Green Zoning: “No” To Wind Turbines In My Backyard, “Yes” To Solar Power, Transit-Friendly Communities

In putting together your “keeping on top of the latests land use trends” reading list, include the following two articles written by Andrea Alexander of The Record. Both address some of the challenges and opportunities facing communities as a result of the “green” movement.
In an article from September, Ms. Alexander highlights a recently adopted ordinance in Wayne, New Jersey, that limits the development of wind turbines near residential neighborhoods, schools or day care centers. According to the article:

The Township Council unanimously adopted the measure after a heated debate Wednesday night: Are turbines unsightly intruders with potentially damaging health effects? Or should they be accepted as just part of the skyline of an energy-independent future?

“When you look out your back door, you don’t want to look at a nuclear power plant, you don’t want to look at a wind turbine,’’ Mayor Christopher Vergano said today. “We are protecting the values of residential properties by keeping them [at] a certain setback.’’

Wayne is not the first community to address the issue, however, and won’t be the last. Given the initial reactions of municipalities to regulating the siting of wind turbines (despite their benefits to the community), it appears that obtaining approvals for such facilities will be more like hearings on telecommunications towers and monopoles, than more esthetically “acceptable” projects.

The township isn’t the first in the state to adopt rules to keep wind turbines away from homes. Brick in Ocean County adopted an ordinance in April that allows turbines only in business and industrial zones. At least five towns in the state have adopted ordinances to set guidelines for the location of wind turbines. The regulations generally require setbacks to keep the renewable energy source away from neighbors.

Hillsborough in Somerset County allows residents, farmers and business owners to put up turbines on lots that are greater than 10 acres. Galloway Township in Atlantic County restricts turbines to one-acre residential lots, with a setback from the property line equal to the height of the structure.

Under Wayne’s ordinance, Mayor Christopher Vergano said, turbines could be permitted along sections of Routes 23 and 46 and in the industrial areas off the West Belt Parkway.

For the environmentalists’ perspective of the battle in Wayne and other communities over alternative energy technologies, see the press release entitled “It’s Not Easy Being Green,” at Environment New Jersey here.

Ms. Alexander also wrote an article entitled “Towns Start Reshaping The Landscape for Solar, Wind,” this week on the “green” movement and how municipalities are taking it into consideration in land use planning.

Planning experts say slowing global warming goes beyond putting solar panels on homes and wind turbines on industrial lots. It’s going to take a gradual — but decisive — shift in your way of life.

. . . .

A green community will position new homes near transit, parks and stores, or bring those necessities to existing neighborhoods.

Transportation is the largest contributor to greenhouse gases, and “the most important part about mixing land uses is: People tend to use their cars less, and that is what living green is all about,” said Debbie Alaimo Lawlor, chief of Sustainability and Economic Growth for the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission. The NJMC has land-use authority over parts of 14 communities in Bergen and Hudson counties.

Westwood accepted the connection years ago in zoning the heart of its downtown as a “special pedestrian environment.” The zoning bans new restaurants and sports clubs — destinations people drive to, then leave.

But it welcomes service businesses such as the camera shop, florist and dry cleaners so one walk downtown can fill several errands.

Green planning also was boosted there by another essential: a train station. Houses closest to the station are selling the fastest and holding their value in a down market.

While I’m not particularly a fan of labeling restaurants and fitness centers as “anti-green,” the article does make one re-think how “reducing our carbon footprint” interacts with zoning ordinances in older downtowns which are probably relics of the 1960s (both the downtowns and the zoning).

The article also includes discussion of how the state legislature, regional planning authorities like the Meadowlands Commission and individual municipalities are attempting to provide incentives for (or some might say, force) builders to encorporate green technologies or criteria into their projects, such as solar power or LEED standards.

For the full article, click here.