§ 49-22-05.1 — Exclusion and avoidance areas - Criteria

North Dakota § 49-22-05.1

• Jurisdiction: North Dakota
• Title 49: Public Utilities
• Ch. 49-22: Energy Conversion and Transmission Facility Siting Act

Text

1. The commission shall develop criteria to be used in identifying exclusion and
avoidance areas and to guide the site, corridor, and route suitability evaluation and
designation process. The criteria also may include an identification of impacts and
policies or practices which may be considered in the evaluation and designation
process.
2. The commission may not identify prime farmland, unique farmland, or irrigated land as
exclusion or avoidance areas when evaluating and designating geographical areas for
site, corridor, or route suitability.
3. Except for electric transmission lines in existence before July 1, 1983, areas within five
hundred feet [152.4 meters] of an inhabited rural residence must be designated
avoidance areas. This criterion does not apply to a water pipeline. The five hundred
foot [152.4 meter] avoidance area criteria for an inhabited rural residence may be
waived by the owner of the inhabited rural residence in writing.
4. Areas less than one and one-tenth times the height of the turbine from the property
line of a nonparticipating landowner and less than three times the height of the turbine
or more from an inhabited rural residence of a nonparticipating landowner, must be
excluded in the consideration of a site for a wind energy conversion area, unless a
variance is granted. The commission may grant a variance if an authorized
representative or agent of the permittee, the nonparticipating landowner, and affected
parties with associated wind rights file a written agreement expressing the support of
all parties for a variance to reduce the setback requirement in this subsection. A
nonparticipating landowner is a landowner that has not signed a wind option or an
easement agreement with the permittee of the wind energy conversion facility as
defined in chapter 17-04. A local zoning authority may require setback distances
greater than those required under this subsection. For purposes of this subsection,
"height of the turbine" means the distance from the base of the wind turbine to the
turbine blade tip when it is in its highest position.