Johnson County unanimously approves wind farm, greenhouse ordinances

IOWA CITY – Johnson County now has ordinances that allow for wind farms and greenhouses.

The Board of Supervisors on Thursday unanimously approved the final considerations of two ordinances, one that gives the green light to the construction of commercial wind-energy facilities on agricultural land, and another that exempts certain greenhouses and hoop buildings from the county's building code, said Andy Johnson, the board's executive assistant.

The wind-farm ordinance was approved after Chicago-based PNE WIND USA said it wanted to build up to 20 wind turbines on about 3,000 acres of land east of Solon by 2013.

The greenhouse ordinance is meant to help Amish farmers, who want to use the structures to grow plants and vegetables to sell.

For more details on each ordinance, click

here.