Members sought for study committee

Introducing a moratorium was the first step.

Forming a committee comes next.

Jay County Plan Commission met briefly Thursday to lay out the process for forming a group to study the county’s wind farm ordinance.

Jay County Building and Planning director John Hemmelgarn told the commission and the public that anyone interested in serving on the committee should contact his office. It can be reached at [email protected] or (260) 726-6904.

Hemmelgarn proposed a study committee of seven — two members of plan commission, one county commissioner, one resident in favor of wind farms, one resident in opposition of wind farms and two members of the general public. Size of the committee and appointment of its members is ultimately up to plan commission president Mike Leonhard.

Some residents have already expressed interest in serving on the commission, Hemmelgarn said. He added that his goal is to have a committee in place within about a month and for that group to get started soon after. In response to a question from Mandi Boeckman, who has been a wind farm opponent, Hemmelgarn said he has developed a list of topics that will need to be reviewed but that the committee will decide how it wants to move forward with the process, including meeting with experts in the field.

The study committee is being formed after the plan commission in June recommended a three-year moratorium on wind farms in order to study the county’s ordinance in response to opposition to Scout Clean Energy’s Bitter Ridge Wind Farm project. County commissioners enacted the moratorium July 9.

The Bitter Ridge project is not affected by the moratorium because Scout filed its construction application prior to the moratorium being put in place.

The $135-million project calls for 52 wind turbines to be constructed in Jefferson and Richland townships.

Jay County’s first wind farm, Bluff Point Wind Energy Center, was completed last year.

Plan commission members asked about county ordinances beyond the wind farm issue, with Shane Houck wondering if solar farms should be considered as well and Ted Champ questioning when the last time the county’s zoning ordinances had been reviewed in their entirety.

Leonhard could expand the scope of the study committee to include solar, though Hemmelgarn said no companies have approached the building and planning department about interest in such a facility. Pati McLaughlin, assistant director of building and planning, said the last major overhaul of the zoning ordinance was about a decade ago. Updates to the section of the ordinance regarding confined feeding were made in November 2016, completing a two-year review process.

Plan commission member Tom Laux asked about whether updates need to be made to the county’s comprehensive plan that is nearly 30 years old. Hemmelgarn said he will bring up the issue with county commissioners at their meeting Monday.