Much talk, little action on wind farm rules
Staff writer
An hour and a half of discussion in front of a standing-room-only crowd ended in no action Thursday other than to check whether proposed revisions to county wind farm rules would be legal.
County commissioner Clarke Dirks drafted a complete rewrite of wind energy regulations and persuaded his fellow commissioners to send it to the county’s Planning and Zoning Commission for review at a public hearing.
But before any of the nearly 50 residents who crowded into a meeting room at the county’s new planning and zoning office off US-56 had a chance to speak, zoning commissioner Brad Gorsuch summed up feelings that ultimately carried the night.
“I went through this document,” he said. “Let’s just take Item 2 that says all aspects shall conform to the following setbacks.”
Detailing dramatically expanded requirements that would be measured not from roads but from rights-of-way, he concluded: “Basically, there’s no way wind energy can exist in this county with these setbacks. If we’re going to agree to Item 2, then we throw out the document and put in a statement that says we don’t do anything, because this does away with wind energy.”
Zoning regulations are supposed to be “fair and reasonable,” he said, “not so closed in that you have a small area in a mile section that you can put one turbine in. It just becomes prohibitive.”
“I don’t want to spend a whole lot of time if we’re going to live with these,” he said. “We just do away with the whole document, close down shop, and say we’re not going to be receptive to wind energy because this is not receptive to wind energy in any way or form. It’s totally slanted.”
Even large landowners would have trouble qualifying because mile roads, each with its own setback, divide big tracts, Gorsuch said.
“Throw it out,” he said. “It has no value to us. It’s a poison pill.”
Some parts supported
Zoning commissioner Michael Woelk disagreed.
“I think you’ve got to look at it line by line,” he said. “You could take No. 2 and change some of this.”
But zoning commissioner Dax Kannady argued that Dirks’ proposal was “very restrictive.”
“It’s one person’s ax to grind,” he said.
Still, zoning commissioner Tracy Roberts contended “it’s our job to look them over.”
Nearly all commissioners seemed to agree that some aspects of Dirks’ proposal might be worth looking at.
Woelk suggested that a legal review could identify which sections might be unenforceable because they were overly restrictive and that zoning commissioners then could go through the rest line by line.
Zoning commissioner David Mueller agreed.
“Rather than create a document that’s completely overbearing and unable to be used,” he said, “how about just take the items about population density and use our current regulations for the rest.”
Zoning commission chairman Derek Belton appeared to agree.
“That’s where I struggle, too,” he said. “We spent a lot, a lot of time on these regulations, the ones we have. And, yeah, maybe they don’t fit all, but they were the best options we had at the time to protect those who do and don’t [want wind farms].”
Regulations shouldn’t be so restrictive that they’re basically bans, he said.
“I’m kind of like Brad,” he said. “It’s not just the setbacks. It’s how many different ways can you figure out how to keep these things out of the county.”
Consultant Russ Ewey of Braughman Co. in Wichita agreed.
“Generally, I feel the same,” he said. “Are we looking as a county to still allow wind turbines, and if the answer is yes, do we need protections for certain more populated or growing areas? There are ways we can map out areas that will allow for expansion or prohibition.”
He urged county commissioners to give clearer directions to zoning commissioners about how to proceed.
He cited decommissioning agreements and other elements of Dirks’ plan as worth contemplating.
Legal advice sought
But he warned that the county already had promised wind farm operators some capability for expansion even though he added that it still might be legally possible to “go ahead and black-and-white prohibit” alternative energy systems.
“Marion County could step up and say, look, we have two fields in our county,” he said. “We have shouldered our share. Where are the other 104 counties at? We have that option.”
Dirks’ proposal would not accomplish that, he said.
“I don’t think this is our best option,” Ewey said. “It may be time to draw a line in the sand.”
Planning and zoning administrator Sharon Omstead said a resolution adopted by county commissioners in 2019 promised that the county would not prohibit wind farm operators from expanding.
“I still think we would have the ability to guide expansion,” she said.
But exactly what constitutes “expansion” is unclear. It could mean within a project’s existing footprint or expanding that footprint.
Ewy suggested that negotiations between the county and the wind farms to better define the term should be undertaken and that other legal questions such as those about enforceability of proposed rules be resolved before changes are considered.
Population considered
Considerable support was voiced for adding restrictions related to population density.
“We’ve got to think about do we grow this county,” Gorsuch said. “I think the wind farms have treated us pretty well. I don’t see that they’ve treated us as bad actors.”
Mueller spoke up for property owners’ rights to choose whether to accept or reject wind turbines and spoke in favor of regulations regarding population density.
However, he added: “If you’re going to apply this to wind energy, what are we going to apply to oil and gas production . . . to feed lots? Are we scrutinizing one industry over another?”
Public comments — two minutes per person from about a dozen speakers — followed. Nearly all expressed general opposition and familiar reasons for opposing wind farms.
The only disruption of the hearing actually occurred well before the public comments section.
Before zoning commissioners took up wind farm regulations, they spent a little more than half an hour discussing a conditional use permit for a possible short-term rental property and designating which zoning commissioners would serve as voting members for zoning appeals.
Wind farm foe leaves
During those discussions, Belton and Omstead expressed displeasure with audience member Tom Britain’s audible comments to other audience members.
Belton told Britain he could be ejected if he continued to disrupt the meeting. Britain voluntarily left.
State law generally expects zoning commissions to make independent recommendations to county commissioners without being influenced by them.
However, county commissioner Jonah Gehring was among those who spoke.
Stressing that he was speaking as an individual not a commissioner, he asked to know who had written a handout supporting wind farms that was distributed to zoning commissioners before the meeting.
He did not receive an answer, but fellow county commissioner Dave Crofoot told the Record after the meeting that he had drafted the document.
In the end, zoning commissioners voted to delay discussion of Dirks’ proposal until county commissioners have county counselor Brad Jantz review the proposal and determine which parts might be legally enforceable.