The five men who served this year as the Zoning Board of Appeals are deserving of our gratitude as residents of Bureau County. This body recently concluded hearings with respect to the application for the Walnut Ridge industrial wind project, which would cover 14,500 acres with 127 industrial wind turbines that are proposed to be larger than any presently in Bureau County.
The ZBA members are Barry Welbers, Perry Noble, Troy Quest, Bill Jensen and the Rev. Gary McKee. They patiently and attentively listened to more than 100 hours of sworn testimony covering 40 evenings that commenced in January of 2015 and just concluded in December. Dozens of members of the public attended every night of the hearings. These attendees observed the ZBA consider testimony of dozens of witnesses including people who live near industrial wind turbines and experts on the effects of turbines. Those of you who attended these hearings understand the devotion required by these ZBA members to give so much time and attention in order to consider so much testimony. Some of it was technical, and some of it was emotional. The ZBA members conducted themselves with great professionalism. They were dutiful to the law and demonstrated a concern for the health and well-being of county residents.
The ZBA ultimately recommended that all of the wind turbines be denied because they endanger the public health and will result in property value loss to the neighbors. ZBA members Noble, Quest, Jensen and McKee voted in favor of the recommendation to deny. ZBA member Welbers voted against. The ZBA voted unanimously on a number of key findings of fact establishing the harm to the health and property values of neighboring county residents.
They have produced a 46-page report to the county board on their findings of fact and recommendations.
No county board members are on the ZBA, and it was very rare to see even one county board member in the audience. Because the county board does not attend the zoning hearings, it almost always defers to the ZBA’s recommendations. In consideration of the tremendously hard and professional work of the ZBA on this Walnut Ridge industrial wind project, it would come as a great disappointment if the county board were not to defer to the recommendations of the ZBA. In our view, it would be disrespectful.
Again, thank you ZBA members for a job well and faithfully done.
Kendall and Kathy Guither, Informed Farmers Coalition
Walnut