By ROD ZOOK
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Reno County Commissioners took time to discuss how to move forward with wind energy development during Tuesday's meeting. The matter was brought up during the discussion part of the agenda session.
Commissioner Ron Hirst, who voted down a conditional use permit for the NextEra project, said Tuesday it was time to move forward in getting a possible wind project going. Hirst says such an agreement would address many issues including how to finance decommissioning of wind farms.
“A development contract would include things like decommissioning, it would include things like roads used, bridges, cost penalties for not using those roads,” Hirst said. “It kind of stems back from some of the conversation I had at the last Kansas Association of Counties meeting with other counties that have wind power.”
Commissioner Ron Sellers said he agrees with Hirst on getting things moving along with new regulations coming soon from the Planning Commission.
“It seems like we’re always in a hurry to do something,” Sellers said. “It would appear that in the next two or three months that the Planning Commission will have some kind of document for us to approve, or not approve, or to send back to them.”
Sellers says such an agreement could address both sides of the wind argument. “This development agreement ties in with that on what the benefits to the county are and what the promises by the developer are. I would encourage us to try and do that," Sellers said.
County Administrator Randy Partington noted that it may be difficult to come up with any such agreement with no specific project being proposed.
“Usually with a development agreement we would already know where a wind farm would be located, and that (agreement) would be more specific to that area and following the regulations that are in place,” Partington said. “Would you want the development agreement to look at example ones and then take it back to the Planning Commission to help them go backward and set up the regulations?”
The Planning Commission hopes to have the wind farm regulations in place for the County Commission to take action on later this fall. Another meeting to go over the proposed regulations is set for October.