Greene County board of supervisors chair John Muir shared his frustration with the county board of adjustment at the supervisors’ May 8 meeting.
The board of adjustment (BoA), after a long, contentious meeting May 4, denied a permit for National Grid Renewable’s Grand Junction Solar project by a 4-1 vote. Denying the permit outright was the most drastic of four options available to the board. Other options were to table the request for 30 days for clarification or more information, approve it with conditions, or approve it as presented.
The board of supervisors and county attorney Thomas Laehn had put considerable time and effort into writing the ordinance pertaining to utility-size solar installations. The supervisors, along with county zoning official Chuck Wenthold and Laehn, studied other county’s ordinances and went through several drafts before adopting the ordinance last October.
“Unfortunately, after all the work we did at this level to try to put together the ordinance, communication was severed. We’ll have to make some guesses on when we’ll know what the next turn of events will be,” Muir said. He had attended the BoA meeting but was not part of the deliberation.
The BoA’s rationale for denying the permit was that NGR’s plan does not include an adequate and detailed emergency response plan. Mike Holden, chair of the BoA, told the supervisors Monday that he sees an inconsistency in the ordinance in that it requires plans for roadway use and repair and for drainage repair prior to construction, but not a detailed emergency response plan.
Supervisor Dawn Rudolph told Holden that NGR had explained that a detailed emergency response plan could not be written until the project neared completion because some things just wouldn’t be known until then. Not requiring a detailed plan prior to the start of construction was intentional, she said, and followed other ordinances they had looked at.
The Iowa Utilities Board has granted NGR a permit conditional on obtaining a local permit. The BoA’s denial may jeopardize IUB’s permit. If the IUB voids the state permit because of the lack of a local permit, NGR could appeal the BoA’s decision in district court. At that time the supervisors would have a choice of going to court or granting the permit.
Another option for NGR would be to submit a new, amended application, attorney Laehn said.
A new application would be subject to the solar ordinance as it was written when the application was submitted. If the supervisors were to amend the current ordinance with language pertaining to an emergency response plan, the new application would be evaluated under the amended ordinance. Laehn cautioned against amending the ordinance now because if the BoA’s decision is appealed to district court, it would appear the county acted in bad faith.
“We learned through that meeting some things in that ordinance that are not as final … I don’t see a major change in the ordinance because we worked extensively looking at others, putting it together, coming up with those areas and those numbers. I think all of us around the table realize there are legal ramifications if we come in there and try (to change it),” Muir said.
Members of the board of adjustment are Angie Jewett, Wade Sohm, Dan Tronchetti, Cale Juergensen and Mike Holden. Holden serves as chairman. Holden’s was the lone vote to approve the permit.
In other business, the supervisors approved the first reading of an ordinance establishing a permitting process for food, services and merchandise vendors along the route through unincorporated areas of the county RAGBRAI® will u July 25. The draft was amended to add 501(c)5 organizations to the list of non-profits named to allow 4-H clubs to get a vendor’s license at the non-profit rate. Another change requires vendors to have proof of general liability insurance in the amount of $1 million.
The supervisors plan to approve the second reading and waive the third reading at the May 15 meeting.
The board set a public hearing for Tuesday, May 30, at 9 am on a permit request for Oakview Pork LLC, Site 2, in Section 21 of Greenbrier Township. Owner Nick Miller plans to construct two buildings for a capacity of 4,960 heads. The supervisors will review the master matrix at their May 22 meeting.
The supervisors will hold a public hearing on an amendment of the current year budget May 30 at 9:45. Auditor Jane Heun said none of the changes are “huge amounts.”
County engineer Wade Weiss informed the board that Union Pacific is again pressuring the county to close the railroad crossing on Linwood Rd northwest of Jefferson. It’s the only crossing in the county without gate arms and signals, “and people seem to have forgotten the ‘Stop, Look and Listen’ we used to talk about with crossings,” Weiss said.
By consensus the supervisors agreed the crossing should remain open. Only a few homes are on the road, but it’s a convenient route for moving large farm equipment.
He also reported that the bridge project over Snake Creek just north of Rippey has become more involved than expected, citing “a myriad of electrical lines” overhead and a water line nearby. He’ll meet with Midland Power representatives next week to figure out how to proceed.
He still plans to have the project completed before RAGBRAI passes through Rippey.
During the open forum, Peg Raney, chair of the Bell Tower Community Foundation’s Mahanay Music committee, briefed the supervisors on the committee’s contest to to get a short musical theme that will become known as a call that something’s about to happen in the downtown square. The committee is planning “Name that Tune” on Wednesdays and collaborating with the farmers market for dancing, painting and chalking on the bell tower plaza during three markets.
Related to the bell tower, engineer Weiss updated the supervisors on electrical issues with the Mahanay bells. The exposed bells are a unique feature of the Mahanay carillon, but the bells function as lightning rods. Three of the small bells have been struck by lightning, damaging the solenoids that are part of the chiming mechanism and silencing the bells.
Weiss said there’s expense involved not only in the actual replacement of the solenoids, but in hiring the crane needed to access the bells. He said he’s in discussion with Verdin Company about possibly putting the small bells among the larger bells, giving them some protection and eliminating the need to hire a crane to access them. In their current positions, they aren’t accessible through the hatch on the roof of the tower. It’s possible decoy bells could be hung on the outside for aesthetics.
He also reported a new handicap accessible door will be installed on the bell tower prior to the Bell Tower Festival June 8-10.
