Group resubmits plan for two smaller wind turbines

The Board of Adjustment on Monday cleared the way, on a 4-0 vote, for the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City Electrical Training Center, 2300 Johnson Ave. NW, to resubmit a modified plan to erect wind turbines at is facility.

The board had declined last month, on a 2-2 vote, to give the training center the required conditional-use permit for the turbines after neighbors in the residential neighborhood objected.

The training center, though, has removed a 61-foot-tall turbine from its plans and will now seek permission to install two, 37-foot-tall ones that also were part of the center's original plan.

The board, as did the City Planning Commission last week, found that the training center's modification of its original proposal was sufficient to allow it to resubmit its request without having to wait a year, which is normal after a board denial.

The training center is the first entity in the city to submit a plan for wind turbines since the City Council in August passed a wind-energy ordinance.