LANCASTER — An appeal of the conditional use permit for the Whitetail Wind wind farm project in eastern Grant County was denied Friday morning.

The Grant County Conservation, Sanitation and Zoning Board of Adjustment unanimously voted to affirm the permit granted by the Conservation, Sanitation and Zoning Committee July 6.

The three-person board ruled that the conditional use permit was issued correctly to Allete Clean Energy, which is developing the wind farm mostly in the Town of Clifton. 

Opponents of the permit claimed that Allete did not file the proper permit application, and that the committee did not consider input from Town of Clifton government.

Haley Waller-Pitts, the attorney for Allete Clean Energy, said there was “no error” in the application process. 

The next step for opponents appears to be an appeal to the state Public Service Commission, which did not consider the application because the proposed 70-megawatt wind farm is smaller than the 100-megawatt size that requires PSC approval.

If the PSC determines the appeal was handled properly, legal action is possible, according to Chris Klopp, a project opponent.

Andrea Statz, who lives on Rock School Road, gave a presentation that claimed that the application was not provided by the county, violated the county’s comprehensive zoning, wind energy siting and shoreland zoning ordinances, and did not consider health and safety issues or property values.

Statz also said the Town of Clifton did not fill out forms provided by the zoning department, and the Town of Clifton did not fill out a participation form that according to county zoning officials is sent to townships, but is not required.

“Whitetail is the only conditional use permit application not mandated to follow this process,” she said.

Statz also claimed that there was “no evidence of financial assurance” from Allete for covering decommissioning costs, meaning no one knows “who is responsible” for decommissioning.

Statz claimed state statutes and regulations give the county more authority to regulate the project than the zoning department appears to believe exists.

The board also took comments to which Waller-Pitts objected saying they had nothing to do with whether the approval process was proper.

David Divine, who lives on Felland Road near the Red Barn wind farm, said that wind farm “sounds like a plane continually flying over.”

“No one has asked us whether we want turbines or not. Our neighbors never asked us; they just put them up. The town didn’t say anything to us … the county didn’t say anything to us.

“It’s changed our area from rural to industrial. They probably devalued our land values. I think the county owes us an explanation as to why they did this to us without ever talking to us.”

Clifton resident Andrew Drewry said the approval included “complete denial of side effects,” and added, “There’s not a person in this room who would want to live in a wind farm.”

Richard Jinkins accused Allete of dividing a large wind farm project into smaller parts so the project would fit under the 100-megawatt threshold that requires PSC approval.

Allete Clean Energy proposes to install 21 2- to 4.2-megawatt wind turbines in the Town of Clifton to generate 70 megawatts of power.

One meteorological tower is proposed for the north side of Livingston just west of the Grant–Iowa county line. A substation is proposed for Ebenezer Road west of Stockyard Road in the Town of Wingville.

The Town of Clifton Board June 30 approved a six-month moratorium on wind projects in the township.

The project does not require a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from the state Public Service Commission because the project is smaller than 100 megawatts, according to the application. The project does require a zoning permit and a conditional use permit from the county because the Town of Clifton is under county zoning and does not have zoning regulated by the township.

The application lists the towers as 410 to 650 feet tall from ground to the tip of the top blade, with rotor diameter of up to 492 feet. The application says that Whitetail Wind is negotiating with a wind turbine supplier “and will confirm the final number and model(s) of turbines” for the project when negotiations conclude.

According to the May application, the project’s boundaries run from the Clifton–Lima town line on Austin Road and Clifton Road to Ebenezer Road in the Town of Wingville, and to the Grant–Iowa county line to the northeast.

The application says the project is expected to be completed at the end of next year.

Allete constructed the Red Barn Wind Farm project in Clifton and Wingville north of the proposed Whitetail Wind project. Red Barn has 28 turbines producing 92 megawatts, with towers up to 552 feet tall. Red Barn’s power is sold to Madison Gas & Electric and Wisconsin Public Service Corp.

The Whitetail Wind application said Allete has “formal leases/easements” with landowners for more than 5,000 acres in the 12,793-acre project site.

Seven turbines are slated to be located on Wisconsin 80, five on Rock Church Road, four on Grant County E, two on Old 80 Road, one on New California Road, one on Hickory Grove, and one off Hopewell Road, according to the application. Two meteorological towers also would be built on four locations — two off County E, one north of Crow Branch Lane and one west of 80 just south of the north Livingston village limits.

Whitetail Wind is one of three wind farm projects proposed in Southwest Wisconsin. The largest project, Pattern Energy’s Uplands Wind project in Lafayette and Iowa counties, already has 71 easement contracts. Invenergy has a project proposed east of Livingston near the Badger Hollow Solar Farm.