existing ordinance in current zone - check. No pending alteration - check. Locked into current ordinance - persons and machinery locking in the current 'prior use' ordinances will be deployed onsite within the month).

Friends in the county offices - no check...clearinghouse of the good ole' boy network is still in service however to rectify this situation ASAP, and restraints are in place to prevent any further malicious prosecution (in other words, still costing money, but hoping the council will fire the building commissioner next week, the mayor will still be there a couple of years whether by lawsuit or ballot box it will still take that long, and meanwhile I don't think they want to mess with us anymore, we leave a burn on their careers when we fight).

Fab, sounds like you have also gotten an education on the local bureaucratic machine.

Just think about how smart the average person is...that means that half of the people are even stupider than that. Kinda what you are dealing with.

[fabricator]

Yep, the considerations for the new ordinance were aestetics and safety in that order, we already have the extreme land based hardship here, monetary hardship cannot be considered, and this is like your situation, very rural, my nearest neighbor is 1/2 mile away.

[stag]

If it doesn't involve a big outlay,doesn't hurt anyone,and doesn't risk jail.JUST DO IT AND APOLOGISE LATER. Here in the UK we could possibly argue that a tilt up tower with no concrete foundation is not a permanent structure and can be  lowered when not in use, although height may be an issue. Petty restrictions everywhere. It;s a wonder anything ever gets done.

[fabricator]

Yeah just do it, and they fine you $50 bux a day while it is in a non conforming condition.

[stratford4528]

I have put up a 30ft scaffold tower and put a 10ft pole on top with my 1kw turbine It doesn't have guy ropes just braces What type of tower is that classed as. And easy maintenance just climb the tower. No need to bring the turbine down to the ground

[stag]

If it doesn't involve a big outlay,doesn't hurt anyone,and doesn't risk jail.JUST DO IT AND APOLOGISE LATER. Here in the UK we could possibly argue that a tilt up tower with no concrete foundation is not a permanent structure and can be  lowered when not in use, although height may be an issue. Petty restrictions everywhere. It;s a wonder anything ever gets done.

I'm not a fatalist- Even if I was- What could I do about it??

[fabricator]

Somebody's not paying attention, if a wind ordinance specifies monopole tower with no guy wires, unless you get a variance anything else is non conforming. the structure must either be brought into conformance with the ordinance or removed, zoning ordinances have the force of law and persons with non conforming structures can be fined every day the structure is not in conformance until a bench warrant is issued and you can be charged with a misdemeanor and arrested and jailed and the township or county will remove the structure and bill you for it.
An apology aint gonna get it.
I have a friend who went to jail for three days for moving a sand pile, he then got a bill for $5K from the excavating company that moved it back. If you don't pay they add it to your taxes and if you don't pay your taxes they take your property, people in this country are under the false impression they can own property, try not paying taxes for three years and see who owns your property, even if it has been paid for for 100 years and you have the deed.

[stag]

Fabricator. Wow!! That's scary. I had no idea that regulation was so tight in the USA or penalties so harsh. As far as I'm aware,in the UK, there are no up front fines and at the end of the day,if a structure does not comply with planning law,all they can do is order you to take it down. Ignore my last post. I misunderstood the quote thing. I thought I was adding something like your " I aint skeered of nothin' etc"

[fabricator]

No problem.