Evening public hearing could take place in June
It appears the conditional use zoning permit application for the proposed Synergen Green Energy ammonia production plant won’t come before the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners until possibly sometime in June at the earliest.
At the commission’s regular meeting on Monday, an agenda item called for the board to discuss and consider approval of a public hearing date for the Synergen CUP. The permit received a negative recommendation in March at the end of a three-hour meeting of the county’s Joint Planning and Zoning Commission, but the county board has the final say in the matter.
In announcing the item, Chairman Rich Nelson said in discussions with representatives of Synergen and the Aurora Development Corporation (ADC), it had been agreed that Monday, May 20 would work for the public hearing. He said, however, the board’s vote on the matter would take place at a later date to give commissioners time to weigh the evidence for and against.
“Having a public hearing and then voting immediately, unless it’s clear cut, doesn’t give you time for consideration,” he said.
Nelson proposed holding the hearing in the Ag Building at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds (where Planning and Zoning Commission meetings are routinely held) and starting at 1 p.m. as a continuation of the board’s regular Monday meeting. However, at the suggestion of Commissioner John Thomas, the time was moved to 7 p.m. to allow more people to attend.
Commissioner Francis McDonald made a motion to that effect but, although it received a second, the motion was eventually withdrawn following further discussion.
Thomas asked whether the commission was under any deadline for holding a hearing, to which County Attorney Douglas Dexter responded, “You can’t push it off indefinitely.”
Nelson went on to describe the discussions that have been ongoing within a group comprised of himself, McDonald, County Business Manager Pat Shaw and Planning and Zoning Director Hillary Betka concerning the matter. He said those discussions have also involved representatives of Synergen and the ADC.
“Synergen has assured us that they have made changes to the proposal and that the questions brought up at the Planning and Zoning meeting will be answered,” Nelson said.
Thomas continued to press the issue stating that he wanted assurance that the Upper Big Blue Natural Resources District had worked out any issues it had with the water usage part of the permit. Commissioner Nancy Salmon said she agreed with the need to wait until all the information is in, saying she doesn’t want to “jump the gun” on the matter. It was also suggested that the matter may be coming up again at the NRD’s next meeting scheduled for May 16.
(Editor’s note: The News-Register contacted the Upper Big Blue NRD office in York Monday and learned that there was discussion on the Synergen water permit at the April board meeting, focused on feedback from members of the public. There is an item on the May 16 agenda regarding rules for handling future large water use permit requests, though the Synergen permit will not be discussed.)
After further discussion at the county board meeting Monday, McDonald withdrew his earlier motion and offered a substitute motion which would move the agenda item regarding setting of the hearing date to May 20. That motion passed unanimously.
According to state law, such hearings must be published in the newspaper of record at least two weeks in advance, which means the hearing could not take place until at least June 3.
While saying he doesn’t want to delay the matter indefinitely, Nelson lauded the vote by saying, “We want to have as many facts pulled together as we can.”
New extension building
A new home for the county Extension office was also a matter of discussion at Monday’s meeting.
With plans to renovate the 4-H Building at the fairgrounds into a new headquarters for the Extension service having fallen through recently due to the difficulty and cost of renovating the building, the commission has been discussing constructing a new building for the Extension service, which currently has its offices on the first floor of the courthouse. It was agreed the best site for the building is the footprint of the existing county weed shop which adjoins the fairgrounds on the west along East 12th Road. County Highway Supt. Jeremy Brandt reported that the property was transferred to the county around 1970 and the county has been paying the utilities and utilizing the building as the headquarters for its annual noxious weed spraying operation ever since.
The discussion Monday focused on what to do with the existing quonset building on the site now, the timeline for getting bids for a new building and the cost of a building.
McDonald, who is on the committee looking into the matter along with Commissioner Nicole SaBell, said he does not want to involve an engineer in the process. He said that could be done by setting up a pre-engineered building and then hiring a contractor to come in and finish the interior. He said the plan that was drawn up for the renovation of the 4-H Building would be sufficient for the project.
Thomas inquired as to whether the university would contribute any money toward construction of the building. Extension Educator Mariah Newmyer, who was present in the audience, said she would look into it.
Noting a large number of envelopes in boxes in the commission’s meeting room, County Clerk Jill DeMers said the envelopes contained more than 2,500 Primary Election ballots that will be mailed out Wednesday. She said they are for voters in Precincts 1-6, which are mail-in only.