Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, but they're redoing things and it's not like awesome or something. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I think all the microphones are on, and I think we're recording.

or something like that. I'm Dave Rose-Acting, chairman of the Adams County Planning Commission meeting. And I would like to welcome you all to the meeting tonight.

And Madam Secretary, would you please step up? Yes. Commissioner Adcock. Yes. Commissioner DePriest. Yes. Commissioner Fitzgerald? Here. Commissioner Faulk? Here. Commissioner Hayes? Present. Commissioner Richardson? Here. Commissioner Robes? Here. Commissioner Thompson? Here. Commissioner Williams? Here. Thank you. Yeah. Holder. At this time, I just want to mention, if you have your phones with you, please turn them off so we can hear you at the meeting at any time.

And again, welcome to the meeting. Thank you.

president voting so at this time we will be seating commissioners will vote and at the first agenda item that's not on the consent agenda i think it would be commissioner folkt would be uh voting There might be some recusals, but we'll get to those on the second agenda, and then we can announce who the voting members have talked to.

Okay. So we need one more. Okay. Thank you. Would you all help with the stamp of pleas of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, with liberty and equality for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Could we have a motion to promote the agenda this evening? So moved. Second. Second. Second. All those in favor of the agenda, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, same child. Agenda is approved through all the minutes from the last meeting. Mr. Chair. Yes. I would like to approve the August 13th, 2026 Planning Commission Meeting of Minutes. Second. Second. First and second from the approval of minutes from the last meeting. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. Passes. Okay, this item went on. We have a consent agenda. And we need a motion to approve a consent agenda. Mr. Chair? Yes. I would like to have item B pulled from the consent agenda and discussed with staff. Other than that, I would make a motion to approve item A. Second. Okay. So there's been a motion to approve item A in the consent agenda. Any discussion? All right, we're all at the same time. Okay, item A, the consent agenda is going to close at this time. We will discuss item B, is that correct? Okay. Do you want to raise your comments? Sure. I'm interested in whether or not there are any utilities that are located in the area of right-of-way vacation, or if there's any need for utilities in the future for that. I didn't see anything in the information that we had provided to us. I just want to make sure that that is not something that's needed.

good afternoon planning commission my name is connor cutrell i'm a planner here with adams county community economic development department i'm the case manager on this plat on the side of ian cortez here with me tonight he's the right-of-way manager to specifically answer your question there are no utilities in this vacation area we did send the plans and the referral package to on both Xcel Energy Lumen and CitraLink prior when we got this in 2025, and they all had no objections to this specific right-of-way vacation. There is, on the left-hand side of the plat here, you can see that there still is an easement area there that does remain.

getting additional information on that. With that information, I would move to approve the proposed resolution. Second. There's been a motion and a second. Is there approval of item 3, 2017? Any discussion? Any other questions? Aye. All those opposed, same. Same time. Okay, item B, the consent agenda also is approved. Okay, go ahead with the first case. For discussion.

county community and economic development department and as mentioned this first case that we're going to talk about today is an application for a minor subdivision final plot to create one single lot on 13.6 acres within the industrial three zone district it's important to note also there is an associated improvements agreement which is subject to the board of county commissioner approval only but it does affect the subdivision and the criteria approval, so I do want to at least mention that that agreement exists. The applicant is brand incorporated. They were previously granted a conditional use permit back in August of 2024 for a concrete batch plant on the site, and that was granted by the Board of County Commissioners for three years until August 2027. And as a condition of that conditional use permit, it was required that a subdivision application be filed to correct the plotting for this lot. There are two existing lots that are being consolidated into a single lot. It should also be noted that the applicant does intend to file a PUD for this site, which they've indicated they'll likely get it before the end of this year. So this is the site, this aerial photo is taken from a few years ago, so it doesn't quite look like this now. But as I mentioned, there's 13.6 acres that currently exist over two parcels of land. And when you see the site photos, you'll see that it's different. But the context of this area is largely industrial and some railroad. And so that is the context of which this area exists. It consists of, there are really two roadways that have frontage along this particular proposed subdivision. So there's West 60th Place, and this is where the site gets access. And West 60th Place, Broadway's just off of the screen, but it heads west and empties into the site. So this is actually the end of West 60th Place here where I'm highlighting, and that's where the main point of access is. There's also Huron Street over on the west side of the property. And this is used for an emergency access, but it is not intended to be primarily used. There's actually a requirement of the conditional use permit that this would be fenced. And so most of the access is going to come from the east side of the site. The site, as I mentioned, is Zone Industrial 3. Industrial 3 is the predominant zone district in the area. There is a small pocket on the southeast corner. That's I-2, Industrial 2. That borders this property. But it's deeply entrenched in our heavy industrial zone district, which is... not quite consistent with the county's comprehensive plans and the county's long-term goals on the future land use designation is for this area largely to be industrial low, which is more consistent with a lower moderate industrial zone district. But the current zone district is at question with this application. They're not planning on changing the existing zone. Most of the properties to the south and to the northeast are designated with industrial low, and then there are some pockets located to the west and then to the southeast that have a mixed-use commercial designation on the future land use designation plan. When reviewing a minor subdivision, the Adams County Development Standards does list specific the final plan application like this. To summarize, this criteria includes consistency with any improved sketch plan, conformance with the subdivision design standards, as well as the regulations related to subdivision design. That there's adequate water and sewage disposal systems planned for the site. That the site doesn't have hazardous soil or topographical conditions that would inhibit development. We're looking for adequate drainage improvements to support the subdivision. That there's a guarantee for necessary public facilities and infrastructure. That goes back to the improvements agreement that I talked about before. We're looking for consistency with the comprehensive plan and the zone district density, compatibility with the surrounding area, and that there's been an opportunity to incorporate any natural features on the site or multi-modal connectivity that could enhance or improve the subdivision. So this is an image of the plot that was submitted, and as I mentioned before, it really consolidates two existing parcels into a single lot. That lot would be 13.6 acres. In the industrial three zone district, the minimum lot size is two acres, so it far exceeds that. It also far exceeds the minimum lot width for the zone district. So the proposed lot conforms to the Industrial Free Standards with no concern. As I mentioned, it does have access off of West 60th Place. And with their application, they provided will serve later from the water district so water and sewer services are available the proposed subdivision doesn't increase the density or change the character of the existing parcels and as i mentioned before there's an associated improvements agreement to make sure that things like drainage and public facilities are being accommodated for So this is what the site looks like now. It looks different than what you saw in the aerial photo. It's probably a lot cleaner now. So this, I forgot to add, this is like north, south, east, west. Just imagine there's a compass here. I clearly forgot to add that. But looking to the north, you can see the concrete batch plant that we talked about earlier. Just off the right side of the screen, there's some stockpiles over there off of the horizon. And then looking to the east, this roadway here is West 60th Place that we talked about where the access comes from. Looking to the south, you can see more industrial development. This is where the railroad line, Union Pacific Railroad line is located. And then looking to the west, often the distance would be Huron Street. It's fenced, so it's not visible from this photograph. During the referral period, we notified all property owners and residents within 1,000 feet of this proposed subdivision. We sent 99 notices. We didn't get any public comments on this case. We also notified referral agencies, and none of them had any significant concerns or objections to this proposed subdivision. So in summary, based on the staff review, staff believes that this conforms to the Industrial 3 standards and there's available services and infrastructure to support the development. Staff is recommending approval of this minor subdivision final plot with 11 findings in fact, two conditions preceded, two conditions of approval, and two notes to the applicant. And I do have those findings in fact and conditions and notes available for review. That concludes staff's presentation. Thank you very much, Mr. Barnes.

