No one has yet committed to building a wind farm within City limits, but City staff know it's only a matter of time.

Which is why councillors voted unanimously in favour of a bylaw that outlines the use of wind turbines in the City.

Maren Luciani, a City planning technician, presented the bylaw to council at a public hearing Tuesday night.

Contacted Wednesday, Luciani told The Daily News the City gets an occasional inquiry but none of the projects has gone forward.

She said the province has a Crown land policy when it comes to wind turbines, but does not regulate their use on private property, which is why staff felt it prudent to go ahead and develop a bylaw.

"In B.C. it really is up to individual municipalities to decide whether or not they want to include regulations for wind turbines in their local document," said Luciani.

Staff used guidelines provided by the Canadian Wind Energy Association and looked at similar provincial and municipal bylaws across Canada to develop the Kamloops document.

Ontario and New Brunswick created policies for wind turbines and in B.C. cities like Vancouver, Victoria and Dawson Creek have bylaws in place or are looking into it, she said.

A report to council addresses a variety of concerns, including that turbines be permitted on a case-by-case basis on agricultural land where population density is low and the land is vast.

Turbines and necessary components will be a neutral colour with non-reflective matte finish and contain no advertising, the report said.

Lucian said turbines could be used to feed the City power grid or, If a farmer wants to supplement their energy usage, they could also be used for that purpose.

Councillors contacted by The Daily News on Wednesday believe the bylaw is a sign of the times. Arjun Singh said it's important to stay ahead of demand.

"There's an anticipation that these things will become more and more of interest," he said.

Pat Wallace said the bylaw is good start that can be amended as needed.