By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
After months of work by the Great Bend Planning Commission to develop solar regulations for the three-mile zoning jurisdiction of Great Bend, the City Council voted 4-3 Monday to scrap the regulations and move forward with no specific solar guidelines.
Great Bend City Attorney Allen Glendenning was asked where the city goes from here, with Mayor Cody Schmidt concerned with the decision.
"The ordinance was designed to establish regulations for getting a conditional use permit for solar energy conservation systems," said Glendenning. "The city is now without any regulations on that kind of thing. We have no regulations governing solar facilities in the city at this point."
"In my opinion, that is probably the worst thing that could have happened," Mayor Schmidt responded to Glendenning's comment.
The actual motion was to adopt the solar regulations that were approved by the Planning Commission. With three votes supporting the motion and four against, the motion was denied.
Councilmembers Alan Moeder, Cory Urban and Davis Jimenez voted in favor of the solar regulations that would have set a minimum of 1,000-foot setback of any solar development from the property line of a tract with a residence. Councilmember Tina Mingenback abstained from voting, while Rickee Maddox, Kevyn Soupiset, Jolene Biggs and Lindsey Krom-Craven voted against adopting the solar regulations.
Acciona Energy has shown interest in building solar plants near Cheyenne Bottoms. No regulations in place does not deny any company from seeking to construct the panels within city limits, but Glendenning did say having no guidelines makes it more challenging for the city council to control potential development.
"For example, it probably could be treated as an accessory use for small ones that are put on rooftops in residential districts," said Glendenning. "You could make arguments either way as to whether or not our current zoning regulations would permit it. Once you have a solar project, whether it's a small one on somebody's housetop or a big facility...once you can fit into the current zoning regulations there are no other regulations about size and setbacks other than the standard setbacks that everybody has to abide by."
Barton County passed solar regulations into effect this past April that include a two-mile, no-build zone around Cheyenne Bottoms, covering more than 49,000 acres in the county.