The Barton County Board of Commissioners decided to table their vote to briefly extend the moratorium on commercial solar that ends on March 31. The County Commissioners instead opted to hold a special meeting on Friday, March 29 at 9 a.m. in their temporary location at the former JC Penney building at 1500 Kansas Ave. At Friday’s special meeting, commissioners will vote on the recommended regulations presented to them by the Planning Commission for large scale non-commercial and commercial solar in Unincorporated areas of Barton County.
County Commissioners have three options for the three documents they will be voting on: accept the draft regulations as written with a simple majority (3 out of 5); return the documents to the planning commission, or over-ride the documents at the meeting, both of which require a super majority (4 out of 5). The meeting is open to the public.
The planning commission voted March 14 to recommended draft regulations to the Board of County Commissioners for approval of large scale non-commercial and commercial scale solar energy conversion systems (SECS). The County Commissioners were unable to vote on the draft regulations at Tuesday’s meeting due to a 14-day protest period that ends Thursday. Planning commission members knew the March 31 deadline would be problematic. Originally, the moratorium on SECS in Barton county was set to expire at the end of 2023. It was put in place last May to give the planning commission time to draft regulations. At the Dec. 19 county commission meeting, County Counselor Patrick Hoffman explained that the moratorium could be lifted as soon as the planning commission was finished or extended if the planning commission needed. The planning commission formally asked for a 6-month extension at that meeting. Commissioner Tricia Schlessiger made a motion to extend the moratorium until Feb. 13, which was met with comments that the proposed month and a half extension did not allow for enough time to comply with state statutes. Schlessiger then recommended March 1.
Mary Anne Stoskopf, planning commission member, again reminded the commissioners that there are state statutes that have to be followed and Schlessiger refused to amend her resolution to extend past March 1. Her resolution failed 2-3 with commissioners Schlessiger and Hutchinson voting in favor. Members of the planning commission stated that they were asking for 6 months but the minimum they felt possible was 3 months.
Commissioner Barb Esfeld then recommended a resolution to extend the moratorium 3 months expiring March 31 which did pass 3-2 with commissioners Esfeld, Reif, and Zimmerman in favor. The course for overturning a recommendation of the planning commission typically requires a super majority vote from county commissioners.
Commissioner Shawn Hutchinson stated that since the county commissioners put the moratorium in place, he felt it unnecessary to have a super majority overturn the planning commission’s recommendation. Hoffman agreed.
Planning Commission members have on multiple occasions stated they have felt rushed through the process with County Commissioners and their counselor claiming moratoriums burden the rights of landowners and the county has a duty to swiftly move through the process. Commissioner Schlessiger has been reluctant and unwilling to grant the moratorium extension requests.
At study session on March 19, Environmental Manager and Zoning Administrator Judy Goreham presented the County Commissioners with the recommended regulations from the planning commission. Goreham noted the issue with the moratorium ending after the 14-day protest period but before the next regular Commissioner meeting on April 2 and the possibility of the documents being returned to the planning commission for revision if the regulation recommendations were not accepted by the County Commissioners. If regulations are returned to the planning commission their next meeting is April 11 with the following Commission meeting April 16. It was recommended informally to consider extending the moratorium 30 days to account for those possibilities. A formal vote to extend the moratorium was placed on the meeting agenda which was tabled March 26 and a special meeting was scheduled.
Addressing additional concerns
An email was sent to County Commissioners addressing concerns about a potential conflict of interest, with certain commissioners rushing the process to protect leases involved in the current proposed project.
Many of the leases have five year option terms and were originally signed in late 2018 and throughout 2019.
Hoffman responded by email saying, “I have been advising the commissioners since the moratorium was put in place that it should be ended as soon as possible because it burdens landowners’ rights. Many counties throughout Kansas put moratoriums in place at the same time as Barton County and most of those counties have either finished their zoning process or are close to finishing the process by now. I have never seen one of the local solar leases but regardless of their terms Barton County has a duty to move swiftly through the zoning process.”
Several Kansas counties are finalizing the regulations for commercial solar but some are pausing for more time. In August 2023 McPherson County extended their moratorium on commercial solar indefinitely, which they have had in place since 2021.
However, although Hoffman has not seen any local solar leases he is well acquainted with alternative energy leases in Kansas.
He wrote in a March 2021 letter to the Kansas Senate Utilities Committee in opposition to Senate Bill 279, “I am an attorney in Ellsworth, KS. Since I started practicing law in 2007, I have helped hundreds of landowners review and negotiate wind leases and easements. 99% of my wind farm work is representing landowners, and I have also worked for local governments to negotiate PILOT Agreements.”
Concerns about the parents of a County Commissioner’s former campaign treasurer having active leases with the solar company which is proposing the current project went unanswered. The campaign treasurer for Commissioner Schlessiger had notarized a lease agreement between her parents and Acciona in May of 2022 just days before the public announcement of Commissioner Schlessiger’s campaign. Currently the former campaign treasurer’s parents have 1,100 acres leased for solar development filed with the Barton County Register of Deeds office.
Hoffman provided the Tribune with the legal definition of Conflict of Interest in the state of Kansas, “Please be aware that Kansas Statute 75-4301a is the law which defines when an elected official has a ‘substantial interest’ in an issue which would create conflict of interest, and it defines that as an individual or their spouse receiving $5,000 or 5% of any business, whichever is less, in the preceding 12 months. There is absolutely no reason to believe anyone associated with this process has such an interest.”