At this time, if time is open for staff members, or board members, I'm sorry, any questions. If there are any questions of staff, do we have any questions for Mr. Barnes at this time? Hearing none, at this time, we would like to have a presentation by the applicant. So please introduce yourself and your name and address.

I am at 1800 California, Denver, 80203. I am here with Fred Marple, who is an owner of Brandon Sand and Gravel, as well as our civil engineer, Jim Brocevich, who's also here to answer any questions for you should you have them this evening. We concur with staff's presentation. one exception that I'll get to in just a minute and we actually don't have anything additional to add we will be back in front of you hopefully very shortly or as shortly as possible after we've processed the PUD we just for purposes of both conveyance which requires a subdivision here in Adams County and in order to conform with our use permit requirements we have submitted the the subdivision that you see before you I do have one objection that I wanted to put on the record this evening and that is to both conditions as written that were proposed by staff I have forwarded in totality the purpose of those objections to Ms. Daggett who's familiar with those and without going into the legalese of why I believe I'm just making the record that we opposed those The conditions. Okay. Sally, would you like me to read the email into the record? Are you indicating an objection of your client to condition of approval number one, number two, or both?

Both.

And I think it would be helpful that you articulate the basis for your objection on the record. I'm going to read the objection in full. That was also contained, again, in the email that I forwarded. So, right, it objects to Proposed Condition 1 as it's not appropriate for this minor subdivision plot, particularly the provisions stating that the property may be used only as depicted on this approved plot because we did not depict uses on the plot, and it limits fundamentally uses that we were not prepared to limit for this evening's hearing. We also believe for a number of legal reasons that that's much more appropriate for zoning determinations. As for condition number two, which is the vested rights condition, we are not opposed to the idea of the vested rights condition. In fact, fully intend to perform all of the requirements that are posting the bond meeting after the POCC hearing in the amount of $1.3 million for the improvements that we'll be making to the site. However, there's a three-year limitation as stated for the length of the vested right, meaning You could argue the length of the validity of the plan. And it's my understanding that that is removed once recorded, but the condition as presented does not state once recorded. And so I ask for that clarification.

That concludes my presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions. Okay. Any questions from commissioners of this group? But I'd like those conditions addressed quickly to help. We've been asked for the term.

