The measure was approved on second reading, but the same issues remained.
The Culver Town Council reviewed an ordinance addressing the permitted uses for Wind Energy Conversion Systems during their meeting last night. The group tabled the measure after incomplete tables and inconsistent information was found in the ordinance.
The Town of Culver has been working on a wind energy ordinance for years.
Town Council President Ginny Bess Munroe says the information left out of the table makes for difficult reading.
“Basically when they copied and pasted their table in they left out S-1, L-1, R-1,” says Munroe. “So there’s no table column header. So you can’t tell, they placed an S where these uses are allowed, but you can’t tell what they are.”
Several representatives from the Culver Town Council addressed the Town’s Plan Commission about the changes needed. For now, the Town Council plans to make the proposed amendments, themselves.
Familiar criticisms of the ordinance, such as distance from Lake Maxinkuckee were revisited along with broken down wind systems. From the discussion, that language was not included due to the difficulty in enforcing it.
Council member Ed Pinder says the 120 foot height specifications were among the items bothering him.
“They don’t need that for these people in the country,” says Pinder. “They’re not that high. I’m not sure how high they are. 50 or 60 feet at the most.”
The Culver Town Council approved the ordinance on second reading. It will be brought back for a third reading after making amendments to the chart and to lower the height of the horizontal systems from 120 feet to 80 feet.
The Town Council’s next meeting is in March.
