Zoning Commission - Regular Meeting

So call a meeting to order. Um, do you roll calls, please? Brian Venma here. Christine F here. Monica Mchugh here. Emarita Key here. Sandra Burlock is absent and excused. Tom Stewart yes. Mike Burke here. So we have not present birth forum. Um, next item on the agenda is the approval of the approval of the agenda. Anybody have any questions or discussion on the agenda?

I move that we approve. I'll second move and second. All in favor say I. I. Anybody oppose? Motion carries. Next on the agenda it is the election chair and apparently there is a little bit of discussion that's got no brace on.

Yes. So the resolution number 10002-01-02-2024 are the rules of procedure that we currently have that was signed January 2nd 2024. um that um the big thing with that for tonight is that it says the commission shall elect a chairperson and vice chairperson who shall be acting chairperson in the absence of the chairperson annually at the first meeting in January. The chairperson may not succeed himself or herself. In May, we had it on the agenda to discuss the zoning commission rules of pro procedure with Laura. Um, we did not get those discussed or signed. Um, and so that does not have that the chairperson may not succeed himself or herself. Um, I will put this on the agenda to discuss the proposed rules of procedure for next month. So, we could either postpone if you want to go with the proposed rules of procedure or we could carry on with the voting of chair and vice chair tonight with the already adopted resolution.

I propose we move it to next month. I think the only reason it was probably brought up discussed this before was I think in the past we've done that right. Yes, we have. And that's what when I first saw it, I was gonna give this for the meeting and I was Well, that's what I was gonna ask, Mike. Are you want it again? I don't want it again. If you don't want it again, then we might as well go ahead and elect Monica back. Oh, no. I I don't want it back again.

Well, I've been chairman many times over the course of the years, and I really don't want it either. Not that it's not a great job, and it's a learning experience. So, Mary, I am. Brian, you're a little young, but maybe you can be vice chair. I I will I will. What's that, Mike? I say I I will do it, but I really don't want it. Oh, well, there's a crack there. So, it's it's up to you guys. I mean, it's um Well, there's a difference between work on it tonight. That's

Mike. Mike, there's a difference between not wanting to do it and not and not accepting it. If we if you know we ask you to do it, where are you at on that? Yeah, I I wouldn't Well, I don't know if I should say I think we should I think we should postpone and move to next month. Sure, let's do that. Yeah, we'll get it back. We'll keep So, so what is the procedure? Are we going to discuss it and vote on it next month or do the supervisors have to do that or we have to discuss the whole plan?

Discuss the whole plan and the way it looks. It won't be a resolution. It just needs to be signed, dated and signed by the zoning commission. Okay. Okay. So, how come this one was a resolution? I don't know. in 2024

the rule I don't remember why we did that it's called resolution adopting rules and and procedures Jackson checks the county zoning commission I think we basically just agreed that we were going to do what we'd always done in the past just that it hadn't been done done for a long long But that had been the standard procedure is it was always the new chairperson. Yeah, we did. A lot of times it was just a switch between the chair and the vice chair. I just stand right now.

I am. But see, the difference between me and Mike is if you if you ask me to be chairman, I'm gonna say no. There literally anybody on this, you know, Sandra included, you know, could do it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't want to do it. It's a great learning experience. Honestly, it is. I'd like enough. Yeah. Ignorance is bliss, right? Let's put it in. Yeah.

Well, let's put it up until So, we have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. Yeah. Okay. All in favor say I. Anybody opposed? I guess we're moving that when we put it off every month. Yeah. Yeah. By default,

great idea on that. So that that will cover item number five as they left the vice chair also I presume correct then we move on to the minutes of the December 15th 2025 additions or corrections or discussion the most minutes I'll move that we accept the draft minutes from the December 15th meeting. I'll second.

There's a motion and seconded to approve the minutes of the December 15, 2025 meeting. All in favor say I. I.

Anybody opposed? Okay. Motion carries. Okay. Now we're on to the public hearing of ZC26-01 Eaggan House. Uh, do you want to bring us up to speed now 571 396 Avenue? The applicants, Roger and Susan Egan House, are requesting to reszone approximately 1/4 acre from A1 agricultural to Z1 highway commercial subject to conditions under Iowa code section 335.7. The property consists of two parcels that have been combined under common ownership. The site contains an existing 1,800 square foot metal warehouse building that was constructed around 1970 well before our county zoning regulations were adopted. The building is currently used for enclosed family storage. The property is embedded within a large resident largely residential area with R1 zoning to the south, east, and west and public federal recreation land to the north near the river as applicants proposed two uses. enclosed storage of personal property within the existing building, potentially transitioning from family storage to rental storage units, and one unintended vending machine as an accessory use intended to serve seasonal recreational traffic traveling to the nearby army car army corps boat rail. The vending machine would be limited to prepackaged food, beverages, ice, and similar consumable items. The applicants have indicated there will be no expansion of the building, no outdoor storage, and minimal signage. While the current A1 zoning doesn't align with the existing warehouse structure, the proposed C1 district without limitations would

