By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
A little more than a decade has passed since the Barton County Commission adopted Article VIII for regulations pertaining to wind energy conversion systems (WECS) in the county. The board toured the Planning and Zoning Department last week, and County Counselor Patrick Hoffman said during Tuesday's commission meeting that, based on the recent approval of commercial solar regulations, it may be time to revisit wind energy regulations.
"The item is really for the commissioners, but one option for you guys would be to direct the planning commission to review the current wind energy regs for commercial solar and just review that process and potentially update it," Hoffman said.
The wind energy item on Tuesday's commission agenda prompted some concerns from citizens though no applications to build a commercial wind farm in the county have been submitted. James Welch, chairperson for the Planning Committee, said his board has received copies of Labette County's wind regulations, and there are major differences between the more current regulations and those Barton County passed in 2013.
"We've been talking informally about updating wind energy for about three months now, but we devoted most of our time in the past, sometimes twice a month, on solar energy," Welch said. "We're ready to tackle this."
Hoffman said that, while Barton County does have wind regulations on the books, if a permit did come in now, the county would have to use those regulations even if they are outdated. The board of commissioners voted 5-0 to direct the planning commission to review Article VIII as it pertains to future development of commercial-scale WECS in Barton County.