Requests to install the power sources often are held up by county restrictions
 
By Hillary Borrud / The Bulletin
Published: October 07. 2009 
 
John Scarborough has lived on 10 acres of land northeast of Bend for about 12 years, in a home heated by solar panels and a woodstove. Scarborough has long wanted to add  another sustainable energy source.
 
“Over the years I’ve lived there, my only regret is I didn’t install a wind turbine earlier,”  Scarborough said. “In the wintertime particularly, we have a high degree of wind.”
 
State tax credits and other incentives would nearly cover the cost to purchase and install a  wind turbine, Scarborough said, and he would like to eventually have as many as three. But Scarborough and other Deschutes County residents who want to install wind turbines  hit a roadblock in the county’s restrictions on the heights of structures, which generally limit them to 30 feet in most zoning districts, according to a county staff report. Wind
turbines generally need to be at least 60 feet tall, Scarborough said.
 
Today, the Deschutes County Commission will discuss whether to change county rules to make it easier for people to get approval for the wind turbines. If the answer is “yes,” the commission will also likely discuss when and how it would be best to make the change. The commission could allow wind turbines by adopting a new ordinance or through an update to the county’s land use blueprint known as the comprehensive plan that is currently under way, said County Planning Director Nick Lelack.
 
“We’ve had multiple requests from particular residents who are interested in installing small wind energy systems to generate their own energy for on-site use,” Lelack said. So far, residential property owners — not wind farm operators — have expressed the most interest in installing wind turbines in Deschutes County, Lelack said.
 
County Commissioner Dennis Luke said he would prefer the county ease the way for wind turbines through the comprehensive plan update, instead of adopting a new ordinance. Luke also said some people are concerned the turbines would be noisy.
 
“There were some people on the Old Bend-Redmond Highway that wanted to put up some windmills, but the neighbors were extremely concerned about the noise because those aren’t the quietest things ever,” Luke said.
 
Commissioner Alan Unger said the county needs to do something to make it easier for people to get approval.
 
“I think we need to address the policy and maybe develop new codes to address how we’re going to treat wind (turbines),” Unger said. “There are people that want to use them, and there are people that do not want to look at them,” Unger said. “We need to address those issues. I think we’ll probably be looking at
what other counties have done, and then where we are going to go with it.”
 
County Commissioner Tammy Baney said she wants to discuss whether the county should do something to allow wind turbines before the comprehensive plan update is completed. Baney met with Scarborough about his situation.
 
“The question for me was, is there something we could look at prior to that, and is it something the board wants to take on or not,” she said.
 
Scarborough said he hopes county officials will do something to allow wind turbines before state incentives to offset the costs are used up or phased out.
 
“I have asked the county if they would research the legal viability of granting me a waiver on the basis of a pilot study,” Scarborough said. “I’m hopeful we are going to move forward, but the concern I have is quite purely that these tax incentives and this money that is available will not just sit around.”
 
Hillary Borrud can be reached at 541-617-7829 or at hborrud@bendbulletin.com