Sure. And sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier. I'm Sally Dagen. I'm in the county attorney's office. And as relates to condition of approval number one, this is what's known as the county standard condition of approval. It's been part of your findings and conditions that are recommended findings and conditions of approval to the county commissioners for a while now and I guess I really do not understand the applicants objected to it they're the first applicant that's ever objected to this condition but this is condition is here to protect the county and just to make sure that the applicant doesn't represent something as part of its application that we haven't addressed in you know, 50 conditions of approval, this makes it clear that what the applicant has represented and what's shown on the plat is what the applicant is going to do. I'll give you an example. On the plat, there is shown a drainage easement that's in, I guess it's sort of a little dog lake that is about, I guess, 153 foot wide. It's a drainage easement that's being dedicated by the plat. And if you look at that, and this is on slide 8 gray. I don't know if you want to show that. you can see there's a drainage easement, a little dog leg that points north, and then there's also a 30-foot utility easement just a little bit south-southwest of that, and there's also a six-foot-wide utility easement that's all being dedicated by this plan. And so if the applicant, you know, starts to build structures, If they interfere with those easements, I would say that that is doing something that's inconsistent with the plan. So this standard condition of approval just protects the county and also alleviates the need for staff to identify 50 different conditions of approval, saying the applicant's going to do everything that they represent and they're going to so that's the rationale behind that condition of approval and I recommend that you keep it as part of your recommendation to the county commissioners so that addresses that one but I'll take any questions about that specific condition for any of the planning commission members Do we have any questions?

Okay.

And as relates to the second condition of approval, this is quite frankly the notice and the commission to the applicant, just so that it's really reciting what Colorado statute says about vested rights as well as what the development standards are consistent with state statute and I think the applicant is perhaps misreading this condition saying that it somehow addresses the timing of the plat being recorded because that's not addressed in this condition of approval the recording of the plat isn't what establishes vested right it's the Approval by the Board of County Commissioners of the Platte, and that starts this three-year clock of vested rights in which the applicant is basically protected against changes of law. And the recording of the Platte is a different event. And this condition of approval number two is not really a sort of condition of approval. It's restating Colorado law and meant to... let applicants know that if they don't develop their plan consistent with the approved conditions, that's what some of the statute says, that one of the bases for the three-year vested rights time period terminating is if the applicant doesn't comply with conditions of the approval. So this is really, quite frankly, a notice provision to the applicant. There's nothing in here that deals with the reporting of the plat, and so that's what this condition of approval is about. And so, again, I recommend that that be part of your recommended findings to the Board of County Commissioners. So if they do everything they're saying they're going to do, if the expiration doesn't have any effect on... If you don't mind, I'm not quite sure where we are in the hearing or the public hearing process, so I don't want to interrupt, but I do believe I'm entitled to rebuttal. Thank you. I think Ms. Daggett and I will have to agree to disagree on legal points, and she's certainly your attorney and I'm not. I am making notice that I disagree with her interpretation on both of those things, and in particular, the applicant will absolutely do everything that they're required to. There are a number of other provisions in your code and certainly in the five-page agreement that we've signed that would ensure that we do. uh also in the bond that we have to post that's not refundable in the amount of 1.3 million dollars that we'll ensure that we do my major concern is what the language is presented and it says and i quote that the property shown on this plat may be developed and used only as depicted on the approved plat So it clearly addresses uses, which as attorneys get nervous about because we did not depict the plat that showed uses. So while I appreciate that that is to protect the county for things like easements and drainage, it uses a blanket word easement. And I mean uses, and that word could mean many other things that we did not prepare for in a plat sub-medal. So I'll leave it at that. I'm happy, and I intended for us to not discuss this here, but I am now forced to make a record. Okay, so your objection has been heard, and the attorneys' opinion also has been heard. I appreciate it. I appreciate you very much suffering through that.

Mr. Snyder? Mr. Snyder? Could we ask a question of the applicant? Sure. After the rebuttal, I guess I wanted to get some clarity. It sounded to me like, perhaps, on that first condition of approval, if the first sentence was removed, that perhaps the rest of that section would be something that you were perhaps more comfortable with. It basically says all elements of each of the plot representations made by you would be

My request was simply for us to discuss this as attorneys offline and make some edits, or at least to have the same explanation that I received here from the DAIS. So, yes, I would certainly be more comfortable with a minor amendment to language. Do you want us to write? Absolutely, yes. I was asking for additional clarification to that point, vested rights have, these certainly have issues as they relate to your code, so they are codified, but there are other common law issues that then come up that are not directly related to your code. Thank you for that clarification.

Chair Ramos? Yes.

in granting this tonight and recommending it tonight.

This doesn't conclude that the attorney is still having discussions between now and the commissioner's hearing here.

That's correct.

Thank you. Thank you. Good clarification. Any other questions, sir? thank you at this time we'll open up the meeting to the public for any public comment if you would like to come to the microphone and speak for a limited limited three minutes on this item you're welcome so anybody from the audience like to speak to this item second anybody from this would the audience like to speak to this item at this time seeing none So are there any further questions from board members? Okay. Okay. Okay, then I'll close it with a comment, and we'll move on to board deliberations. Mr. Chair yes in the case of PLT 2025-00031 I would make a motion to approve the proposed with 11 findings of fact, two conditions proceeding, two conditions of approval, and two notes to the applicant, says one adjustment, that the first condition of approval has the first sentence removed. The subdivision plat is, creates, perhaps dedicates these funds and does not know to use. So I don't agree with the applicant's thoughts on that. Second. Second. Ms. Bennett will be opposed by Commissioner Thompson and seconded by Commissioner Hayes for approval of the request.

Any other discussion at this time? I disagree. I disagree as well. I will be voting no on this motion. i disagree i think this i think the discussion of the legal language can be taken offline before the board of county commissioners votes um and we proceed with it and let them work out the legalese of those two conditions before the pocc any other comments

I guess we're just not able to vote on the motion that was presented to us who was second there was a second yes also so are we ready to vote on this the motion presented to us at this time so are we voting on

The motion is to basically the staff recommended motion language, but with condition of approval number one, having the first sentence deleted. There's been a motion in the second, and so you can vote on that, and if that's voted down, then you can start afresh.

