Overland Park works on wind turbine regulations

Something is in the wind, and Overland Park officials want to make sure they are ready for it.

Having encountered a few applications for wind turbine installations in recent months, City Council members have decided they probably should have an ordinance specifically dealing with the regulation of such things.

“We’re always uncomfortable making decisions on things without a framework,” said Councilman Terry Goodman, who is chairman of the council Community Development Committee. “We looked at … ordinance changes necessary to properly regulate and control the possible proliferation of these around the city.”

Goodman’s committee directed the planning staff to start working on drafting guidelines and regulations for wind turbines, and the city Planning Commission voted last week to set a public hearing on the matter. The hearing is intended to gather citizen input regarding such an ordinance.

Based on their experience with installation of cell phone towers, council members believe the turbines could raise similar kinds of concerns.

“The (residents) are going to get just as upset about a wind tower as they are a cell tower. In fact, maybe more so since blades are going to be attached,” Goodman said.

In recent months, cell tower proposals have generated outcries from those living in subdivisions near the installation sites. The residents maintain that a looming pole, sometimes standing 100 feet tall or higher, can be unsightly and cause a decline in property values.

Senior Planner Leslie Karr agrees that having guidelines in place is a good idea.

With the technology growing and changing “we want to make sure we are aware of what’s out there,” Karr said.

The vast majority of wind turbines are erected in open areas outside cities. Smaller units, however, are finding their way into the urban landscape. The number of turbines proposed in the Kansas City area still has been quite limited, but Overland Park is not alone in preparing for the possibility.

Both Lee’s Summit and Liberty have drafted proposed ordinances.

Three wind turbines have been installed or proposed in Overland Park.

A small demonstration tower on the Sprint Campus generates only enough power to illuminate a sign. The Shawnee Mission School District gained approval for putting a small wind turbine on the grounds of Shawnee Mission West High School. And the A.L. Huber Co. got the OK to install a wind turbine outside its offices near Interstate 435 and Roe Avenue.

Karr anticipates that few wind turbines will be located in residential areas or on houses.

“Applications in residential areas are going to be fairly limited. There are structural problems with putting them on roofs for one thing,” Karr said.

Any regulation also would require fairly significant setbacks from nearby buildings, so towers probably only could be practical on especially large housing lots, she said.

The economics of wind turbines for homes also is likely to work against such a trend.

“On a residential lot it probably doesn’t make much sense given the cost of installation,” Karr said.

Some developers, however, have suggested that it might be possible to cluster turbines together in or near a subdivision, but not close to individual houses.

City officials said there was no intent to promote wind development in Overland Park through an ordinance.

“I don’t know that it will promote (wind turbines), but it can clarify development and performance standards. It really is going to be a neutral ordinance in that it is not trying to promote or restrict too much, but to look at the applications involved in allowing them,” Karr said.

Goodman saw it the same way.

“I really don’t think the city is going to take a position where we really promote this right now as much as just setting a framework for how we’d react (to a proposed turbine),” Goodman said.

A date for the public hearing on the issue is not set, and city staff still is in the process of drafting proposed ordinance language.

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