Zoning Commission - Regular Meeting

I'm ready when you are here. They will call meeting to order. Becca, you want to do roll call for us, please? Monica Mchu here. Tom Stewart, yes. Christine Bob, here. Ryan Venma here. Emoretic here. Sandra Gerlock here. Mike Burton here. Does anybody want to look over the minutes from the previous meeting, which is under the orange tab? and correction additions. I move that we accept the minutes of last minute. We have a motion. Is there any second? I'll second. All in favor? Anybody opposed? Okay, we'll open work session for the preparation of the Jackson County zoning ordinance update project with Laura Carstens. Lori, you there? I sure am. Hello everyone. Okay, go ahead. Laura, can we move to the to the cover page of the packet, please? Becca. Oh, the one. Yeah, there we go. Okay. Can and can you rotate that for them? Yeah. Perfect. Thank you. Okay. So, what we have tonight are um we've got five items. I'd like to suggest in the interest of time, we we really kind of skim over the very first one. Chapter 4 is a chapter separated out for the board of adjustment. We do have some legislation before

um the the Iowa legislature is looking at some changes to the role of the board of adjustment. So, um, basically all we're doing is in this one is we're taking whatever the board already has adopted, putting it all in one place, uh, re reordering it a bit, and then we're on hold until we hear from that hear have a decision from the legislature. So, we'll be bringing this one back to the board of adjustment and to you. So, if you're all right with that, I'd like to go ahead and jump ahead to the second item, the matrix of land uses and parking recommendations. That's okay. So, you can go past all the red line here, Becca, and all the clean version of the the board of adjustment chapter. and just go to the to those uh spreadsheet matrix. I'm sorry. Um that was in the other thing. Were you asking me to move? You need to change the page. Yes, please. Thank you. Right there. Keep keep going all the way to the spreadsheet pages. Oh, there they are. Okay. Really hard to read, but we're gonna make they have their hard copies in front of them, so we should be good. Okay. Are you You're not able to adjust the size on this. Okay, that's fine. That's okay. No worries. To a point. Okay.

Not unfortunately. Oh, that's okay. I I've got We're good. So, this is the a revised draft from what you saw last month. What I did this time was if there were changes, I have them highlighted in red and yellow. So, basically the items that are are highlighted that way, that's something new from last time. So this first part of the spreadsheet is the is the general land use category. So these are the broad general categories that we're using to simplify the list of uses in each district. Primarily the um changes here where I wanted to make sure that if there were any changes in parking regulation recommendations from what you currently use, you could clearly see that and that's what we're showing here. And Lori, if you can, or Rebecca, if you can scroll down a little bit on this so they could Yeah, there's there's just a couple of items there where the parking variations are noted. And then the next page is this is the same. So to the left or scrolling to the bottom? Yeah, you've got that one. So now we're on now we're on a heading here with the blue. Uh this is what's called this what we're calling the special uses. So these are into or specific excuse me specific uses. Again the changes here on this on the first page are again primarily for parking. On the second page the the um page to your right. What we've done is put in some placeholders for solar energy, wind

energy, um that will be coming up in the future. So those are the primary changes in this matrix at this point. Okay, if there are no questions, we can go to the the next just a moment. We have um Do you want to address? Well, we have a room full of uh spectators, visitors uh here for the public hearing. So they're not able to see what's up on there. You see it just about as well as we see it on our paper. Well, you got you know you have a hard copy. We see blur. I'm sorry. I I apologize. I'm doing the best I can here. And just so you know these Laura, correct me if I'm wrong, but this is available online. Correct. Yes. On the um Okay. If anyone would like a packet of this, I would be more than happy to get it to them. Uh, email it to them. Um, have you pick up a hard copy? This is how many pages long here, Laura? 77. I hate to email 77 page or post 71. It's only 71. 71. I don't have a problem doing it. We just try to save cost where we can. Yeah, you can print it out like this in the two first page and then it's only 36 pages. So, according to law, you don't have to post drafts and and this has just a draft that we're looking that we're looking for and this has nothing to do with the reason that I'm sure 99% of you are here. Yeah, I understand that. If this is the way it's going to be, we need some more clarity

that that we can see in front of us. This is the way this form is going to be, not the part that you're looking at down the road this meeting and that's all blurred. You can't read it, but I don't think you're going to have problems with what comes next. Can we get on with this? I'm really sorry. Um, as librarian, what is the entity of this document officially titled? This is the um the draft reszoning ordinance. We are we have we're been working on an antiquated zoning ordinance. This is a draft that brings us up to speed with the changes that are occurring in our in our community. It provides better definitions for what we have to work with. Um I have a whole list of things that I've been asked to address since I've been here in almost three years. And there's so much of our ordinance that has no definitions to address the what the taxpayers are asking for. One of the things is your concern here data mining. We don't have that in our in our current ordinance. That will be coming at some point. It's not part of this right now, but we do not have a have an ordinance for what you guys are concerned with. This is entirely unrelated to what the bulk of you guys are here for. May we proceed? Our business. Okay, Laura. Go ahead, Laura. All right, let's go ahead and move on to the third item. It's the proposed draft of uh chapter 2, section 2.2. This is our uh initial draft for the A1 agricultural district. Am I on the right page? Are you Yes, ma'am. So the red line version here with the changes here are we've created a

