NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday sent a recommendation back to the Reno County Planning Commission to consider a ban on commercial solar in the Ninnescah watershed that feeds into Cheney Lake and to otherwise direct them to go ahead and write commercial regulations for the parts of the zoned part of the county to which the watershed ban will not apply.
The commission did not choose to ban commercial solar altogether in the county on Wednesday. However, when they get a look at the regulations as they come back from the planning commission again, all of the options for the commission are still on the table, including a ban in the zoned area altogether, depending on how those regulations may be written.
This was after over an hour of discussion, much of it procedural in nature. The bottom line is that the county commission did not feel they have the expertise to adequately determine the threat to the watershed well enough to allow development there. They had multiple perspectives on the best policy solution to get to that end goal, but this is where they have left it for the time being.