LINCOLN - The addition of a wind farm in Logan County will be a significant economic benefit to the village of Emden and Logan County, said the director of the Lincoln and Logan County Development Partnership.

The Rail Splitter Wind Farm, which received Logan County Board approval Tuesday, eventually will have 29 wind turbine towers in Logan County and another 38 in Tazewell County, which also has approved the project.

Joel Smiley said Houston-based Horizon Wind Energy's project will bring a $200 million investment in the two counties, including $85 million in Logan County.

The project will add about 200 construction jobs, and another 10 to 15 permanent jobs once the farm is up and running, he said.

"These will be good jobs which will remain here and help us spur the economy throughout the county," Smiley said. "In the first year alone, the wind farm will add about $234,000 in general tax revenues and we are losing less than 1 percent of the available farm for construction."

It will take a year to build the wind farm, but officials say a start date would be set until the legal challenges are settled.

A group of nine Emden-area residents opposed the plan and formed the Union Ridge Wind Group to contest the wind farm, calling it an eyesore and threat to their property values. An attorney for the group, Rick Porter, has promised an appeal to the Logan County Board's decision based on zoning issues.

Property owners who will have wind turbines on their land will receive about $5,500 annually for each turbine. Among those owners is Brent Hellman, who said the wind farm will be good for Emden as well.

"In the past year, we have lost two car dealerships, a grocery store and an insurance business," Hellman said. "This will bring jobs to an area and impact it greatly as a result."

Hellman said the tax revenue will benefit school districts, and the county will be able to improve the roads.

He fears legal efforts to stop the wind farm will hurt Logan County residents.

"That will only serve as a tax on the other residents of Logan County who are in favor of it," he said. "I think as residents of Logan County, we should be positive about it and promote its success."

Porter said Union Ridge Wind Group members want guarantee that their property values will not decline as a result of the project.

"That's all we were asking for from the Logan County Board, but they declined to consider that as an option," Porter said. "If they had provided that guarantee, then we most likely would have been satisfied."

Porter has 90 days in which to file an appeal on the conditional-use permit for placing wind turbine towers in agricultural areas.