Have you wondered about how wind farms affect property values for adjacent homes? Here’s the truth: Here in DeWitt County and domestically, a wealth of research has been done on the impact of local wind development on property values.

Here are three examples:

• MaRous & Company, a real estate appraiser and consulting firm from Park Ridge, Illinois, with 30 years of experience conducting market impact studies, analyzed the impact Alta Farms will have on the value of surrounding residential properties. They concluded the Project will not have a negative impact on rural residential or agricultural property values in the surrounding area. In fact, for agricultural properties that host wind turbines, the additional income from the wind lease may increase the value and marketability of those properties.

• The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) examined the sale of more than 50,000 homes spanning 27 counties in 9 states. These homes were within 10 miles of 67 different wind facilities, with 1,198 home sales within one mile of a turbine (331 of which were within a half mile). Through statistical analyses, neither the view of the wind facilities nor the distance of the home to those facilities were found to have any consistent, measurable, or statistically significant effect on home sales prices.

• An Economic Impact Analysis conducted on Alta Farms by Dr. David Loomis, Professor of Economics at Illinois State University, concluded, “Wind projects enhance the equalized assessed value of property within the county. Typically, wind developers pay taxes based on that improved value unless preempted by law or mutual agreement. Wind farms strengthen the local tax base helping to improve count services, schools, police and fire departments and infrastructure improvements, such as public roads.”

The clear consensus is that no significant impact exists to property values based on the proximity of homes to wind facilities.