After much travail,a formal application has been submitted to build a wind farm in the Town of Sherman. This article comes from The Sheboygan Press:
A Hubertus developer has submitted a formal application to build a wind farm in the Town of Sherman, nearly six months after the project was first unveiled to the public.
The application was filed with town leaders last month and made available to the public within the past week, according to town officials.
The developer, EEW Services LLC, hopes to begin construction this year on the Windy Acres Wind Farm on 400 acres east of state Highway 57, west of county Highway CC and north of county Highway A. The turbines would also connect to a substation in the Town of Holland.
EEW spokesman Jay Mundinger couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.
The state’s rules place wind farm siting decisions almost entirely in the hands of the state Public Service Commission, as state wind siting rules supersede local ordinances. However, the project still requires approval by the Sherman and Holland town boards.
Sherman Town Chairman William Goehring said that the two towns are in the process of drafting a joint local wind ordinance, though it cannot be more restrictive than the state’s rules.
Following the receipt of EEW’s formal application, the two towns now have until April 1 to pass the joint measure, Goehring said.
After the local wind ordinance is passed, town leaders from Sherman and Holland will have 45 days to conduct a joint review of the developer’s application to ensure that it is complete.
Once the application is deemed complete, they’ll have another 90 days to hold a public hearing and then vote to approve or reject it.
“Our hands are still very much tied,” said Goehring, referring to the project’s approval ultimately resting with state regulators.
Town officials plan to hold public hearings each step of the way, Goehring said, though nothing has been scheduled yet.
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