Yes.

Commissioner Williams. Commissioner Thompson? Yes. Commissioner Rose?

Yes.

Commissioner Richardson? No. Commissioner Hayes? Yes. Commissioner Vogt? No. Commissioner Vogt, it's your only vote now. Commissioner Hightock? That's where I'm going to vote. Sorry, not that soon. Let me count the votes. You have four no's and three yes's.

So then the motion has failed. Correct. So now we're open for more discussion on this item.

Chair Lourdes? Yes. I would make a motion that TLT 2025-00031, right on the 60th place subdivision,

Move forward to the county commissioners with a recommendation of approval based on a level of landings of that. Two conditions proceed. Two conditions and two notes. Second. Madam Secretary, I'm sorry, any discussion on this?

So, it seems to me that this is more a concern between two attorneys. And I think it would be better that we not try to be attorneys and correct this on the fly, that we allow the discussion to take place before the county commissioner's meeting. And I have every confidence that we'll come to an agreement when we'll be moving forward. So I'll be a yes vote. Okay.

Thank you. Any other comments? Any discussion? So Madam Secretary, would you like to take one?

Yes. Commissioner Fitzgerald, I vote yes. Commissioner Vogt? Yes. Commissioner Hayes? Yes. Commissioner Richardson? Yes. Commissioner Rose? Yes. Commissioner Thompson? No. Commissioner Williams?

Yes.

You have six yeses and one no.

The motion passes. The motion passes at this time. Thank you very much for attending the meeting tonight. number BRC2026-00010 for a pass average of storage facility and substation. Mr. Chair, in regards to this particular item, due to my employment and advice of the county attorney, I need to recuse myself from this to appearance of a conflict of interest.

Mr. Chair, I also, in my professional capacity, am going to have to recuse myself to avoid a conflict, a perceived conflict of interest.

So we have Commissioner Hancock. and be on the regular board now as a commissioner. Do we have a motion to approve? Commissioner Hancock, join me. Second. Second. Second. Okay, all in favor of Commissioner Hancock joining the board at this time, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign. Oopsie. Okay, at this time, we will move on to Case number PRC2026-00010, Parry Pass Energy Storage Facility and Substation. Mr. Barnes. Thank you.

Thank you. So these applications that are before you are both conditional use permits. The conditional use permits would be to allow a battery energy storage system and to allow a utility substation on property that is of agricultural three The first map is just to give you context as to where we are in the county. So this site is located a couple of miles to the north and east of Denver International Airport. It's specifically on the northeast corner of 124th Avenue and Cavanaugh Road. The aerial photo shown here gives you an idea of what this area's context is like. So directly to the west of the site is a very low density residential agricultural subdivision. Located to the south is another utility substation, just on the parcel to the south of it. There's a lot of vacant lands to the east that's undeveloped, but generally very low density residential makeup out here, mostly undeveloped lands. As I mentioned before, this site is zoned Agricultural 3. The Agricultural 3 zone district is typically where you'll find agricultural or some low-density residential uses. The minimum lot size is 35 acres most of the time in Agricultural 3 lands, and it's unsubdivided lands. The county's future land use designation has designated future land use out here agricultural large-scale, and that's consistent with the A3 zone district. It's intended to be unsubdivided, 35-acre parcels or more. The residential agricultural subdivision I mentioned in the west has agricultural small-scale. That's typically where you find A1 zoning or A2 zoning. And then the parcel that actually has the utility substation as a designation of public, and that was widely applied because of the existing substation. Some of the site photos, the north and south photos here are along Kavanaugh Road. So if this is looking north from 124th, you can see no development in the area. And to the south, you can see the utility substation just off on the left side of the road there. The picture to the west, this is where the very low density residential and agricultural subdivision is. It's not really even a subdivision because they're all 35 acres, but this is an example of one of the houses that's there on very large pieces of land. And then this picture to the west from, it's taken at Kavanaugh Road, so this is actually looking into the site where the battery energy storage facility is proposed. When reviewing conditional use permits, there's specific criteria for approval in our development standards. That includes if the uses being requested are permissible for the zone district, if it's consistent with the purpose of our development standards, as well as complying with the standards and any specific performance standards related to the uses. We're looking for compatibility with the area and that it's not detrimental to future development. If there's any impacts generated from the use that they're being addressed by the applicants, we're looking for the site to be suitable for the context of the use, that there's a convenient functional layout attached to the conditional use permit application, and then that services are available to support the use being proposed. This is the site plan that was submitted. And we'll talk a little bit more about this on the next slide. But generally, I want to stick to the layout on this slide. So the utility substation is shown here in this kind of like hash marked area. This is where the utility substation would be located. And then the battery energy storage area would be located all through here. So there's, I don't know, nine pots of battery energy storage here. And the site would be fenced by a chain link fence, shown here that the fence height would conform to the institutional use height standards for the zone district. But I wanted to go to this slide because this really shows you more of what's being proposed here. So when we say battery energy storage, really these pods that were shown on the last site plan, each of the battery energy pods are going to be filled with these containers. These containers can be about 11 feet in height, according to the applicant. And so this is what would be located in those areas here. There's also on this image, there's a utility substation to give you an idea of what that might look like there along the front edge of Kavanaugh Road. If you look at the maximum heights, most of the maximum heights that are shown are consistent with the A3 zone district. I do want to point out that transmission structures and lightning masts are not considered structures per our development standards. And so those don't have to meet a maximum height for the zone district. But all the things that are considered structures by definition or regulations would comply with the A3 zone district standards for heights. During the referral period, we notified all property owners and residents within a mile of the site. We sent 49 notices. On the public record, we received three at the time of this hearing. I did have someone call today who wanted to provide comments. I gave them my email address, but I never received the email. So on the record, right? Those comments were in the packet. And all of them were in support of the request. During the referral period, we notified referral agencies as well. There were no objections noted. CDPHE provided some guidelines that the applicant would need to adhere to for hazardous waste management. And then the applicant also submitted a bunch of information demonstrating coordination with Brighton Fire on this application as well. So in the staff review of this, it is consistent with the regulations and the performance standards. The request, there were numerous plans that were included as exhibits in the staff report that you may have noticed addressing the off-site impacts of this use. The site itself is suitable for the use. There's plenty of land here to make that happen. The layout is convenient and functional. There is a nearby utility substation, so there's already energy infrastructure in this area, which adds to the compatibility. And there are services available to support what's needed here. So, staff is recommending approval of the conditional use permits with a findings fact, two conditions proceeded, four conditions of approval, and two nights of the applicant. Those words are highlighted because we did make some changes from the staff report. Originally, it was three conditions proceeded and three conditions of approval. So, I do have those available. It basically struck condition precedence three in the staff report, reworded it, and made it condition number four. But essentially, this is just requiring the applicant as a condition of approval to comply with the decommissioning and reclamation plan that they submitted. And so that's the recommendation that's before this board, and I'm available if you have any questions.