permit a wide range of commercial uses that would be incompatible with the surrounding residential neighborhood. Therefore, staff finds that conditional resoning of the appropriate tool here the proposed conditions narrowly t narrowly tailor the permitted uses to enclosed storage only. 150 square foot vending machine building attached and unattended. No staffed retail operations and if necessary and needed downshielded lighting and limited signage. These conditions protect the residential character of the neighborhood while providing a regulatory framework for the existing nonresidential structure. Um I received three um calls from property owners within the 500t notification area. Um they had just questions on the proposal. After I explained the limited scope of the request, no formal objections were submitted. Okay, we have any representative from the uh applicant

Roger here. Okay, he's online.

Can you unmute, Roger?

All right, there we go. Yes, I'm present. Do you want to give us your rundown Mr. House on on your request? He's muted again.

Yes. Yes. Um well, the property's been in my wife's family um for practically ever. I think everybody knew um Greg when he ran the business there. And um we had to have a combination um of the two lots um done because um the sale was kind of uh when he sold the business that back lot got um kind of swept up in the business um of the sale. Um and we didn't realize that of course until uh Leavonne my mother-in-law passed away. And that's when we realized that when it was appraised that that lot was no longer ours even though we've been keeping it up all these years. So we went through that process to make it whole. And um and then with your water coming through here um a year ago, my son happened to mention he says, "Wow, you know, we got water that runs through there now. Maybe we should look at maybe utilizing a portion of that boat shed for a vending, you know, in his mind like ice or something like that." and that kind of triggered the whole thing. But I said, you know, before anything can happen, of course, um it's going to have to be uh reszoned because it's it's zoned at egg one and I don't think that fits the parameters. So, um u fast forward to now. I mean, we're still doing some um u just early on, you know, and what we might want to do with it down the road, but so we're just kind of trying to set the uh set our ducks in a row and and just go forward from there. Um I did talk to Gary today um who owns of course LP plant and he has no objections or anything either. So that's where we're at with it right now. So if um you guys got any questions for me, shoot away. So that little shed that's at the property north of the building, right?

Is that right, Becca? If you go to that page, that is your property. That's the other that's the LP business. Is that correct? Yeah, that's that's Well, I just want to make sure that that I'm looking at it the same. So when he said he had to combine the parcel, there was just this little bit back here that was separated. So that was okay. I was thinking the other one. Oh, the back of the lot, not the north part. Yeah, correct. Okay. So this is now one full parcel. Okay.

So that the the little section that's half half that size or so right there that that is belongs with the old teeth. Mhm. Okay. Now. Okay. So, so the drawing or the rendering just shows like a ice chest, but you're talking to having some kind of a vending machine there. Is that what you're saying?

That is correct. I mean, that's that's the best I could come up with. Actually, my son-in-law did it for me. um you know with the 50 foot uh footprint of course um that the face of any vending machine would be flush with the front. It would not be sticking out. Um but that's the best we could come up with. So the machine itself is going to be basically offset back into the building. Yes, that is correct. Oh, cool. Okay.

Yeah, we just um you know that's that's the only thing we could come up with. Um, but just to kind of give you an idea what what would you know the face of that middle slot, which I think that's probably what we'd go with it. Um, would would be is just u that way nobody can there'll be cameras there of course and that but there's there's no walk-in man door. There's no way for somebody to to really hurt it except for what's showing right in front. By the way, can you go back to the thing that shows the surrounding vers? Yes, the golf course.

Oh, that's okay. It's down area. Golf and then the neighboring north that's the east just so it's so Yeah, I would dress up. Yeah. So, so that's all trust, right? The yellow. Yeah. Right. Okay. Yeah. I was I was trying to place myself. And then um what's the park? Okay. That goes DNR area right north of that. Yeah, that's the um Oh my gosh. That's right.

Yes. Okay. I am. I'm not defin way. I don't know. Yeah, I don't either. So, when you talk about the water hitting, did Belleview put city water out there? Yes, they did.

Okay. And we had a T put in right at that location. Uh approximately in that U it would be that western, you know, um southwest corner. Uh there is an actual T there right at about the lot line in case we ever wanted to do something like that or you know just down the road. Who who knows? I'm not going to live forever. I mean, it could turn into residential down the road because I know Gary has has mentioned in the past that that he's he's wanting to kind of move that LP uh plant area because uh you know, just a lot of things, you know, traffic's not good for getting a semi in and out and or a big truck, straight truck, what have you. And so, we thought it'd be good to have a T actually put there.

