ST. PAUL – During the County of St. Paul council meeting on March 12, approval of the amendments to the Land Use Bylaw passed third reading, which included changes to the setback distance of wind turbines from property lines.
Under Section 7.35 – that specifically refers to wind turbines – and subsection 31, the previous bylaw stated that a wind energy conversion system (WECS) shall be setback not less than 24.6 feet from all other property lines, as measured from the rotor’s arc or the rotor diameter.
In December 2024, County administration proposed a change that the minimum distance would be equal to the tower’s total height instead, but not less than one blade length, plus 10 per cent of the tower’s height.
Following a public hearing on Feb. 13, the proposed change was amended, and those changes adopted on March 12.
The new bylaw for subsection 31 states that, “A WECS tower shall be setback not less than four (4) times the total height of the tower from all other property lines.”
No other changes were made in Section 7.35.
Suggestions
During discussions, council spoke about suggestions put forward by the group known as Wind Concerns, during a previous delegation. Wind Concerns is a group of residents concerned with a proposed Northern Valley wind turbine project.
On Jan. 30, members of the group presented suggestions based on already-existing bylaws from municipalities across North America, that they hoped would also be included with the County’s bylaws during its LUB amendment process for 2024.
RELATED: Group urges County of St. Paul to pass bylaws regarding wind turbines
Additions to the bylaw would require a different legislative process and County council will be discussing how to proceed with those suggestions at a future council meeting.
