County drafts wind farm moratorium
Staff writer
Further development of Sunflower Wind Farm won’t take place until a moratorium of at least six months.
After lengthy discussion and hearing from people who support expansion of the wind farm, commissioners voted Tuesday to have county counsel Brad Jantz draft a six-month moratorium so planning and zoning could review the county’s existing requirements.
Tuesday’s meeting brought an overflow crowd of 24 to discuss or listen to conversation about westward expansion of Sunflower Wind Farm.
Steven Voth, a landowner who has signed a lease with the wind farm as it seeks to expand into four additional townships, said opponents have given “a lot of missing information and disinformation.”
“We don’t believe the city or the county has a right to tell us what to do or not to do,” Voth said.
He said development would be an economic boost to the county.
Calling himself an advocate of both the farm economy and communities, Newton resident Jim Graber, who owns most of his farmland in the county, said further development would mean $144 million to landowners with leases and $149 million in cash influx to the community.
Wind farm proceeds will mean better roads and better school funding, he said.
“I ask only that people and the officials making the decision carefully weigh the facts and benefits before making a decision,” Graber said.
Orsted land agent Jerry Moritz, who is talking to landowners about turbine leases, said Orsted was exploring its options.
Without land, there can be no project, so the company is looking at how much interest exists.
After the wind farm became operational, people in the county asked whether potential existed for more turbines, Moritz said.
The company is gauging interest and studying the feasibility of expanding.
“Orsted wants to be a part of the conversation,” he said.
The biggest objection people have to turbines is their size, Moritz said.
“I’m pretty easy to talk to,” commissioner Randy Dallke said. “The very first day I got a call, I got a call from that gentleman right over there.”
He pointed to a wind farm opponent.
Representatives from Expedition Wind, the name used for the project before it was sold to Orsted, contacted commissioners early to talk about what the company planned, Dallke said.
He said he didn’t like learning about current consideration of expansion the way he learned about it.
But Moritz said Orsted wasn’t doing anything behind people’s backs.
Planning and zoning director Sharon Omstead said she thought a moratorium should be adopted. If Orsted came to the planning department with a proposal for conditional use permits before the county has had time to consider its options, she said, she would have to get the application in process.
Commissioner Kent Becker said a moratorium should be a year instead of six months because it takes time to work through details.
Commission chairman David Mueller said if the county wasn’t ready after six months, a moratorium could be extended.