Yeah. Hard to believe there's an adult that close to presidential. Yeah.

I'm sure. Wait, that's kind of Yeah, because it looked like there was other tanks, bigger tanks there at one time. Nations are there. There was two back in the day. Yeah. Now just one. Okay. And Roger when he first proposed it that he's not in going to most likely increase traffic. It's just going to be hitting the people going by. Sure. Convenience. Yeah. Their special just to get extra. No. Yes. Yeah.

Probably make it very convenient for the people out there instead of running back into Belleview to grab ice. I mean it would be Yeah, that is correct. That's our thought process. You know, if it ever comes to fruition, uh it doesn't change the traffic. It'd be a probably more or less a seasonal thing. Also, keeps the drugs off of Highway 52. Public service, right? Any of the neighbors? I heard from three of the neighbors. Yes. And they just had questions and No. So, nobody was opposed to it? Not at all.

Right. Yeah. I mean, I was here to address in case there was and you know, in the end, it's what the public has to say anyway. And you know, so our thought was it it wouldn't increase any board that's already there and try to tap into the traffic that's going through seasonally. Anyway,

there's no either.

I don't I don't either. I think it's a good idea. Wish I had thought. wasn't my idea actually. It's a younger generation, you know, it's been in the family forever and it it is it it'll stay that way, you know, um with my son and son-in-laws or whatever. It's always going to be there. It's been good to us. So, just looking down the road, if they want to do something different, there's an option for them. So, I'm thinking we could probably close the Yeah. public hearing tomorrow.

I'll move to close the public hearing. We have a second. Second. All in favor? I oppose. Hey, does it the commission have any more further discussion on on what they recommend happening? I move that we approve the application to reszone. So um not to amend anything but in number eight there's a recommended conditions

for the board consideration. So there are some the limits set in there that do not allow what I understand full seat line classification. Well, the question I'm going to have technically there's a motion on the floor so you should I understand that but I just but I was going to ask about that. Yes. Yeah. So Monica made a motion to approve I'll I'll revise that. I will revise that to approve reszoning from A1 to C1 with the recommended conditions

that are present that are present in the staff recommendations. We have a second on that. I'll second that. Oh, wait a minute. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Before I do that, we got to go to discussion. Okay. Right. Yep. We'll we'll discuss we'll discuss discuss that. What do we have in our zoning requirements for parking? This will satisfy that one, right? Okay. Yeah, I Yeah, I was going to say

that. Well, always the question is is you know, does it cover do these restrictions cover it? So somebody else couldn't buy the property and then put something that was C1 appropriate that maybe the neighbors wouldn't want. That's always a question we have.

Um with um adisement from the county attorney's office, they helped come up with the conditions. So being a conditional resoning, coming up with conditions, it will go with the land. um it'll be recorded and once it goes to the board of supervisors um for their public hearing and final approval then um we'll have Roger and S Susan sign the conditions and then they'll be recorded. Agreed. So they would go with the land. Correct.

Any further discussion on it? Are we okay to vote? Hang on just a second. I'm just I'm not quite through them all again. I read them all once.

Yeah. And it says in there that what I was double checking is is that somebody in the future could have it resonate process. Yeah. So that's fair. Right. I have a question. So were you going to have just one ice vending machine? Is that it? Or was there going to be another vending machine? Was Yeah. Um, you know, initially that was that was the big thing is just uh to throw something out there in the form of vending um those units those one vending machine is what I'm saying. So yeah, he's limited to the one one. Okay. Yes. Right.

Okay. But it could be consumables, ice, pop. I just want machine that doesn't address both of those things. Is that correct? So correct, you either have ice or you're going to have food. You're not going to have No. Yep. If it be ice, that's just it's ice, you know, and and that that was the big thing being we got water there and we're still not we're still, you know, just kind of doing the research on what a unit to put in there and and that sort of thing. So Sure. Okay. So, are we ready to vote now? Yes.

Yeah. Uh, do we need a voice? Um, voice. What am I trying to say? Roll call. Roll call, folks. Brian Venma, yes. Christine Fab, yes. Monica Mchu, yes. Emir, yes. Yes. I'll say yes, too. Oh my gosh. Tom Stewart. Yes. I don't get no respect. Well, I dropped you off my She messed up seating this time and that's why it is I the back.

Well, good luck with that. Motion just passes. So, the ZCD 26-01 moves on to the board of supervisor.

