In a split vote, Allen County commissioners on Tuesday accepted a recommendation from the county’s planning committee to allow EDP Renewables to set up a wind farm.
The field of 56 to 60 turbines will be in the northeast part of the county scattered over 14,000 acres.
Commissioners Tom Williams and Jerry Daniels voted aye; Jim Talkington was the nay.
After an hour of pleadings from those against the wind farm, including fears about depressed land values, a threat to health, as well as compromise of the rural aesthetic, Talkington said, “I’d like to send it back to the planning commission” for further review.
“I disagree,” said Williams, and moved the planning commission’s recommendation be accepted.
Commissioner Daniels, monitoring the proceedings by speaker phone, sided with Williams.
Daniels also said being a rural landowner himself, “I don’t want to tell people what they can and cannot do with their land.”
Planning commission members have discussed the project on five occasions over the last two years. EDP, Overland Park, first broached the county in 2014.
Since then planners have recommended rules, regulations and concessions for any prospective wind farm, all approved by county commissioners.
AMONG those against the wind farm was Jim Shetlar, an Overland Park attorney who owns a farm in east Allen County, and Mark Spillman and Patti Boyd, who live in the general area of the wind farm project.
Shetlar’s comments, notably free of rancor, argued the wind farm would depress area land values by as much as 20 to 40 percent, and maybe 50 percent, according to conversations he had had with a real estate broker in Emporia.
He also suggested aggrieved parties had not been made fully aware of the proceedings.
Williams opened his arms. “I want to give you opportunity to say what you want to say,” he replied — and did. However, he added, “we have a planning commission for a purpose,” to give ample time for all involved to make their case.
At this point County Counselor Alan Weber intervened, saying the only reason commissioners should go against the planning committee’s recommendation is if they thought it was “arbitrary or capricious,” and not based on facts presented.
Shetlar alleged environmental studies commissioned by EDP might in fact have been biased.
Spillman raised some of the same issues. His wife, Virginia, said when she offered information she had researched about health and other issues, planners weren’t receptive. “They didn’t make eye contact. Looked down at their notes when I was talking.”
Boyd wondered “what are the benefits to the county” of permitting the wind farm, which is not bound to pay property taxes until its 11th year of generation.
Stevee Kennard, EDP project director, said the property tax model would have the company paying in excess of $1 million a year starting when the 10-year exemption expired.
Even so, EDP has promised to make a yet-to-be-determined annual payment in lieu of taxes.
AFTER the commissioners’ vote, Kennard told the Register about 60 landowners were involved in the 14,000-plus acres under lease agreement.
For those with towers on their land, compensation will be based on linear foot of transmission lines and roads leading to turbines. They also will be paid for acreage under lease.
Those nearby, including some within confines of the wind farm who didn’t lease their land, will receive annual neighbor payments of $300 a year, for recognition of being close to production areas, and as a goodwill gesture on EDP’s part, Kennard said.
While Shetlar and others expressed concern about their land being devalued, no mention was made of whether annual payments to owners of leased land would be a positive factor in their land’s value.
The wind farm is expected to generate power for at least 20 years.
Meanwhile, NextEra, an energy company based in Florida, is acquiring lease options for a wind farm in southwest Bourbon and southeast Allen counties. NextEra has not yet formally approached Allen County about preliminaries for its project.
