When a resident on Orangeville's Edelwild Drive erected a personal wind turbine in his backyard last July, the town's planning staff were forced to begin developing a bylaw to establish regulations for such wind energy systems.

The issue was first brought to council's attention when the personal wind turbine was erected to the chagrin of a neighbour who filed a complaint with the Town.

That led to an investigation by a bylaw enforcement officer, and the owner was then told to remove the device because it broke a height limit on the Town's zoning bylaw.

Other than the maximum height allowance for buildings and accessory structures on residential properties, there was nothing in the Town's Official Plan (OP) or zoning bylaw to regulate the erection or location of wind turbines, whether on a small or large scale.

However, planning director James Stivers thinks changes to the OP should be deferred until a comprehensive amendment-proposal package is prepared for council in the near future.

The package would include policies to support and encourage a "healthier" community by supporting and echoing recent directions from the Province for community planning and design, alternative power generation sources and the pursuit of renewable energy, energy conservation and efficiency, among others.

Suggested zoning regulations include a property line setback of 30 feet (nine metres), a maximum height no taller than the house or 50 feet (15 metres) from any habitable structure, depending on which is greater, for the tower and turbine, but not any wires or supporting structures, and if a turbine were to cease operation for two or more years the owner would be required to take it down. The planning director also suggested imposing a limit of one turbine and tower per property in developed areas.

In his report to council Mr. Stivers said since smallscale turbine impacts aren't as significant, compared to large-scale turbines, other than noise, those structures shouldn't be subject to a site plan approval process.

Site plan requirements for large-scale turbines are yet to be established, although Mr. Stivers has prepared several guidelines to form a site plan.

Those include assessing visual-impact mitigation on a site-specific basis, restricting advertisements on turbines, painting the blades in a neutral colour in a lowgloss finish to minimize "blade glint" (glare caused by the reflection on the sun), laying all electrical cables underground, painting accessory buildings/ancillary control facilities in a neutral colour and creating a plan for decommissioning and removing a turbine once it has reached its lifespan.

Councillor Gail Campbell was curious as to how much power could be saved if a resident were to install a small-scale turbine in the back yard.

The savings in energy costs would be too small to make an impact on the hydro grid, advised Mr. Stivers. The turbines would generate very little power, presumably just enough to accommodate the needs of an individual room or several appliances in a house.

However, a large-scale turbine could produce enough energy to feed into the grid. Mr. Stivers said the problem is there currently isn't an adequate system to do so.

Planning staff have been directed to prepare a zoning bylaw and to develop a site plan for wind turbines to bring back to council for approval.