Okay. So, next. Very good. I appreciate everyone's time. Um, we work move on to our work session for the data mining data processing ordinance. And I want you to take over wherever you can think of and then I go man. Um probably in your red bowl red

in the dayfold packet are the topics of discussion that we could go through tonight. Um, also the grid that is in the red folder are the comparisons from the um county other county drafts and ordinances um on how they handle the ther standard and their decommissioning financial assures. So I said I would do the research for that. Did you get a copy of the Lynn County ordinance that is going through their public hearings now? Yes. Um there's going back.

Okay. Yeah. Because there I mean there's been a lot of a lot of discussion because they have two large ones going up. Yes. And they have they had their second reading this morning. Oh yes. Um and their draft is for the large data centers. Um, and they I believe kind of separated their ordinance between the large and then smaller one. Okay. I I did not look I didn't go online to look for it. I didn't have time. But yeah, I can email you a copy.

I'm curious. I'd kind of like to see what they're

Yeah. No, I can send it out. So we in the staple packet are the topics of discussion that we can go through and we don't have to hit them all tonight but um this is our starting point anyway. Um so the first is with decommissioning um some of the things then as other counties ordinances are evolving and um more um zooms with other with the data mining topic is I've been joining um I come up with different things too and decommissioning uh a lot of places are not doing full decommissioning because the building is still usable for something. So if I guess depending on what kind of center it is

depending on whether the center is though do we want to well it's it's going to be a permanent build again. So the building as ours says has a permanent building. Exactly. Yes. So yeah. So the building should could still be viable for something.

Yeah. So how how would we want to put our decommissioning to that? Um like the all servers, racks, cabling, cooling equipment, generators, batteries, hazard mater hazardous materials and any oneoff industrial elements that aren't useful to most other uses. So then it leaves the building clean and safe but not demolished. I don't do that.

Can we dance and play the devil's advocate? So, somebody puts up a building and they decide to close the data center, move the data center. Um, it's kind of like a great big Walmart. Do we, when Walmart cleans everything out, do we tell them what they're going to do on the inside of their building? No. So, obviously the hazmat portion of this is kind of covered by the DNR. Mhm.

So, can we really tell them what they're going to do on the inside of a building when our policy is land use? Um, same thing with an auto shop. got an auto shop out in the middle of nowhere. They decide to close. Do we tell them what they're going to do with it? We do not. So, why are we telling a data center what they have to do on the inside of the building?

Well, we're presuming it's going to be sold, right? Or I mean, because we could let it be abandoned with all this crap inside of it, too. But any other building can do that too. Can't do anything about it. You know, you can't do anything about like abandoned structures. Taxes are being paid on it. If they're if they continue, I guess if they continue to pay taxes. I mean, so I really struggle. Granted, I know what I know what we want to try and do.

Yeah. Can we treat this like any other business? A repair, you know, are we going to go in and tell them, "Oh, you got to clean everything out." Notice they still own it and they're still paying taxes, but you know, they can abandon it and they're paying taxes on it. They're going to sell it. Okay. Um, do we go in and and inspect the building? I don't think we can do that because that is not a zoning board's purpose. My opinion.

Well, what are you going to say? What I'm going to say is normally when you say I'm going to play devil's advocate, the hair in the back of my neck goes up. But I tend to agree with you. I think that we can tell them what, you know, we can put stipulations on what's the on the outside of the building, you know, for visual effect and all that, but I have to uh agree with Monica, we can't really tell them what's on the inside of the building. Um, as long as they're paying taxes and they're, you know, un, you know, if they sell it, then the new owners are going to have to deal with it. So, or the hazardous materials pose a

and that's and I was going to say as long as as the hazardous materials Monik you said that DNR is going to take care of that. I just want to make sure that part of it's covered. Yeah. You know, you don't want a building that has something left behind. But well, so truck stop on on Highway 61 that dairy zones. Um that was a gas station. DNR had to come in and do all the all the remediation on it.

I think that is part of Iowa law already with the reclamation and things like that and then there are funds available out there. So with the hazmat portion of this, that's not something that's really covered under zoning. There are other laws that handle that. And I would assume that if there is a sale of the building, the new buyers would do an inspection and the sale would be contingent upon that inspection just like you do with a real estate.

Well, and if they've got a well out there, guess what? If it hasn't every two years, if you se if you sell a rural property with a well and there has not been an inspection done within two years before you can sell that property, the well must be inspected. So there are steps that fall outside of the zoning purpose. Well, just to move on here and would you be would it be right then to say we keep the language but we just refer to the outside of the building so that you know outside the structure all services racks cabling cooling system batteries has it material so on and so forth so is that you know at least the outside of the building is cleaned up and stowed and taken care of and we don't you know you know out of sight out of mind on what's inside.

Not an eyesore either, too. But we're already covered on that for eyes and that's already in our zone. Oh, and that's working so good.

