North Fork Wind LLC and a dozen landowners filed a federal lawsuit against Knox County last Friday, challenging the regulation updates — including increasing setbacks from 2,000 feet to 1.25-miles — made last month and alledgeing them with the “unequivocal goal” of hindering the wind farm’s construction.
The plaintiffs are demanding a federal trial by jury in Lincoln. They are seeking to have the amendments lifted and the planning commission’s recommendations void, as well as be paid damages and have their court fees covered.
The complaint filed Aug. 23 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska seeks “declaratory, injunctive and monetary relief necessitated by Knox County, Nebraska’s sudden, arbitrary, and targeted more-than-three-fold increase of its setback limits from non-participating dwellings for wind farm developments, with the intention of banning wind energy as a viable enterprise in Knox County.”
Plaintiffs are North Fork Wind LLC, Garnet A. Anderson, Charles L.M. Anderson, Helen Carlson, Mardell Hochstein, Marvin Hochstein, Eldon Kronberg, Patricia Kronberg, Randall Repenning, Dean Stueckrath, Stephanie Stueckrath, Angela Wamberg and Dan Wamberg.
They filed the suit against Knox County and the following individuals in their official capacity — Supervisors Marty O’Connor, Patrick J. Lisa, James Sokol Jr, Kevin Mackeprang, Danny Scholote and Jim Borgmann; Zoning Administrator Kelly Jelinek; Planning Commissioners Doug Deshazer, Dean Wilken, Robert Ganz, Neil Clausen, Robert Larsen, Jim Kotrous, Keith Nielsen, Greg Kuhlman and David A. Arens.
Last month, Knox County supervisors approved amendments to zoning regulations for wind turbines. The suit alleges the regulation amendments were made “with the express purpose of regulating North Fork Wind and the Wind Farm only.”
It also alleges impacted landowners were not provided written notice of the proposals and North Fork Wind was named within minutes and agendas that listed proposed amendments.
The four counts in the lawsuit alleged are as follows:
• Against Knox County, the Board of Supervisors, the Zoning Administrator, and the Planning Commissioners for Deprivation of the Constitutional Right to Just Compensation for the Taking of Protected Property Interests Under 42 U.S.C. § 1983
• Against Knox County, the Knox County Board of Supervisors, the Zoning Administrator, and the Planning Commissioners for Deprivation of the Constitutional Right to Procedural and Substantive Due Process Under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
• Against Knox County, the Knox County Board of Supervisors, the Zoning Administrator, and the Planning Commissioners for Deprivation of the Constitutional Right to Contract Under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
• Against Knox County, the Knox County Board of Supervisors, the Zoning Administrator, and the Knox County Planning Commissioners for Deprivation of the Constitutional Right to Equal Protection Under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by North Fork According to the complaint, North Fork Wind has invested more than $12,183,000 into developing the 600-megawatt commercial wind farm. It had secured a place in the queue with Southwest Power Pool, including financial security deposits of $16,765,072, of which $7,791,268 is nonrefundable.
The complaints also said it invested more than $1,568,502 in lease and easement payments to landowners and more than $1 million performing analyses.
The suit projected $5.8 million in payments to landowners per year or $115 million over 20 years, along with $2,280,000 per year in tax revenue for the county ($56 million over 20 years).
The complaint estimated the total value of the wind farm at $1.3 billion.
