UMore wind energy forum draws a crowd
Some residents critical of University of
Minnesota’s plans
Photo by Laura Adelmann Dakota County Commissioners Tom Egan and Will Branning discuss UMore Park plans with a resident at the University of Minnesota’s July 29 community forum regarding the mining, wind research and housing plans for the Rosemount area property.
by Laura Adelmann
Thisweek Newspapers
University of Minnesota officials touted plans for a research wind project, gravel pit and housing development at UMore Park while some Rosemount residents cited concerns at a July 29 forum.
With a $7.9 million federal grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, U of M officials are planning to build a 2.3 megawatt Siemens turbine, joining with industry specialists to conduct extensive research projects.
The 80-acre experimental research facility, to be located on the eastern edge of the park’s 5,000 acres, will be unique in the nation.
Through the research, the university’s goal is to find ways to make the amount of electricity generated by wind in the United States increase from 2 percent to 20 percent by 2030.
Studies will include experiments to improve and reduce the costs of wind turbine technologies while developing more efficient operations.
The project will involve a collaboration of business, government, education and researchers and is intended to spur economic development in the Rosemount area, said U of M Electrical Engineering Department Head Dr. Mostafa Kaveh.
“This is really a project that is going to be integrated into the community … its ramifications are very direct and immediate,” Kaveh said.
He added that additional funding will be needed, and will be sought from other sources, public and private.
While the forum was focused on the research project and the draw it could be for businesses, the university’s plans to mine gravel for decades and eventually introduce a private developer to create a sustainable community was also discussed.
Some Rosemount residents, neighbors to the mining operation, wind turbine and sustainable community, questioned aspects of the project and the affect it would have on their homes, lives and property.
Leslie Green, whose back yard butts up to the proposed gravel operation, said she and her neighbors are concerned about the noise, dust, truck traffic, lighting, safety and flicker affects (of the turbine’s movements) the turbine could have on their properties, especially when combined with planned around-the-clock gravel operations.
UMore Park Executive Team Chair Dr. Charles Muscoplat said that mining operations would be located more than a mile from residences, and most of the mining will take place below grade, which would reduce its affects.
During the meeting, John Wachtler, design engineer at Barr Engineering, said problems with shadow flickers are usually a problem for homes located less than one-half mile from turbines.
“We don’t expect flicker to be a problem because of distance,” Wachtler said.
Muscoplat added that buffers between the property and homes will include 1,000 feet of corn and soybeans, a thick row of trees and a deep berm.
Green also questioned plans to destroy good agricultural land by mining, and said the plans lack local citizen involvement.
“When did the U of M get elected to the city council and planning commission? I don’t remember voting for these people,” Green said.
In a June work session, Rosemount City Council members and city staff also balked at the university’s plans to build ancillary facilities including an aggregate processing operation, an office, a recycling yard, an asphalt plant, a concrete plant, a bag plant, a maintenance facility and a casting yard.
During that meeting, Council Member Jeff Weisensel said if the activities don’t take place in Rosemount, the university will simply move them across the street to Empire Township, where the city has no jurisdiction.
Wednesday night, after this issue went to press, the city council was to consider forwarding a 10-page list of concerns and questions in response to the university’s Environmental Impact Statement for the university’s gravel mining plans.
In an interview Tuesday, Rosemount Senior Planner Eric Zweber said that while the university is expected to respond in writing to the city’s concerns, the city will rely on its ordinance and permitting authority to influence the university’s gravel mining and development plans.
He said city code doesn’t currently allow mining in the area or at the scale proposed.
“Regardless of how the university addresses the city’s comments (on the EIS), we have ultimate control on regulating the mining operation,” Zweber wrote to council members in the Aug. 4 board packet.
He said regulations are anticipated to include restriction on hours, truck access, dust and noise control measures.
While the city has no jurisdiction over the turbine, it will require multiple public hearings and take citizen input as the process continues, Zweber said.
Laura Adelmann is at dceditor@frontiernet.net.