I I don't disagree with you on that. I do not. However, here's the thing with the restrictions. If we start putting more restrictions on stuff like this, we could end up being sued for more restrictions on one type of business because we're not um we're not being fair. I I would I don't disagree that our that our junk is not being cleaned up the way it should be cleaned up. I don't disagree with that. But we have that already in the ordinance.

So, you're saying this is just not necessary at all? No, I I it I just don't think it is. Um, flipping over to the third page. Uh, decommissioning requirements regarding waste. I'm sorry, what was that?

E-waste. Decommissioning requirements regarding e-waste on page three. As part of decommissioning, all servers, computer equipment, monitors, batteries, and other electronic or electrical components associated with the HDCF, the facil HDCF shall be removed from the site and managed in compliance with Iowa code chapter 455B and all equable state and federal solid and hazardous waste regulations. Yes. So we can say all that and the side of the building then also leave the viable building

that I mean that that would cover the this makes that first part redundant. Yeah. Exact. That's Yeah. Okay. So I'll defaulted. Yeah. Let's get rid of the first part because that's covered in the back part. Yeah. Okay. Because we we already put the code section that it falls under. So, right. Yeah. So, we're covered. Yes. And all applicable federal and state. Yes. Not just how much are you getting rid of and what are you keeping? You're keeping all of that under. Yeah. It's under the decommissioning part. Yeah. It's Yeah. Just this paragraph is all you're keep

keeping. Yeah. Yeah. So, the one was just What do you think? Is that number one? You're striking one. Yeah. Everybody agree on that? Well, yes. Okay. All right. All right. Okay. So, we do want to allow and encourage the reuse of the building shell and foundation if structurally structurally sound and code compliant.

I think so. Yes. So, yeah. Why wouldn't So, with the parking lot um with our parking regulations on the page, um generally data centers don't have many people working for them. They don't necessarily need the parking lot that that large of a building would require while it is a data center. Do we want to um decrease the parking? But then

yes, but we don't want a large parking lot and it's not being used and it's just going to cause it potentially could cause runoff complications. add the disclaimer. If the principal use of the building changes in the future, the new use shall comply with the off street parking and loading requirements than in an effort for that use category in the Jackson County. Okay. So

I would say that because I don't think with Yeah. There's not going to be that many employees there.

Yeah. So So in my thinking, if you get a small um crypto site or whatever, you're not going to have a big parking lot to begin with. And if you're going to get one of these big 50 megawatt ones, you're still not going to have a big parking lot. What you're going to have is you're going to have a lot of cement out there from the cooling system and the a closed loop, you know, cooling system. You're going to have a lot of cement out there from that. And uh then the uh you know, the generators themselves, so to speak, you know, because you've got normally you got two or three coolers for every unit you have. And so parking lots not the going to be the question where you have a lot of cement. is the actual site itself if it would pack up and move away.

Sure. I'm not I just I'm just stating a fact. I don't have a solution for that. Yeah, that makes sense. I mean once once a one of those big ones go in then it limits what you can do there except to have a a data center. But there are, you know, there would be other uses because if you're going to have a big one there, then you've got to have a substation close by and so maybe some other business would come in. You know, it's this is all speculation,

but parking lots aren't really you're not going to have a big parking lot at one of these cuz there just isn't that much demand for it. Do we need to set up um parking requirements per square foot kind of thing differently for this? What's our what's our I can't remember what did we do on parking before what's our ordinance? I can't remember what how we did that because

first we're but depending on what kind of books on what kind of business it is. So um this really Yeah. I don't that's what I was trying to remember what we did for um that per per employee or was that per square foot

or was it per person served because we had different things for schools and daycarees and you know adults. Yeah. Um, I was trying to remember what's the parking look like on these other plans. Is that they even have anything? Um, some do and that's where I got it from, but I can't remember which one.

So, that's where five came from. Yes. And I could always write it in and we can decide how you would like them. How I put it in

like one and a half per employee. That could be it too. That kind of That's what kind of just go with what number one sets

I because to be honest a lot of these are not going to have very many and I think but that is we we set a minimum of five but then it's up the administrator if they need they need more. I think we should look at doing something like one and a half per employee. Um Oh, wait a minute. Scroll down.

Stop. Oh, wait a minute. Um, okay. We did one space for every two employees on the maximum shift. I think that's kind of that's that's reasonable. Yeah. Sure. So instead of continuing to add different parking requirements for different items, we should try and stay it's a processing use.

It's a Yeah. say similar instead of having 50 different parking requirements for because if the building changes You know,

one space for every two employees on the maximum ship plus one space for each company vehicle. It makes sense. That makes sense.

That would also keep it uniform. Yeah. Yeah. And then you've got C. So probably keep it the same. decommissioning the next meeting pretty much covered everything here on page one.

