Residents press commissioners for wider wind-turbine setbacks and question developer negotiations

Blackford County commissioners heard more than an hour of public comment urging stricter rules on industrial wind turbines, with residents telling the board that current setbacks and draft ordinance language put health, safety and property values at risk.

The speakers urged the board to adopt setbacks that would keep turbines farther from homes, called for a pause on phase‑2 negotiations with developers until the county can evaluate phase‑1 impacts, and demanded public records related to developer agreements be made available.

Why it matters: Residents said the county is deciding where very large turbines will be sited in places where people intend to retire and live long-term. Speakers cited health symptoms they attribute to turbines, potential declines in property values and safety concerns such as ice throw.

Paula Shorten, a resident, told commissioners, “You are putting money ahead of health, safety, and welfare of the people.” Shorten also distributed a summary of a longer real‑estate consulting report she said shows property-value declines near turbines. Mike Nazarian read a letter describing personal health impacts and urged the board to “Choose wisely.”

Resident Deb Greider pressed the board on records from the planning and zoning office, saying some items of public record and signed minutes remain unavailable. “There are 13 missing documents that she cannot provide in a public record,” Greider said, and she said she had received confidential developer statements of benefits in response to a records request.

Commissioner Dan Borgenheimer and other officials addressed the ordinance-drafting process. Borgenheimer described elements of the proposed ordinance that he said could effectively prevent construction of towers in the county (setbacks, noise limits and shadow‑flicker rules) and said members of the county’s economic development partners had been instructed to begin drafting negotiation documents so they would be ready once ordinance work concluded.

Commissioner John Lancaster clarified that the board had not signed any final negotiation agreement with the developer for phase 2 and that, per the transcript, construction cannot proceed without signed documents: “They can't do it. The only thing it can do is do paperwork and it can't move construction or anything forward until those 3 items are signed by the commissioners and agreed upon by the council.”

Public commenters called for the county to prioritize protections for neighboring landowners (health, safety, peace of mind) before making determinations about how many turbines would ultimately fit in the county. One resident recommended deciding minimum safety setbacks from dwellings and property lines first, then determining how many turbines would be feasible under those rules.

What happened next: No ordinance vote or final contract signatures were recorded during the meeting. Commissioners and members of the public agreed the zoning board had approved a phase‑2 step for a developer, but multiple speakers and commissioners said that the county commissioners themselves had not signed negotiation or construction agreements that would allow construction to proceed.

The board did not take formal action to adopt a new ordinance or to sign negotiation documents during the meeting. Several residents asked the commissioners to wait and observe outcomes from phase 1 before permitting further expansion.

Takeaway: The meeting highlighted deep community concern about industrial wind turbines and an ongoing tension between economic-development activity and residents seeking stronger health and property‑value protections. Commissioners recorded that formal negotiation documents had not been executed and that any future construction would require signed agreements and council approvals.