How can wind turbines be a threat to national security?

When they interfere with the training of our military, Col. Gregg Clark, Army National Guard, said during the continuation of a Schuylkill County Zoning Hearing Board meeting Wednesday.

Tuesday evening, the county’s zoning hearing board held a hearing regarding a proposed curative amendment to its zoning ordinance, but ran out of time to hear all public comment. The hearing was suspended and continued beginning at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

In September, the Schuylkill County Commissioners adopted a resolution declaring the existing zoning ordinance “to be substantively invalid with respect to use of property” for business ventures, such as wind turbines, natural gas compression stations and dispensing facilities for medicinal marijuana.

During the continuation of the meeting Wednesday, Clark said that Fort Indiantown Gap is home to the second-largest aviation training site in the country. Training in the use of helicopters currently takes place over an area that is approximately 20 by 35 miles in area.

“We already have limited space for training with buildings and everything else,” Clark said. “The wind turbines would be right in the middle of our training area.”

A company called Clean Air Generation has leased 12,672 acres owned by Rausch Creek LLC, which includes acreage in Hegins and Porter townships. Porter Township uses the county zoning ordinance; Hegins Township has its own and currently is working on its own curative amendment.

Tower City resident Virginia Morton said that the project could encompass four townships and include 75 to 100 wind turbines; to date, no application for such a project has been submitted to the county.

The county’s ordinance was last revised in 2010. The commissioners declared the ordinance invalid Sept. 9 and had 180 days from that date to develop a curative amendment.

During Wednesday’s zoning hearing board continuation meeting, Tower City officials and residents and residents from Porter Township added public comment, as did Jeff Wallash, attorney for the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

“We’re in favor (of the curative amendment),” Wallash said. “We must weigh the pros and cons of anything which would impact our operations.”

Lisa Von Ahn, of Schuylkill Indivisible, spoke against the curative amendment.

“A wind farm would bring good-paying jobs to our county and put distressed coal land to a worthwhile use,” she said. “Wind and solar can reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.”

In the curative amendment, the use of wind turbines would require a special exception in Industrial Commercial and Conservation Mining districts. In the current ordinance, the use of wind turbines was “permitted by right in both the IC and CM districts.

County solicitor Glenn Roth explained the difference.

“Allowed by right means that the use is permitted in the zoning ordinance and the owner has the right to use his/her property for that use without getting the use approved,” Roth said. “A use by special exception requires the owner to obtain permission from the zoning hearing board and the zoning hearing board has the power to place restrictions on the use it deems necessary to protect the surrounding neighborhood — however, the restrictions cannot be greater than what the zoning ordinance requires.”

The proposed draft of the curative amendment also addresses pipeline compressor stations, which would be allowed by special exception in an IC district; and medical marijuana dispensary, which would be allowed by special exception in an IC district and C3 (highway commercial) and C4 (regional highway commercial) districts. Medical marijuana grower/processor would be allowed by special exception in the IC district.

During the regular workshop meeting Wednesday, the Schuylkill County Commissioners approved the curative amendment, which “includes new and/or updated provisions to regulate wind turbines, medical marijuana facilities and pipeline compressor stations. The amendment includes provisions for locations where these uses would be allowed, as well as revised and new definitions and development standards for the uses,” according to the motion approved by the commissioners.