County approves moratorium on solar farm CUP apps
The date for a public hearing before the Hamilton County Board of Commissions on Synergen Green Energy’s application for a conditional use permit (CUP) involving a proposed ammonia production plant just keeps getting pushed further into the future. The board had it on its agenda for Monday’s regular meeting to set the hearing date and it was anticipated the hearing would be set for sometime in early June, allowing two weeks for proper publication.
However, on Monday morning the commission again tabled the matter due to apparent second thoughts on the part of Upper Big Blue Natural Resources District (NRD) regarding the large commercial water user permit it had previously approved for the project.
Chairman Rich Nelson introduced the agenda item by saying, “We tabled it to this month, primarily because of the NRD and what they might be considering.”
Nelson said he had watched the video recording of the May 16 meeting of the NRD board and noted that a number of the NRD board members were making “a strong case” that the permit needed to be reviewed.
Commissioner Nancy Salmon said she had also watched the video of the meeting and had talked to one of the NRD commissioners who told her he wanted to take another look at the permit and was checking on the legal options the board has after the fact.
“There certainly are not fewer questions today than there were a month ago regarding what’s going on there,” Commissioner John Thomas added. “In fact you’ve got the threat at least of legal action, and I just don’t think it’s appropriate to set a public hearing at this time.”
Commissioner Francis McDonald offered a motion to postpone setting a date for the hearing until after the June NRD meeting.
Commissioner Nicole SaBell said she would second the motion so the board could “see what happens at this next meeting and then go from there; see if we have any questions answered. I mean, we can push it back again.”
The motion passed on a 4-1 vote with Thomas voting no.
Moments before the board’s consideration of the hearing date, the commissioners heard from two individuals during the public participation section of the meeting which was recently moved up on the agenda to the beginning of each meeting.
Dennis Elge, who said he lives just east of the Synergen site, questioned why the review of water levels leading to the water permit approval by the NRD had only looked at the years 1940-2018 and did not include the years since then. Elge said he was concerned about the facility’s impact on water levels, not only for his private well but also for the nearby KAAPA ethanol plant and the City of Aurora.
Saying he had also spoken at the NRD meeting on the 16th, Elge stated, “ I encouraged them to protect our natural resources and to take a step back to review and reconsider Synergen’s permit. It is essential that all water usage data be reviewed from 2019 to 2023 and included with the 1940 to 2018 study to have an accurate evaluation of the aquifer before a determination can be made regarding Synergen’s request.”
Iris Bergen, who had also attended the NRD meeting, asked a question regarding Synergen but also expressed safety concerns with the plans by Tallgrass to construct a carbon capture pipeline to carry CO2 from the KAAPA plant to Wyoming.
Solar farm moratorium
Mimicking action at last week’s meeting with regard to placing a moratorium on applications for large water user conditional use permits in the county, the board voted to place a similar moratorium on CUPs for commercial solar farms in the county for a period of one year.
In introducing Resolution 1181, Nelson said it had been brought up by a member of the public that the county’s planning and zoning requirements for such facilities needed to be updated to protect the public, adding “that is not something you just do overnight.”
The resolution, as read aloud to the commission by Planning and Zoning Director Hillary Betka, states that the commission “wishes to study the existing zoning regulations related to this use and review items to include setbacks, property value concerns, occupation dwelling definition and other items pertaining to commercial solar energy systems.”
The resolution is set to expire on May 20, 2025 “unless extended or rescinded by the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners by resolution.”
In discussing the resolution prior to the vote, commissioners agreed that Marvin Planning Consultants, the firm that had been retained to provide assistance with the Synergen application, should be consulted in the formulation of the new regulations regarding solar farms.
“What this is trying to avoid is someone coming in with a conditional use permit before these are in place,” Nelson said. “Because, if they come in with conditional use permit the regulations that are in place at that time are the governing rules. So what this would do is, if any solar farm would want to come into Hamilton County during this period of time when we’re in a moratorium, (the planning and zoning director) would not have to accept that conditional use permit.”
As with the large water user moratorium imposed last week, Betka was sent back to her office twice to make revisions to wording in the resolution, but in the end it was approved unanimously.
Additional county business
Other matters coming before the board on Monday were as follows:
* Casey Muzic of the Midland Agency on Aging presented her organization’s annual update to the commission as well as the agency’s annual funding request from the county. The annual membership dues for Hamilton County are $2,073. Muzic reported on the array of services the agency provides to seniors and others in Hamilton and seven other counties in the area.
* The commission accepted bids from all three companies that had recently submitted bids for selling gravel to the county. Highway Supt. Jeremy Brandt reported that the prices have gone up between 10 and 12 percent from last year and stated that the amount budgeted for gravel only covers about 10 percent of the county’s roads each year. The bids were from Hooker Brothers, SW Gravel and Overland.
* Extension Educator Mariah Newmeyer gave a general Extension update to the board, outlining the many youth and adult activities the office provided within the county over the past year. She said Barb Bonifas of Aurora has been hired to fill the 4-H coordinator position and that Grace Eckhardt was hired as a summer intern.
* Members of the board held a cell-phone conference call with Preservation Architect Jerry Berggren from Lincoln to clear up confusion surrounding the application for tax credits on the courthouse renovation project. After extensive discussion, the board appointed Thomas and McDonald to serve on a committee authorized to amend the tax credit application so that work can begin on the fire equipment room and other interior projects this summer.