(Radio Iowa) – The Emmet County Board of Supervisors will consider hiring another attorney to review a proposed settlement that would resolve the lawsuit over a wind farm in the northwest Iowa county. Late last year the Emmet County Board of Adjustment denied a permit for Chicago-based Invenergy’s proposed Red Rock Energy Wind Center. The company sued Emmet County rather than refile for a permit under a new ordinance that requires greater distances between wind turbines and homes.

David Fauch, an attorney who represents Emmet County Concerned Citizens, is urging the board not to settle with the company and let the case go to trial. “What happened behind closed doors is clear from the settlement agreement. There were monetary threats made by Invenergy and Red Rock against this county, millions of dollars we are told and then a settlement agreement was entered into.

That settlement agreement is wildly one sided,” Fauch said. “…A bully has come in and the other side has simply folded…What you are buying yourselves is not peace. What you are buying yourselves is a mess.” Fauch spoke during a public hearing late last week.

Eric Updegraff, the attorney who’s been representing Emmet County officials in negotiations, also spoke. He’s warning that state law generally favors the free use of property and conditional use permit applications like the one for the wind farm likely need to meet just one and not all of the standards outlined in state law. “If there’s any ambiguity or uncertainty in your ordinance, then it will be construed against restrictions on land use,” Updegraff said.

The Emmet County Board of Supervisors will convene this (Tuesday) morning and their agenda calls for considering hiring an additional attorney to review the proposed settlement with developers of the Red Rock Energy Center. A previous draft of the agenda had indicated the supervisors were likely to vote on whether to approve the settlement.