Are the are the other counties are they requiring it theirs to be fully enclosed in a building as well? County building. pretty sure it Yeah. Um I I was just wondering if that's the standard that is people are going towards because you know the the one up in Manchester is not you know so

what's the one in Manchester like? Well, it's it's a 50 megawatt um unit and um it's all outside. There's two substations on the end of it. So, is that we can power at least half the load. It's one, you know, one will go down and and it's probably the size of a football field anyway. and it's all cement and we need the you know literally like I was saying there's for every server unit there's two cooling units it's a loop system and you know so that's why I was saying there's a lot of cement and then I was thinking well ours I I don't think we're going to be in that position anyway

that that we're going to get one that big we're going to be probably more likely looking at something smaller that could be enclosed in a you know, if if it would go. I'm not sure anybody's going to be interested in Jackson County, you know, at this point, but you never know. You know, somebody might be and who knows what two or three years down the road's going to do. The units could get smaller and more powerful, right? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah. I mean, look at look at servers from Yeah. Right. Just not that long ago. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And they and right now it's not very feasible that we would get an actual data center, but five years from now that whole dynamics might change and they might be popping up on a small scale around too. So So I think it's it's I think it's good to, you know, go ahead and say it's got to be within a closed building if that's the case for Jackson County. Maybe not for some other county, but for Jackson County. I will add that to my comparison list though to what's that the enclosed building to see what other counties are doing. Yeah,

this seems odd after 911 just to have data centers out in the open because after 911 everybody wanted them well but I'm talking about a crypto mining thing. Yeah. And and the data centers you know that there are a lot of data centers around

De Mo. Yeah. Oh, I know it. Yeah, you know, so and I and they certainly would all be enclosed in buildings. So, okay. Skipping on through um enforcement actions. Um, upon failure to correct a violation within the time specified in the written notice written notice of violation, the county mode may pursue one or more of the following consistent with county code and the statement. So any um enforcement is compared to any other civil violation. um for civil violations and fines as authorized by county code. Um we could add that the suspension or revocation of the board of adjustment permit for the facility um and or temporary shutdown orders for any facility or component posing an immin imminent threat to public health, safety or welfare. We should pretty much just be spelling that out because the board of adjustment already has the tower to suspend reo their limits that are granted.

Sure. Do we have any stable citations and fines said and code at this point? Um, we do cannot site them but yet where what would have the county request a temporary shutdown? down.

Why would the county need to? That's yeah, why would they need to? And what would be the purpose of it? How would that be determined? That temporary shutdown orders for any facility or component posing an imminent threat to public health, safety, or welfare. And what is welfare? Whose subject whose subjective authority would somebody come in and say you need to shut down? I got a problem with that. Well, we're agreeing on so much.

I I guess administrator says it's counting golf. They shut it down. What's the welfare? I mean, how does how does the county sanitarian determine that or the health department? Well, if something's leaking out of the building, you know,

so do they do that with any repair shop that has that happen? Well, I'm just saying, you know, if they have a, you know, they have a breach in the system and you you got coolant leaking out, you know, my the question is is does the county want to have that shut down? You'd be calling the EPA and I'm thinking of situation I'm thinking of the situation where it's running down to a creek that Well, and that's the DNR of the EPA. Yeah. Right. So is should that fall on the county?

Well, when I that Yeah, that made that one made me a little uncomfortable, you know, because, you know, the county, you know, is it their place to be coming in and saying you got to shut down. That's what I'm getting at. That's exactly what I'm getting at. I'm agreeing with you. Yeah. So, do we have anything like that in the wind turbine ordinance? M so maybe this is a sentence we probably shouldn't have had in the data mining either. Yeah. The generally the order for people when they see something is to call the county and then they don't know what other agencies to call.

So that would be call. So yeah. So the county would call, right, the DNR or the EPA, but it shouldn't be the county that would come in and shut them down. It would be the DNR or the EPA. So that's what I'm getting at. And when I read this, I thought, okay, shut down. Is there a reason to have this quicker because they're going to be here? Does the county have the expertise to determine whether Oh, you don't want to be shutting that down. No, I mean, you need to have the professionals. Exactly. You don't want the liability on the county for somebody who doesn't have the expertise or the training in order to do that.

Well, when I read this initially, I thought, okay, is there a reason that there would be for public consumption? Would there be a good reason to have that in there so people, you know, knew that the county had means to, you know, do something, take action if there was a problem. Now, you know, that's not saying that you're gonna go out and pull a big switch on the outside to shut it down, but you know, should we spell out I mean, is that why it's in there is to give people reassurance that the county can take action or

Well, in a situation that we had the other day, there was um a there was a burning somebody was burning. Um the neighbor called the DNR and um cuz the person burning was too close to a waterway and too close to a residence. Well, the DNR wasn't available to get out there that day. So they called the environmental health department. So, as a liaison, then the Jackson County Environmental Health director went out there, took the pictures, um, and then called the resident and said, "You need to stop until, um, the DNR can get out there and do their own investigations."

