Center for Climate Change Law | Columbia Law School

Model Municipal Wind Siting Ordinance

• Model Municipal Wind Siting Ordinance

• Planning and Zoning for Wind Energy

• Working Paper on Developing Municipal Wind Energy Ordinances in New York State

Model Municipality Wind Siting Ordinance

After reviewing comments from lawyers, planners, architects, engineers, municipal officials, and others on how to improve the first draft of our model municipal wind siting ordinance, Columbia Law School’s Center for Climate Change Law has prepared a second draft.  The model ordinance presents a framework for the adoption, implementation, and enforcement of standards to promote the effective and efficient use of wind energy resources.  In crafting the original version, we began by analyzing existing wind siting ordinances from various New York municipalities, as well as those from other municipalities in other states, identifying their common features, and seeing what types of requirements have been widely adopted.  

The model ordinance regulates all new wind energy conversion systems, as well as those which begin operating, or are modified after, the effective date of the ordinance.  The ordinance includes provisions concerning permits, approvals, operation, and oversight of wind energy conversion systems, and allows for flexibility in adoption within each municipality by including a number of optional add-ons.  Both the first and second drafts are annotated with a legal commentary that clarifies areas of potential ambiguity and discusses the benefits and drawbacks of the optional add-ons.

Comments on the second draft should be sent to Danielle Sugarman at dsugar1@law.columbia.edu.   The municipal wind siting ordinance accompanies the Center’s model green building ordinance, and model municipal solar siting ordinance, available here.

Download the Second Draft Model Municipal Wind Siting Ordinance (PDF)

Download the Second Draft Model Municipal Wind Siting Ordinance (WORD)

Download the First Draft Model Ordinance with Commentary (PDF)

A blackline comparison of the two versions is available upon request.

Planning and Zoning For Wind Energy

In January 2012, the American Planning Association’s Planning Advisory Service (PAS) released a handbook, Planning and Zoning for Wind Energy. This handbook includes the Center’s Second Version of its Model Municipal Wind Siting Ordinance.  The links to the handbook’s associated sections are provided below.

• Introduction and Table of Contents
• Articles and Reports
• Wind in the Comprehensive Plan
• Model Wind Ordinances and Commentary
• Standards for Wind Energy Systems in Urban/Suburban Areas
• Standards for Small Wind Energy Systems in Small Towns and Rural Areas
• Standards for Large Wind Energy Systems in Rural Areas

Working Paper on Developing Municipal Wind Energy Ordinances in New York State

A wide variety of municipal wind energy ordinances exist in New York State. This working paper developed by CCCL discusses the choices that a municipality in New York must make in drafting a wind energy ordinance, with reference to how existing codified wind energy ordinances and model municipal wind energy ordinances have dealt with these choices.