In an update to the board of county commissioners, El Paso County, Colo., recently reported that property values in a wind farm area are continuing to rise.
NextEra’s Golden West Wind Energy Center is located in an area encompassing roughly 30,000 acres east and south of the Town of Calhan in eastern El Paso County. The office of the assessor has been tracking real property sales in the wind farm area, along the transmission lines and across a two-mile buffer zone.
Steve Schleiker, El Paso County assessor, told commissioners last week that data collected by his office shows that not only are properties selling, but sales prices keep going up.
Sales from January 2015 through April 2016 reflect increasing values in almost all categories: Values were up on 44 agricultural-grazing sales, 931 single-family residential sales and 79 sales of vacant land. According to NextEra, the wind farm began commercial operations in October 2015.
“We’re still seeing a lot of sales going on out there,” Schleiker told commissioners. “Just within this boundary, we have seen increases of about 17 percent for commercial properties and about 37.6 percent increases for single-family residences.”
Commissioner Amy Lathen, whose district includes the entire wind farm area, thanked the assessor.
“It’s important to put those facts out there,” she said. “It’s really good to see these values.”