Okay. But we worked on the advice of the DNR. Yeah. Not the county made that decision, right? So, what I'm getting at is my concern with this is this appears that the county can shut it down. Now, do we have the expertise hired in this county to determine that something's wrong and should be shut down, right? But they shut down this guy for burning his stuff until the DNR can get out there. The DNR contacted them and said, you know, take the pictures of it, right?

But in the meantime, didn't they tell him he couldn't burn anymore? So that's based on what the DNR right regulations. But if so and so can't get out to this and we have somebody who's not a county employee, they don't have the expertise to do that. That that's what I'm getting at. Yeah, I know. So upon the proper regulatory authority

telling us this appears to me that the county can make that decision. We don't have the expertise in this county to do that. So my concern is I think this should come out because I think this would get us into a legal nightmare. So, so taking her example then something's going wrong in a data center. The DNR can't get out there. They call the county. Basically, you'd follow the same procedure you just did for the um burning and then and then they would the county would say on DNR recommendation, you you need to shut down shut down. So, I agree we don't need that.

Yeah, I would agree. Yeah. Okay. That's what I'm getting at. Yeah. Yeah. All right. I I would I I have a hard time picturing an imminent threat coming from something like this. And if there was something going on that bad, I think a company would shuttle down theirelves anyway. Right. Although the DNR came out when our deceased neighbor was burning tires and as the DNR was standing there talking to them, the neighbor before he died threw another three more tires on fire right in front of the DNR. So that must have been pretty hard when he was deceased. He wasn't deceased then. Oh, okay.

He is now, but he was not. I get it. All right. Yeah, I just think that opens up the county to a liability issue and I don't think we want it. How about take out county code and consistent with state law with state and federal environmental regulations, right? Yeah. because at least in the warm and fuzzy

there are enforcement actions but it doesn't come back down on the county directly except well if am I reading this right that if we had say a noise level and they were exceeding it that would be county that would be county code and I think we need that in there what if we do consistent with county codes, state law, state and federal and this see but we're looking at enforcement action in general but then we're real specific down here on the shutdown. I don't know maybe it needs to be broken out a little bit. Yeah, broken out.

I think that should be taken out because we have the civil citations already

listed there. Okay. Yeah, I would say with county code, state law, state and federal laws. Yeah. All right. Um, I will add e-waste to the definitions. Um, we also talked a long time ago about the conflict with state or federal law. um at in in this little snippet that um that state and federal conflict if there's any conflicts then the state or federal law shall control to the extent of conflict and all other respects this ordinance shall apply in addition to other applicable regulation. So state and federal is

is more important than the county. And generally that's kind of how that works. Yep. So we will have that stated in there. Yeah.

Um the permit ch transfer and change of operator. um that will kind of mirror the um WEX ordinance. Um the fire and emergency provisions, I did tighten those up a little bit to um focus on the land use. um that they require an emergency fire response plan um that ties to land use and that the access routes, contact info, shutdown procedures um require facilities to be designed with fire detection and suppression systems consistent within FPA and state standards and to provide evidence of compliance and require safe access and coordination with local fire department. And then also putting a disclaimer in that nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted to supersede or limit the authority of a state fire marsh or other agencies with jurisdiction. um noise limits um is what we have currently 50 dBA as measured at the property line of any nonparticipating parcel. I believe we talked about if it was going to be property line or how it was going to be measured at. Um so that gives a clear enforce enforcable measurement point and the other then

um question with that or topic of discussion is do we want to keep it at 50 or did we want to reduce it? I think we should keep it at the same as the wex. Yes.

Because I think if we start messing with this it's gonna create more issues. I think we should keep it for consistency the same. I'd vote for 45. I don't think we want to change it from the wax just because it should be standard across our ordinances because if we have one at 45 and one at 50 and then the next thing that comes in we change it to 35 I think that's the wrong thing to do.

And we did property line with wax. We did property line for wax. And normally it's me, but

um load confirmation. Um the load confirmation letter is so to keep the load confirmation letter in there and just to add that the letter is required to document just to tighten it up with land use. Um required to document that the proposed highdensity computing facility be can be safely served at this location without materially degrading service to existing customers and to ensure that any required upgrades are the responsibility of the operator. Not jets and cats. Go ahead. I don't think we can control this

in a zoning. This is a we're a land use. This is electricity. Yeah. And are we going to start dictating? I agree. I totally This makes me This one This one I really don't like. And this is one that all the other counties are also doing. I I don't care what all the other counties are doing. Yes, it these decisions are made way above the county level. Yes. Yeah. Um but to ensure that any required upgrades are the responsibility of the operator, not Jackson County. Um what upgrades would the Jackson County be responsible for? Electric.

