Zoning Ordinance Allows Aerogenerators In Close Proximity to Residences and Bars Claims Against County and Wind Company For Associated Problems.

The plaintiffs are landowners that objected to a large wind energy generation facility to be constructed near their respective tracts and homes.  The defendant county had adopted a zoning ordinance that allowed such development in areas of the county zoned agricultural, and the ordinance only specified a 1,000 foot setback for aerogenerators from residential dwellings.  The county Plan Commission approved the development plan and the landowners appealed.  On appeal, the trial court held that the landowners were not aggrieved by nor prejudiced by the approval of the development plan.  On further review, the court affirmed.  The landowners, the court held, were not prejudiced by the Plan Commission’s approval of the zoning decision.  The landowners were alos not prejudiced by the zoning ordinance.  The county, the court noted, had decided to allow such projects in the county areas zoned agricultural.  The court, however, did strike as invalid the reciprocal setback provisions of the zoning ordinance.  Dunmoyer, et al. v. Wells County, et al., No. 90A02-1407-MI-460, 2015 Ind. App. LEXIS 393 (Ind. Ct. App. May 12, 2015).