Pottawatomie County Commissioners — from left to right: Dee McKee (District 1), Vice Chair Pat Weixelman (District 2) and Chair Greg Riat (District 3)
Pottawatomie County commissioners revisited talks on solar farm zoning regulations Monday.
Commission Chair Greg Riat motioned, and Vice Chair Pat Weixelman seconded temporarily suspending commercial solar farms until zoning regulations are adopted or six months has passed. Solar companies have been exploring land parcels as potential sites in Pottawatomie County. Riat says initially, one company was offering farmers around $600 per acre, but says the price has since risen substantially.
But because no rules are currently in place governing solar farms, it’s unclear how and if the county can take advantage of a hot market.
“If there is any pressure, let’s take it off. We’d do a temporary moratorium and then you can go to the meetings and people can figure out what’s best. That’s all I want is an opportunity, because if we get it right, then there won’t be that many people unhappy,” Riat said.
Commissioner Dee McKee wasn’t comfortable with the motion having the word suspend in it because she felt it could discourage potential companies from expanding to the county. She offered a resolution encouraging research and development on solar energy production.
“The encouragement is the thing that I don’t want somebody to suddenly say well we killed it for us anymore than anything. I don’t want us to be the stumbling block for somebody that was trying to work on it right now suddenly having to go two or three months and then I don’t know where we’re going to land,” McKee said.
A draft regulation which will be presented Thursday to the Pottawatomie County Planning Commission, with no action to be taken. A public hearing on the matter has not been set.
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