More moratoriums?

Another month, another moratorium.

Jay County Plan Commission agreed Thursday to host a public hearing next month and discuss enacting moratoriums on wind farm and carbon sequestration development.

Jay/Portland Building and Planning director John Hemmelgarn noted his office is working on potential updates to the solar farm ordinance and drafting a battery storage ordinance. (Jay County Commissioners approved ordinances last month establishing one-year moratoriums on commercial solar and battery storage operations in the county.)

“We have been bombarded with some unusual things this year,” said Hemmelgarn.

In line with updating the solar farm ordinance, Hemmelgarn asked the plan commission to discuss updates to its wind farm ordinance. He referenced potential flaws with decommissioning agreements and suggested looking into readjusting templates for future agreements, asking the plan commission to enact a moratorium on wind farms while the county works out the details.

Addressing other concerns his office has heard, Hemmelgarn also asked the plan commission to enact another moratorium while considering an ordinance outlining rules for carbon sequestration facilities.

According to the United States Geological Survey’s website, “carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide,” the most commonly produced greenhouse gas. Its website says the process is one method to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

“With the ethanol plant, they’ve went and done their geological studies, and it’s in other counties, and it’s in other states, it’s a real thing, and I don’t think we want to get caught off guard with that,” Hemmelgarn said. 

He noted there are state guidelines carbon sequestration facilities must follow. He pointed out that plan commission member and Jay County Council president Matt Minnich has brought up the topic to him.

Other potential facilities the county may want to look into creating ordinances for, he continued, may be data centers and electric vehicle charging stations. 

He and plan commission member Jeanne Houchins referenced Kosciusko County, which they said recently rejected a data center. 

Hemmelgarn also mentioned potential safety concerns with electric vehicle charging stations. He wondered aloud if the county should create an ordinance specifically dealing with the stations, or if they can be treated as an accessory use and monitored with electric code.

Plan commission members Casey Wagner, Chad Aker, Scott Hilfiker, Todd Skirvin, Brad Daniels, Houchins and Minnich, absent Steve McIntosh, then agreed to host a public hearing at their next meeting June 12 and consider moratoriums on wind farms and carbon sequestration facilities.

Also Thursday, the plan commission approved a zoning request from Darrick Plummer of Pennville Partners to allow three parcels currently zoned as single family residential to join the new mobile home park in Pennville.

Plummer plans to convert the lot west of South Street, just south of Max Drive, and the lot south of Daisy Lane — it's located next to the existing Freedom Village Mobile Home Park — into more mobile home park space. Jay County Board of Zoning Appeals OK’d Plummer’s request in October to combine the two parcels — about 12 acres — and create the mobile home park.

Jay County Board of Zoning Appeals approved a special exception for the project in April, adding three new parcels to the project. One parcel is located on the west side of county road 300 North, north of Daily Lane, and the other two parcels are located on the north side of Max Drive.

Hopes are to put in 50 lots for homes over the course of the next four to five years.

Pati McLaughlin of Jay/Portland Building and Planning McLaughlin pointed out the original legal notice didn’t run in The Commercial Review prior to the April meeting, requiring the zoning board to re-approve the request after the notice was published. Jay County Board of Zoning Appeals will consider the request again at its meeting May 15. If approved, the final decision moves to Jay County Commissioners.