County examines how make renewable energy development agreements fair and equitable

 

[September 09, 2020] 

At the Logan County Board Planning and Zoning Committee meeting, discussion focused on two items related to renewable energy developments. One focus was on permitting fees and fines being restrictive on businesses. The other discussion was about having more awareness of what is in the road use agreements.

Planning and Zoning Committee members present were Committee Chairman David Hepler, vice chairman David Blankenship, Board Chairman Emily Davenport, Cameron Halpin and Scott Schaffenacker. Logan County Zoning Officer Will D’Andrea was also present.

There has been so much development with wind farms in the past several years and Hepler said there are elements that may be problematic for developers.

The county hires an attorney that reflects the standards of the 12 people on the board. Hepler wanted to know if the committee wanted to temper some of these problematic areas. He asked for thoughts on these issues.

Blankenship said he does not support third party brokering in any way whatsoever including green energy. He feels these brokers are not needed to navigate prospective businesses through our county government.

Our county is small and has many professionals, so Blankenship said having a “middleman” to navigate through non-existent bureaucracy is simply not necessary.

Schaffenacker said some developers have had extra funds they did not expect to have and redirected them towards community projects.

There were questions of whether communities have approached companies for funding or whether the company is approaching them.

For Schaffenacker, his experience is the companies approach communities to offer charitable incentives.

D’Andrea said one recent applicant made voluntary contributions to local townships and different organizations as a way of being a good neighbor. They did not hide the fact they were approaching the townships. He said the board cannot stop companies from doing that.

Blankenship expressed concerns about the timing of charitable donations and the potential impact such donations may have on board decisions.

Halpin said he agreed with Blankenship and does not want to get into a quid pro quo situation.

Davenport said the county needs to find a balance between attracting new businesses but not being vulnerable or looking desperate.

Several discussions have focused on the rural roads and infrastructure during the construction process. Hepler said the county wants to make sure roads are returned to their original state if not better than the builders found them.

With the previous wind farms, Hepler said there have been millions of dollars of required payments and potential fines that he thinks seem disproportionate.

Hepler reminded the committee of an incident where six or seven trucks going down a road, they were not supposed to equal six figures in fines.

When it comes to roads and infrastructure, Hepler said he wants strong protection and would like to see them left as good as or better than they were before developers came in. He feels six figure penalties seems disproportionate to infractions that may occur.

Fifth Street Road has been in disrepair for years and Halpin said wind farm developers should not be responsible for fixing it.

Since some parts of that road were likely to be damaged by the loads being brought in for the Sugar Creek Wind Farm project, D’Andrea said the developers set aside funds to help repair it.

While Hepler wants to see roads, bridges, and infrastructure protected, he does not want to get into pay for play. Moving forward, Hepler said expecting that projects can contribute millions of additional dollars in addition to the road use process is probably not going to happen. Hepler said he would like the road use agreements to stick with our roads.
 

Regarding road use agreements, D’Andrea said many of the roads are township roads the county has no jurisdiction over. The townships have their own road use agreements. County road agreements are separate and D’Andrea said these go through the Road and Bridge Committee.
Blankenship supports strong and equitable road use and decommissioning agreements for all parties involved.

Furthermore, though Logan County State’s Attorney Brad Hauge does not have the background to be legal counsel for road use agreements, Hepler said he should be involved in the process of helping find legal counsel. Then, the board could decide whether to approve them.

When the board approves some of these agreements, Hepler said they do not even know everything that is in them. It would be beneficial for the board to have a better legal understanding of these agreements.

To help deal with the problems the county has had with roads, D’Andrea said developers pay for legal counsel.

As for the money coming in from the projects, Schaffenacker asked whether the property taxes from wind farms stay in the county.

All taxing bodies in the county receive money. Hepler said they go to schools, fire departments, community colleges, cemetery districts and library districts. Most of the money stays in the community.

When property taxes come in from the wind projects generating electricity, Hepler said that brings in a whole new revenue stream.

Davenport said with numerous taxing bodies, the county just gets a small amount of the taxes from these projects.

Permit fees are what are put in the budget, but Schaffenacker said we cannot keep relying on them ten years down the road.

Property taxes decrease on an annual basis, so Schaffenacker said looking at it from a finance and budget view, we should not keep relying on them.

Both Blankenship and Hepler agreed with that point. Blankenship said it is not good wisdom to put potential permit fees that have not yet been received in the budget. Blankenship feels that is an unsustainable practice and evidence of budgeting beyond our means.

As Hepler said, future projects may not be contributing as much as anticipated. Projected revenues from wind farm may vary widely based on the size and layout of the project.

Though Hepler wants to be developer friendly and business friendly, he does not extract more money out of the developers and businesses.

When word gets around that counties are business friendly, developers are more likely to bring their business here. Most of these projects are sold to investors and Hepler said when there are millions of dollars in fees and road upgrades, it makes the county less attractive for future businesses.

[Angela Reiners]