Thank you, Mr. Barnes. Do we have questions? board members at this time this one does it appear we have any questions at this time can we have a presentation by the applicant at this time again you have three minutes please introduce yourselves and your address and you have three minutes to present and then questions will be given to you thank you you're welcome appreciate that can y'all hear me okay yes

My name is Mitch Lucas. I live at 270 South Perry Street, Denver, Colorado, 80219. I work for the applicant. I'm a senior manager of project development at Schubert Power. I just wanted to say I do live down the road in Denver, but I've got a personal connection to Adams County. My wife and I got our various license done in this building a few years ago, so it's really pretty cool to be able to come back here. But yeah, I really appreciate the Commission's time this evening giving us a few minutes to present on our Green Pass Energy Storage project. I just want to say thank you to Greg Barnes and his team. They've been really prompt and professional helping us navigate Adams County's permitting process. We also wanted to give a big thank you to Chief Godek over at Brighton Fire and Rescue. I really appreciate his time sitting down with us on multiple occasions to discuss the project. So I'm going to tell you tonight about how our Prairie Paths project promotes safety, reliability, and affordability for our electric grid. And then I'll invite my colleague, Marcus, to talk a little bit about our community outreach approach and the benefits that our project will bring to the area. So we've got a ton of subject matter expertise supporting this project, and a lot of those folks are in the room tonight. We're going to really try to keep our presentation brief because Greg's presentation was quite thorough. But, of course, happy to spend as much time as the Commission needs at the end of the presentation fielding questions. First, a little bit about the applicant, Jupiter Power. So our sole focus is on developing and operating utility-scale battery energy storage projects. This is the only technology that we work on. And we have over 20 projects across the country, either in operations or construction, And I feel that we've been so successful in doing this because we really are committed to safety in our most communities. I'm very proud to say that we have never had a single recordable safety or environmental incident in any of our operating sites. So projects like Prairie Paws battery energy storage systems help make our electric grid more reliable and keep power prices affordable for homes and businesses. And how they do that is the way that these projects work is they charge electricity from the power grid when it's cheap and abundant. It's like, you know, middle of the night when we're all asleep, nobody's using power, there's plenty to go around. Our projects discharge that electricity back to the grid during the times of high demand when it's needed the most. That's like when we're coming home from work or school, we're cooking dinner, doing the dishes, doing the laundry. So our battery projects help bridge the gap between supply and demand to keep prices low for folks. I live down the road in Denver, and I'm especially sensitive to prices of electricity because on my bill, I pay three times the amount for power during very important to me. And then I also wanted to note, obviously, in Colorado here, we deal with a lot of extreme weather events, whether that's blizzards in the summer or extreme heat. Sorry, blizzards in the winter or extreme heat in the summer. Battery projects like Curry Pass can help us keep the grid stable during times of stress like that because we can deliver our backup power to the grid instantaneously with just the click of a mouse. So this is one of our... this is a bird's-eye view of one of our operating sites in Texas, just to give you guys a little bit more of a flavor of what our operating sites look like. Like Greg mentioned, the heart of these projects are, of course, the batteries that are stored in those white boxes that look like shipping containers. Our groups of battery containers are surrounded by a security fence, and that's mostly what you would see if you drove past one of our operating sites, the containers surrounded by a fence. All of our containers are wired electrically to a new project substation. And then from that substation, we connect to an existing substation on the grid and the broader electric grid via a transmission line. So like I mentioned, Jupiter has been so successful in the battery business because of our commitment to safety in our host communities. And I just really wanted to stress that one of the first things that we do when we start a new project is we go out and we talk to the fire department. And we've sat down with Chief Donak at Wright and Fire and Rescue several times, and we really look forward to continuing to collaborate with them as we move the project into construction and operations. I also wanted to highlight that Jupyter has a remote operations center where we monitor all of our operating sites 24-7, 365. And this is so important because we are able to continuously monitor the sites and watch for any small blips in a project's operation and make sure that those are dealt with promptly before they can turn into any kind of safety issue. And our remote operating works well with the local and able to respond to any issues as they come up. But just getting a little bit into the nuts and bolts of our Prairie Pass project here, like Greg mentioned, we're at the intersection of 124th Avenue and Kavanaugh Road. We are located just a few miles north of the Colorado Air and Space Port. And just to give you a sense for the scale of this project, so this is a 300-megawatt system. And what that means is that we can provide enough power to support a quarter million homes for the four-hour duration of the battery system. And I think this is pretty incredible, but we can do that with just 16, give or take within our project fence line. Next snapshot on our project timeline. Our goal is to have this project online and operating by the end of 2028. And it takes about 18 months to construct a project this size. So our goal is to start construction in summer of 2027. Just taking another quick look at our preliminary site plan. I know that Greg went over this, and you have it in your packet, so I will keep this brief. Access to the site is going to be from driveways off of Kavanaugh Road. The battery containers for the site are concentrated mostly to the northern portion of our parcel. And then that new project substation that we talked about is located in the southeast corner of our fenced area. And it will connect our substation to Xcel's Green Valley substation, which is located on the parcel adjacent directly south of ours with a short run of new transmission line. So Prairie Pass, we've designed this project to be a low-profile neighbor from day one. Projects like this generate no pollution. They don't use any groundwater, which is very important to us here on the Front Range. They make very minimal noise. There is no regular nighttime lighting. And once we get out of the construction period and into operations, there will be very little traffic impact to the area. And I really wanted to stress that we decided this project to look directly adjacent to an existing substation on the grid. And what that means is that we're in just a short run of, like, a transmission line. So we're very excited about this project and the benefits that it'll bring to the community, and I would like to hand it over to Marcus to talk a little bit more about that. Good evening, commissioners. My name is Marcus Pockner. I'm a land use and community outreach consultant for Jupiter. We are honored to be here on behalf of the entire team and really appreciate the remarkable work that Jen and her whole team and Greg have done on this project. It has been a very collaborative process from our initial PRE-EP to really walk through this. We are here tonight specifically from a land use perspective to talk about these two conditional use permits. First, for the battery energy storage system and then the corresponding or associated project substation. I do want to focus on a real goal of Jupiter and why they work so closely with our firm in this area is they focus on two primary goals for every project that they work on. The first is that we be community-based and community-minded. So we have implemented something we call a concentric outreach philosophy where we focus on the most affected neighbors. We go to them, we work with them, we go door to door. We have multiple rounds with them to really learn from them. As you saw in a few of the corresponding letters of support, people had us come to their door and introduce ourselves.

