MONROE - A local property owner will have to wait a few more months before he can put a 102-foot wind turbine on the south side of his business at 1020 3rd Avenue in Monroe.

Richard Weeden approached the city Plan Commission on Wednesday to ask for approval for an 80-foot wind turbine tower to be placed outside of Discount America Hobby and Motorsports, which is housed in a building he owns. Its blades are 22 feet in length.

"This one would be a small version of the ones up in Cobb," Weeden said, referencing a wind farm along Wisconsin 18 in Iowa County.

"It's a very slow-moving one," Weeden said. The sticking point for a conditional use permit is zoning restrictions for the area. Zoned as M-1, city code allows for using wind turbines, either as an electric generator or transformer type structure or as an accessory building, City Attorney Dan Bartholf said.

However, the M-1 land only allows for a maximum height of 75 feet. Mayor Louis Armstrong asked Bartholf if there were any way to bypass the requirement. Bartholf said the code would have to be re-written and approved through the Judiciary and Ordinance Review Committee; that process would take about six weeks. Alderman and commission member Charles Koch called for the change to be made and for the permit application to be tabled until the rewrites can be completed. Koch said the maximum height should be changed to 120 feet for any structure and that wind turbines should be added to the list of acceptable structures.

"I would like to see this go forward, and I am in favor of seeing it go in," Koch said.

The turbine would require wind of 6 miles per hour or higher to run.

"It's a good program, and you're creating clean energy," Weeden said. "It's a way to look toward the future." Weeden not only wants to invest in more sustainable energy and lower electric bills, he said in the future he plans to sell the smaller-than-average turbines. The one outside his building in Monroe will serve as a type of floor model for any interested buyers.