Logan County Zoning and Economic Development
Committee hears proposal for a new windfarm, updates on broadband, and fines for Top Hat Construction

 

[November 17, 2024] 

The Zoning and Economic Development Committee of the Logan County Board met on Tuesday evening in the Blue Room at the Logan County Safety Complex. The meeting started just around 6 p.m. It was supposed to begin after the Finance Committee’s meeting, but the chairman of that committee, Dale Nelson, was running late. The committee members decided to conduct the Zoning meeting first in the interest of time.

The members in attendance for this meeting were Chairman Keenan Leesman, JR Glenn, and Joseph Kuhlman. Vice Chairman Nelson came in after the meeting had started. Bob Sanders was not in attendance. There is also currently a vacancy on this committee after the resignation of Emily Davenport. Board member Michael DeRoss was also in attendance, but he is not a member of this committee.

Broadband Initiative

Leesman started the meeting by discussing old business, the first of which was an update on the Broadband Initiative Project. Leesman shared that some good headway was made on this front. Everything that is needed to get the grant for this project is currently up to date. Leesman also shared that an environmental review is needed, and all of the information for that process has been submitted as well. Brad Hauge, the Logan County State’s Attorney, is also looking into an Indefeasible Right of Use, or an IRU. According to the website TechTarget, an IRU “is a contractual agreement (temporary ownership) of a portion of the capacity of an international cable.” This would give Logan County the right to access and use these cables that cannot be taken away.

Home Occupations (home based businesses)

The next item that was discussed was home occupations. In-home daycare was the primary home occupation that was discussed, and the idea of having time limits as to when people can drop off/pick up their kids. The time frame that seemed the most popular was 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Nelson proposed the idea of having no time restrictions, stating that some people may need to drop their child off earlier than whatever time limit the county could put in place.

Committee hears proposal for another new wind farm

Liberty representatives were on hand for the next discussion. Liberty was previously known as Algonquin Power but was recently acquired by an American firm. Liberty, and the representatives of it, are the same company/individuals who proposed and created the Sugar Creek Wind Farm several years back. The people present from Liberty were Senior Manager Nelson Moleiro and Manager Paige Cowley. This time, they came to propose the idea of a solar farm that would be placed in the same location as the wind farm.

The idea is that this new solar farm would be located where there are already wind turbines at the Sugar Creek location. This proposed placement, which would be mostly south of State Route 10 between New Holland and Burton View, has two primary locations. The first is north and south of Route 10 between 400th Avenue and County Road 500 E. The second would be north and south of 1550th Street between County Road 500 E and 600th Avenue. There would be space left around the wind turbines that are currently there, and a new substation would need to be created just south of Route 10.

As for the benefits to the county, Moleiro shared that they had worked with a company to get estimates for tax revenue that would be generated as well as the number of jobs that could potentially be created. In the first year that the proposed solar farm is live, it is estimated that it will generate $750,000 of tax revenue. Over the thirty-year life of the project, it is estimated that it would generate over $15.3 million. Moleiro stated that these estimates were thought to be conservative. As for employment, during construction, it is believed that about 75 jobs will be created for Logan County and 350 statewide. Once the project is up and running, it is estimated that seven jobs will be created for the county and 20 for the state.

Currently, Liberty has not filled out the application for the project. Cowley stated that she expects this to be done sometime in December. If the project gets the green light, they expect construction should begin in quarter two or three of 2026, with the solar farm coming online in quarter three of 2027. They also shared that after the thirty-year lifetime of the project, the land will be returned to agricultural use.

Fines discussed for Top Hat Construction

One more big issue that was discussed in this meeting was a fine that was issued by the State’s Attorney’s office to Top Hat Construction. According to Al Green of the Logan County Zoning Office, Top Hat was pouring concrete until 9:30 p.m. one evening recently. Bret Hauge, the Logan County State’s Attorney, “fined the hell out of them,” said Green. The fine amounted to $50,000. Anytime a construction company is going to be working outside of approved hours, they must contact the chairman of the Logan County Board, DeRoss. This was not done in this instance, hence the fine.

Other Business

Later that night, a short Executive and Personnel meeting was held. It started with a brief executive session to discuss the resignation of Emily Davenport. All the guests had to step out of the room during this time.

After the executive session, the committee voted to send the renewal of Dynamic Lifecycle Innovations’ Recycling contract for 2025 to the Workshop meeting. The committee also stated that they had not yet read the resolution that was brought forth by the group United Sovereign Americans at October’s Workshop meeting. It was decided to send this to old business for next month’s committee meeting.

Four appointments were also approved and sent to the Workshop meeting with no discussion. These appointments are Jane Whiteman for Logan County Animal Control Warden, Ashley Allen for Logan County Animal Control Assistant Warden, and both Bill Sahs and Roger Bock for Logan County Board of Health.

The last issue of the night was a raffle being conducted by the Logan Railsplitter Association. This was also sent to the Workshop meeting with no discussion.

[Matt Boutcher]