The Henry County Planning and Zoning Commission, along with the Henry County Board of Supervisors had a full room for their work session that was held Tuesday night, at the Emergency Management Offices. The focus of the meeting was to outline the ordinances for the potential wind turbine project in the county.
The Board of Supervisors presented P&Z with a rough draft of what these individual ordinances would look like, for someone who has signed up for the wind project.
Many different setbacks were brought up as to what may keep this project from happening. The biggest setback to the wind turbine project is space. The Planning and Zoning commission understands the landowners who don’t want to participate in the project, so distance from any dwelling or residence was a long topic of discussion for the room.
If the project were to start and then fold, decommission of the turbines was another big concern for the sake of the county.
The quality of life around a wind turbine project brings several forms of pollution. Henry County Superintendents spoke on how they have gone out and talked to families living with turbines both on or near their property. They heard both good and bad things. The money is good coming in from the wind energy company, but the home owners deal with noise.
A constant hum will happen anytime the blades are turning. Around 40 decibels of sound roughly, can be heard from a quarter mile away, and the flashing red lights at night don’t stop.
The Planning and Zoning commission has some big decisions to make. Decisions that will decide how many IF any Wind Farms could physically fit in Henry County. If the project lands in Henry County, it’s certain a large commercial wind energy conversion system will change the lifestyle of residents in Henry County.