It's the electric company. Do I call Jackson County when I need power? When when we move power, I didn't call Jackson County. I called out. So again, like I was saying before, if you feel it's really necessary to have this in here for public consumption, yeah, that's the only reason I see this is has any value. I a practical value, it has none at all. I disagree. I think this should be left completely out because this has nothing to do with the county. Nothing to do with it. Maybe it's CYA. It doesn't That's what I'm saying. If that's what they're looking for, fine. But that,

you know, but here's I don't care what other what the other counties are doing. Ca. Why should the county say anything about the electric use? This is not a land use. That is a that's a that is a utility that is is regulated by the Iowa Utilities Board and not by Jackson County.

Yeah. Whether it's Yeah. Whether it's whether it's Makoken Valley Electric or Alliant or Mid America for that matter, the these decisions are make are made at the generation and transmission level and at my level on whether or not these things are viable and whether they're going to affect the system. And so that's why I have, you know, a real problem with it. But again, if the county, if the supervisors feel like they need that in there, as Mike says for CYA,

um I that would be the only value I would see. And so if the supervisors want it in there for that reason, okay. But it's really in my mind, it serves no no real practical reason. I'm with Mike. Ask the county attorney. I don't think it should be in there period. Yeah. because we have absolutely no responsibility for that. So check with the county attorney. I understand other counties are putting it in, but right I I think it

Yeah, it's the one of the biggest fallacies with these with these outfits is they are running into some trouble over on the east coast where they put in so many data centers. they're um stressing the system out and they got they got ahead of themselves and that's not happening here in Iowa, you know, and and so they're we're doing a pretty good job of, you know, keeping this where it's a benefit, not a a detriment. So, Sure. Yeah. And the public were to read about the other state. Well, they that's the thing. If they read about what's going on on the East Coast, they think it's happening here and it's not. Yeah. Okay. Anyway,

they don't want it to. Doesn't mean it can't. That's Yeah, but no, I don't think I don't think this has any Yeah, I think it should come out. I think we're not dictating to the electric utilities is the Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we hope they can do what they say they can do when they move in as far as providing the power necessary. Yes, we we hope that Yes, but that's about it, right? I just I I don't want to say more.

It's all being taken into account. Good. And and the the other common concern and rightfully so is that that some of these units will stifle economic growth because there won't be room for, you know, a business to come in. And that's not happening. That is being taken into account as well. And so, um, yeah, we're Anyway, anyway, I'm biased and I will admit it. So then that brings me up to my next question. Um, a joint public hearing with the board of supervisors. If you want me to fine-tune that and we can go through it another month, which that would be March and then think about April or May with the joint with the board of supervisors.

I don't think we're ready for March. We have to Yeah. Yeah. I think I need we need to see the final printed and go through it. My opinion. Yeah. Piece by piece. I would agree. We need to go through it. We need to see it. I need to see it. March go through it. April fine tune and potentially May. Yeah. Keep working on that. When do we change the time to 7? Oh, yeah. After daylight saving

March. No, really. So, March we go handy dandy Google calendars actually. March. Yeah. So the March meeting would be at 7 on the 16th. Yeah, I was just waiting for Mike to move agenda.

That's okay. Be a great chair. Yeah, keep things moving. She does. I like it. We'll jump ahead at our seven o'clock next. Becca, I won't be here in that meeting. Okay. I will not be here either. I I won't I have surgery. So, perfect. Perfect. That'll work. I might I might be able to zoom. I might be able to see. I don't know. Does that cover your uh telling you very much about No, I'm not going to try to drive.

No, definitely. I might be able to zoom. Yeah, I think I think I'll be able to zoom the zoomers. We can vice president or other way around. Do you have anything else? I do not. Yes. This next meeting, March 16th at 7 p.m. um we'll discuss the rules of procedure. Um

if we do the rules of procedure, we'll be able to vote on chair and vice chair at that meeting then or does it does that to go another meeting besides that? And if we do first, we should be able to do from my quick research that I did, I believe. So, I I'm just saying that this other one the sign supervisor. So, that's why I'm trying to figure out if this one had to be signed by supervisors, why does this board?

I Yes. My quick chat with Laura, it sounded like all it needed was to be signed by the zoning commission. Signed by who? The zoning commission. Okay. Chair or the vice chair because the chair is having surgery that day. Yeah. Yeah.

Nothing else. Do we have any comments from the public at all? Anything?

Okay. And I guess we can ask for a motion to chair. So moved that way. I second. I'll second. All in favor? Any opposed? Thank you.