Sugar Creek Wind Farm road money going in the sock for Fifth Street Road Project

 

[April 19, 2019] 

LINCOLN 

At the Logan County Board meeting on Tuesday, April 16, Road and Bridge Committee Chairman Bob Farm brought forward several motions, which included approval of road use agreements for both Whitney Hill and Sugar Creek Wind Farms.

Sugar Creek Wind Farm Project comes with a big bonus for the county.

The wind farm project made its first formal advances requesting building permits in June 2011, however project Manager Stan Komperda wisely began working with the county years before that step. And it was when the first approach happened that it occurred to Logan County Highway Engineer Bret Aukamp that the location of the wind farm offered a potential solution to the long-standing challenge for the area, the redevelopment of the blacktop between Middletown and Lincoln.

Rather than making pre-construction improvements to Fifth Street Road, the county will save the developer money needed for road improvements.

With the road use plans about completed, Aukamp said the recovery road work can be done once the wind farm is built and the developer no longer needs to use that road.

Road use contract attorney Sheryl Churney said that if the developer provides that money to go into the county’s pot at the end of the project, the developer can help accomplish the long-term goal for repairing and widening Fifth Street Road.

The Sugar Creek Wind Road Use Agreement has the signature of the developer, but Aukamp said it still needs to be reviewed by the state’s attorney.

Aukamp said the Road Use Agreement for Whitney Hill is also pending due to needing the Logan County State’s Attorney’s review and the signature of the developer.

In regard to road use contract changes, Churney said they have added fines for any traffic control deficiencies for both Whitney Hill and Sugar Creek. With this provision, the companies are obligated to let someone know when there is a problem with the road which needs to be fixed and depending on the severity, they have anywhere from a half-hour to twelve hours to address the issue. If the problem is not addressed, a fine of $2,500 can be assessed.

Churney said something else that came up that the County Board has included in the conditional use permits has to do with nighttime construction activities. The road agreement says overweight and oversized vehicles cannot use the roads after daylight hours, which creates confusion about what can be done at night.

Both agreements will allow construction vehicles that are not overweight or oversized use the local roads between sunset and sunrise if the vehicles are being used for the pouring of the tower foundation, erection of tower sections, placement of nacelles and blades on a tower, performing maintenance inspections, preparing for next day construction activity, or repairing equipment. Churney said this language reflects what is in the conditional use permit.

The Road Use Agreement with Liberty Power for the Sugar Creek Wind Farm passed 11-1.

Schaffenacker abstained.

The Road Use Agreement with Swift Current Energy for the Whitney Hill Wind Farm passed 10-1-1.

Sanders voted no.

Schaffenacker abstained.

Other Road and Bridge motions presented by R&B Committee Chairman Bob Farmer were unanimously approved:

- an engineering agreement with Hutchison Engineering for construction inspection assistance on the Deer Creek Bridge Project on Primm Road. Aukamp said the dollar amount is not to exceed $25,000.

Aukamp said the bridge repair has shut down parts of Primm Road for at least the next couple months.

- to reduce the speed limit to 25 miles per hour on County Highway 12 in Broadwell.

- to reduce the speed limit to 40 miles per hour on a portion of 1300th Street in Chester Township.

- to award contracts for sealcoat work on roads.

- to appropriate Federal Funds for half of the county engineer’s salary.

Members present and voting were Board Chairman Emily Davenport, Vice chairman Scott Schaffenacker, Kevin Bateman, Dave Blankenship, Janet Estill, Bob Farmer, David Hepler, Steve Jenness, Chuck Ruben, Bob Sanders, Annette Welch and Jim Wessbecher.

[Angela Reiners]

Past related information:

In July 2009 - Sugar Creek was finishing up wind studies nearing the completion of their planning phase with EPA and other permitting processes expected to begin soon.

June 2011 - New wind farm enters local building permit process

April 2019 - Whitney Hill and Sugar Creek road use agreements ready
Sugar Creek to aid Fifth Street redevelopment

March 2019 - Logan County Board grants Sugar Creek Wind Farm staged construction

March 2019 - Logan County Board approves Whitney Hill Wind Project near Mount Pulaski