**Alert** Maple Grove storm over windmill ends **Alert**

Below is posted another small wind story of People vs the City :


Maple Grove storm over windmill ends
Jack Tubert; Staff Writer
Publication Date: January 10, 1987  Page: 12A  Section: NEWS  Edition: METRO


Maple Grove's controversial 100-foot-tall windmill in a residential
neighborhood on the shore of Fish Lake was dismantled Friday. The
galvanized steel tower, two-ton generator and three-blade windmill,
source of lawsuits and protest petitions, came down without incident.

Its new owner, Wes Bendickson, who owns Green Acres Farm Tree
Service, said the windmill will be used on his 40-acre farm in Independence.

Richard Harrison, former owner of the windmill, said yesterday
that he sold it when the city came up with a good offer. Harrison and
his wife, Laurie Karnes, of 7359 Berkshire Court, had used the
generator to supply electricity for their computer company.
Doug Reeder, Maple Grove's city administrator, said the city paid
$22,500 last month for the wind-power generator. Harrison had said it
cost $24,000 when erected in April 1984.

The city gave the tower to Bendickson on the condition that he would pay to remove it.  Five years ago Maple Grove became the first Twin Cities-area community to adopt an ordinance permitting 100-foot tall windmills in developed residential areas.

Harrison, the first to apply, was issued a permit on Feb. 27,
1984. He built the tower close to the street, where it dominated the
cul-de-sac. In May 1984, 31 neighborhood residents petitioned for
a ban on wind generators in the area and asked that the tower be
dismantled or moved elsewhere on the property.
In June 1985, the City Council declared Harrison's windmill a
nuisance and ordered it removed. Harrison did nothing and the city sued
him for noncompliance. Harrison countersued on the grounds that the
generator's location was approved by a city inspector.

Harrison accepted $22,500 for the windmill in an out-of-court
settlement, Reeder said. He said the city and the insurance company
that covers Maple Grove municipal employees each paid $11,250.

Maple Grove now has a zoning ordinance that limits windmills to
sites of three acres or more.

After the windmill was carted away yesterday, next-door neighbor Harriet Moritko said, "It feels like this monster hanging over this neighborhood has been lifted off."

Harrison said he tried to ease tensions when he appeared at City Hall to sign the bill of sale by filing an application "for a home nuclear power plant."  Lee Mehrkens, assistant city administrator, said he got a kick out of the plan and submitted it to Reeder, who decided, "Let's leave it for the City Council; maybe they'll enjoy it."



GreenMan