We then go to the broader context of this.

As we know, this is a very rural area. We think that's demanded to go work with AC Rep, other opportunities. We met with the airport, we met with Spaceport. We really wanted to show off this project and talk about the impact to the surrounding and broader community. I'm not very good at pushing this button, so I'll say next slide. Can I say that? Sorry. Earlier, Mitch said with the point of a mouse, and he didn't, and I thought that was really spectacular, but I'm not doing very good with that. And the second part that we look at in these approvals is we look at the guiding documents, your guiding documents. So we look at those development standards and regulations. We look at the zone district itself, as you all know. This is in the 83 zone district. And then the conditional use permit pathway, the specific approval criteria that were laid out so well by Craig. To show you a little of the community engagement, we did do one proactive public open house, but then because of this area, we went door to door. We drove. We went to all the surrounding areas. We also hosted a number of community forums. We presented at PAO's. We really wanted people to learn more about this site. Next slide, please. In addition to that, we really focus on when we talk about community partnerships, we talk about the economic impact of this. This is a snapshot of 20 years of operations of this facility. It is about $1.1 million per year from property taxes, and it represents a $350 million investment in our Adams County economic grid. We believe in this, in supporting the grade, and that factor, that development, it also leads to about 125 peak construction jobs, six permanent jobs, and it allows us to work so closely. We are meeting with 27J School District next week. They wanted additional information on this. They could not believe that this would have an $11.6 million impact and not bring any kids. or traffic or any of that in their district over the next 20 years of operations. Next slide. From a land use, this was covered so well, so I'll be brief on these three or four slides. But when we look for a CUP and ask you respectfully for your support, we always look first to compatibility Your criteria really spells that out, but we looked at the zone district. This aligns with your permitted conditional. This is how solar facilities are permitted. They go through a CUP in the E3 zone district. The compatible concepts, this is immediately adjacent to a substation. It actually leads to better form of development and planning by limiting additional grid infrastructure by making that, and again, we were able to incorporate all of the required setbacks and limitations that were in your underlying code provisions as well. Next slide. As you always hear, we focus on economic impact, but what you like to hear about is impact mitigation. Remarkably, this has very little to no impact. We do not have emissions on the site. We have only four or five trips that will be here once the site is fully operational. We are able to work through with staff the visual and traffic control, and we remain committed to the community, being great neighbors, being part of the community. And as we've heard in recent discussions, how important that decommissioning bond was, and we were more than happy to go through that process and really focus on decommissioning on this site as well. Next slide, please. Finally, just a couple of slides here, the site suitability. As you all know, this is the context. This is immediately adjacent to a very similar timeline. And since we have a wonderful wildlife team that really went through this analysis, that's important with all your required studies. And there is more than adequate usable space for what we're proposing for this use. Last slide, please. Finally, oftentimes we talk about infrastructure and service capacity. We think of roadways. Yes, that is certainly important here. But again, we have minimal public demand or service demand. We work very closely with Brighton Fire and all the first responders and emergency fire. We need to do that. And remarkably, the transaction that we talk about here is the great infrastructure. A lot of great infrastructure immediately adjacent and really allows this type of project to move forward at this site location. With all of that, we have a full team, as you saw, available to answer any questions. We believe that we meet all of the approval criteria. We appreciate the concurrence with staff from those recommendations. and we would respectfully request approval of both of these CUP applications.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. At this time, we'll open it up for questions from the board members. Yes, Commissioner Williams.

