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Elements of a Conditional Use Permit
Common elements of a Conditional Use Permit are discussed in detail below. It is important to note that your local planning department will ultimately determine whether or not the following components are necessary for approval of your project.
Site plans
A site plan should include information about where project components will be located, and what other natural features or manmade structures are in the vicinity. A legal description of the project area should be included, along with area maps and site layout drawings.
Environmental information and/or studies
Local
planning department staff will set guidelines for these studies. Among
the studies that may be required are soil studies, avian surveys, other
wildlife surveys, and rare plant surveys. Even if detailed,
site-specific studies are not required, a review of existing
information on such environmental topics will help determine whether
the project would raise any critical environmental concerns. Such a
review could include, for example, searching agency databases for
records of critical habitats, endangered species populations, and soil
types.
Natural resource impacts
It
will be necessary to detail any potential impacts to storm water
drainage patterns and provide a control plan to the state Department of
Environmental Quality’s National Pollution Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES) permit program. Water is not used in wind project operations,
but local water resources are necessary for construction activities;
for example, for dust suppression, fire protection, or mixing concrete.
Information about the amount and source of this water may be required
in the permitting process. Because wind projects are not usually sited
in heavily forested areas, it is unlikely that a wind project would
have any significant impact on forest resources. Any expected impacts
to forest resources should be explained and mitigated if necessary.
Cultural resource impacts
Planning
staff may require that a professional archaeologist survey the project
area to assess potential impact on historical or cultural resources.
Otherwise, it may be sufficient to review existing public databases of
cultural resources to determine whether any known resources exist in
the vicinity of the project. If the project will be visible from
identified historically or culturally important sites, this alteration
of the view may be considered an impact on those sites.
To
find out about known historic or cultural resources in the area of a
proposed wind project, consult the state Historic Preservation Office.
The SHPO maintains a database of historic sites, the State Historic
Inventory, which is available for research purposes at the SHPO office.
The database may be available online in the future. SHPO also maintains
a database of known archaeological resources, which is available only
to “qualified archaeological researchers.”
Even if there are no
known cultural resources on the project site, planning staff may
require that developers prepare a plan detailing the actions to take
should any resources be uncovered during project construction.