So, I have a statement and a question. The statement is, I have to tell you, in my limited time on the Planning Commission, I've never seen such a comprehensive report for sure. So, good job. My question is, just out of curiosity, when I see that you've got projects located around the Great Lakes and projects in Texas, what brought you to Adams County to look? I mean, I see all the criteria where the site meets certain criteria, but what made you look at Adams County?

That's a great question. We're very excited to be in Adams County. I think that Adams County is very uniquely positioned geographically. You know, the western end of the county stretches into the metro area. It's very densely populated. But then the county obviously stretches east into the Plains. So there's, I think, a tremendous need for projects like ours with the population down sitting on the western side of the county. And then, you know, obviously there in Colorado, we increasingly see a lot of renewable energy sited on the eastern side of the – on the eastern side of Colorado. And Adams County is kind of the intersection of that. And you see that in the existing grid infrastructure that you have here, like the Green Valley Substitution Work Project is sited.

I have a question for both of the commissioners for this time. Yes, Commissioner Fitzgerald. No? Yes, please.

Yeah, so I see the output going to the Green Valley substation. What is the input? What is the power that is being generated that's going to charge the batteries? That's a great question. I think y'all might have seen, like, solar with co-located storage come previously, so we do kind of just purely batteries. And so similarly, you know, we're discharging that electricity to the grid. We're also charging the batteries using bulk electricity from the power grid. So it's really just whatever electricity is available at the time. And, you know, that could be renewables like wind and solar. It can also be gas in Colorado. Does this make sense? Yeah, I understand that. So if there were a new wind project, solar project in the area, then it could tie into this, and then that would be a way to put it on the grid, or are you just going back and forth and fixing it? So, yeah, our project would be totally separate from any wind or solar project that came in the area. That's right. We're connected to the regional grid. It excels infrastructure. Okay. Thank you.

Other questions at this time? I have a couple questions myself kind of going along with Commissioner Williams' question about why this location. I guess basically what the need is for this location I find interesting. I think it's a very impressive project also. Thank you. It's well presented. I guess you answered the question before. You're not looking at renewable, developing renewables like solar farms because of things in the area to go to the batteries and that kind of thing.

That's right. We only develop and operate battery projects. We don't do solar or wind or anything else. Are there any other new developments in that area that you're trying to increase the amount of power available as far as, like, building a new power plant? Well, I guess I'll answer that directly. Is there any consideration of a data center in the area that would need to have more power? Anything such as a... Oh, no, sir. Not anything that our team would be aware of.

I guess I have a question. The power goes to an Xcel substation. I'm kind of curious. You just mentioned that it lowers the rates for customers. So the power going to the substation for Xcel Energy goes to Xcel Energy customers.

So, you know, different utilities, whether it's Xcel or maybe United Power in Adams County, may own the substation or the wires, but the electric grid is all interconnected. So this project would really benefit the entire regional electric grid, not necessarily just Xcel Energy customers.

I'm sorry, I'm looking at the notes. Okay, thank you. I think you've answered all the questions. Thank you for your presentation. Thank you. Yes, sorry. Battery life.

Battery life. Yes, ma'am. So we anticipate that a project like this would operate for 25 to 30 years.

And do you replace the batteries or does it get decommissioned?

At the end of life, I think it depends. It's hard for me to forecast what things might look like in 30 years. But if there's still a need and a strong demand driver for our project to be there, then it's likely that we would retrofit the project with the latest and greatest technology. But if that's not the case, for whatever reason, then we would decommission the project. And we've included a decommissioning plan that I think is in your packets.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Any rebuttal from any of the questions at this time? Do you have anything more to add? No, sir. Okay. Thank you for your presentation. Thank you. Any further board member questions? No. Okay. Now we're open to comment. Is there anybody in the audience that would like to speak to this project? Gibbs?

My name is Dylan Moisa. I'm a resident here right in Colorado. Grew up in Colorado, Colton Northeast Elementary, actually, seven foot before Mr. Rose. It's been a while. I'm speaking tonight in strong support for the Prairie Pass Energy Storage Project. Prairie storage systems like Prairie Pass are key pieces of energy infrastructure. by capturing, as you've heard, by capturing excess electricity during lower-demand times and then releasing it during high-demand times. It's able to save residents using power and cell energy and able to save them money, worker rates. And I think that's especially needed in Brighton with high energy prices affecting everybody. I think it's good to support projects like this that encourage a more resilient grid, especially as weather becomes more turbulent. We need a more resilient grid that will keep the power on and keep our homes covered during brownouts, blackouts, and more extreme weather events. I know large-scale infrastructure projects like this bring those questions regarding safety and environmental protection, but as you've seen today, they've been repaired. Working with the Red Fire Department, they've taken on safety precautions and projects plan to integrate stormwater retention and strict perimeter fencing, which is a clear commitment to responsible land use that aligns with Adams County development standards. For the sake of our county's electricity bills, grid resilience, economic growth, and energy future, I respectfully urge the Commission to approve this bill for the Prairie Pass Energy Storage Project 20. Thank you for your time and service to our community.

Thank you very much for your time. Any questions? Thank you. So, is there anybody, another person in the audience who would like to speak? Yes, sir. Any commissioners?

There's going to be a meeting because my impromptu gets out of hand really fast. So if you don't mind, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak here. My name is Eric Darst. I live in the little burb of Anderson, Colorado, 10954 Bell Creek, right next to where they had a main water line break just two days ago. And I have a B.A. in sociology and an M.S. in civil engineering. I'll explain that later if you want me to. And was a professional engineer in the state for many, many years, born and raised in Greeley. Adam Jennings. I'm an avid supporter of clean energy. I'm currently the founder of Agri-Solar Initiative called Community Greenfields here in Adams County, which integrates canopy solar over a regenerative food farm on the road adjacent to open land for the residents' direct benefit. That's my goal in life, and replicating everywhere. I'm here today because energy storage systems like Great Bass are a necessary component of renewable power grid to offset solar and wind intermediate power generation and for grid demand leveling. So it's a really smart combination. The coupling of renewable energy generation with energy storage at all scales It's a key element to Colorado's energy transition goals. What's encouraging is that the great elements of solar, wind, and storage can be distributed and interlaced throughout the territory. So we're not limited to just certain specific locations and from the large kinds of systems. with that model infrastructure costs, transmission losses, and broad SWAT blackouts can be substantially reduced. All this with cheap, abundant, and clean energy solutions. And properly designed storage can can eliminate the need for costly, rarely used, and highly polluting acre plants. So it's replication versus scale, the way I look at it. Sorry, gotta do this. I urge you to approve this project. It's a key step towards a smart transition that addresses what I call the three W's. One, personal well-being, lower cost, reliable power, health value through reduced air pollution, and endocrine-disrupting toxins that come from burning the fuel oils. Two, cultural well-being. We're in disadvantaged communities that bear much of the burden of fossil fuel power plants. Three, environmental well-being. moving away from the highly destructive externalities from fossil fuel use, they are no work most of the time, and a high cost to our environment, including such things as climate heating, climate, heating, insect population losses, and water pollution. So white boundary fishing is what I'm approaching this with. So Paraglass will also have economic benefits, tax revenue contribution like we saw up there, supporting local services like law enforcement, construction schools, jobs and support services for working families, and lower cost reliable and stable power. It's a win-win. And in the future, I encourage you to look more closely at other more eco-responsible battery technologies such as iron air and sodium ion, just a side note. The Very Past Stories project is the right choice for Adams County's health, economy, and sustainable future. Thanks for letting me share my thoughts with you. Peace and sweet to you and your families. Thank you for your presentation.

Are there other meetings? Is there anyone else at this time who would like to talk to the questions and speak to them? Okay. At this time, we'll close public comments and open up the board deliberations. Any comments from the board on this project? Yes. opportunity to go gander at the aquatic resources delineation report as well as the biological assessment report, which I find very interesting and very well done in this situation. There will be very little riparian impact from the water runoff, and there could be some disruption to native species, plants, and wildlife. But the positive impact to the citizens of Adams County and to the economic region is just overwhelming. And it's very clear inside of this presentation today. So I will be voting yes when the time comes.

Yes, I'm sorry. I'm in agreement with Commissioner Adcock. This project seems in dire need for Adams County, and I think I'd like to think it does to put this here. So I will also be voting yes. Okay.

Thank you. other comments I'd like to make one comment United Power does battery storage they've been doing it for when I was on board for nine years and we did the one on the I-25 in Frederick and as far as I know it's worked extremely well and so I'm glad to see one of this level and size coming to Adams County I think it's going to make a great difference to the availability of electricity So thank you for your presentation. You want it forward? Yes.

In the case of PRC 2026-10, I would make a recommendation of approval move forward to the county commissioners for the Perry Pass Energy Storage Facility and Substitution based on eight findings of that, two conditions preceded, four conditions, and two notices.

Okay. Thank you. Chair DeMoss, is there a second? Okay, at this time, we will open the motion that was made.

Madam Secretary. Commissioner Williams. Yes. Commissioner Rose.

Yes.

Commissioner Richardson. Yes. Commissioner Hayes. Yes. Commissioner Fitzgerald, I vote yes. Commissioner Adcock. Yes. You have a unanimous approval. Okay, thank you.

Are there any other comments from the audience at this time? This meeting is adjourned.