table we have created sections in that table so you understand what are the principal uses that are allowed what's their required parking and then are there any additional regulations in the ordinance and with the online ordinance this will be set up where these would be hyperlinks you could go directly to that ordinance. This section of principal uses and the next sections of accessory uses, special exception uses and temporary uses is correlated with that matrix that we were just looking at. So Lori, we can keep going here. I'm trying to zoom in a little better and that's prohibit from seeing both columns at the same time, but um hoping you find this more acceptable even though we can't see everything. So, this is the a chart that we created for the accessory uses. They don't have parking requirements, but they could have additional regulations for often. And so we've um created again a section where you could go and get more information about a particular accessory use. You go on to Yes. I got a question. Um are you using a certain template to reform this or are you going are you just working through it line by line? How are you what's your process? This is the template that we worked on with the staff. And so each district with the exception of the planned unit development district will look like this. Okay? Unless you want it to look differently. This is our template.

So the special exception uses we have broken we have broken them out a little bit more. We've made sure that um it's a little easier to read what the requirements are. It currently it's like one big paragraph. What we've done here is we've used the outline format. Any changes are shown in red. Those are our recommended changes. We can just keep going through here. Um, go to the other side so they can kind of also see what these special exceptions are. And these are all the red lines. I'm just going to add this is changes that have occurred. There's things from other parts of the ordinance. We're moving into a different part so that we can find them. Our ordinance is not user friendly. the taxpayers. Shoot, I have a hard time deciphering our ordinance some of the time because it's not put together in a user friendly sorry. I know some of you guys worked on that old one, but it was a long time ago. It was a long time ago and it just it needs some changing. Um, so these there's not a whole lot of changes in this part other than moving stuff around. That goes back to my question is so basically a lot of this is rearranging it so it's more user friendly, right? Okay. Yes. That's that's that was a point I was trying to get to. Okay. So Lori, if you want to just keep scrolling through these two two uh two by two pages for the folks there. All right. I'm going to do that. I'm gonna go to the bottom of this. And these are still the special exception uses under A1, correct? Correct. Okay. So, we have that and then I'm going to go to the other column. Okay, this this is um this is where we're also getting into

um a new use event venue kind of a general use there. And then if we can scroll up a little more, Lori, scroll down and a little more there. So now there's a new section we've added that would be in each of the districts for temporary uses and struct and structures allowed by the zoning administrator. These are uses that uh Lori felt would be appropriate for her to continue to issue uh permission for as a temporary user structure or they in in our minds are something that the zoning administrator can do because they are in fact temporary. They're not permanent. So Laura, if you want to move on to the next the other direction. Yeah, to the next page. Oh, next page. Okay. Yeah. I just want to go back and do something, Laura. So that saw it. I just want to point it out and most of you probably saw commercial wind energy convergence system ordinance. This is a standalone ordinance. That's one of the things that's on the board of supervisors agenda right now, their table. It's passed the board, excuse me, passed the zoning commission. You can see that it addresses that as a separate ordinance. It's not part of the general ordinance just so that you guys are aware of that. And I didn't want to act like anyone thought I was hiding anything from them. Right. This would be another opportunity for a hyperlink for uh folks to move from one ordinance to the other. These are more some more examples of the temporary permits that have been um recommended by staff.

I'm find that other column for us too. Okay, now we're into the setbacks. So the regulations for setbacks are in a chart form with with borders around everything so you can readily determine what is the regulation for each of the types of uses and structures. And Laura, I find this to be a lot more user friendly. Um, the way our ordinance is currently laid out, it's it's hard to determine by a property owner what they're actually looking, you know, what they're looking for. So, I think this is a good tool. And one of the things we did is we we we pull anything that I could find that might um be a special exception use or other type of use. The number of uses are bigger. number number of uses are more just we got it okay all right I'm sorry continue please if you want to show that chart again certainly so we've expanded this because some of there's some uses that would have different regulations like different from principal uses to accessory uses so again trying to make this more all-encompassing, which therefore makes it easier to uh to explain from the staff perspective and we sure hope easier to understand from the customer perspective. Okay, I think we could move on, Lori. Uh we did the same thing with the signs. They were just a a a series of um sentences and we've put those in a

chart format. Again, this would be a template we use um for the other districts. This is type of template we'll we use in other ordinances. And so the regulations here haven't changed. They're just organized in a chart. Laura, Monica, I've got a question. Can we even dictate what the signs are along Highway 61 with those being a state highway? Um because I know they actually have an office or they used to in uh the office of rightway at the DOT that dictated what signage could be up along state highways. I will check into that for you and I will let you know at our next meeting. Thank you. You're welcome. Just a second, Laura. I would make a note also. Okay. Okay. Any other questions on signs? Okay. I think we're getting close to the end. Lori, if you want to move to the the other page. gonna go to this side of the column too so we could um just a moment. What page where is that? 28. Um sorry about that. Yeah, there we go. So that's just still part of the signage part. And then we had special exceptions that was uh No, this is the this is a special requirements. Okay, got it. Each each of our zoning districts ends with a set of special requirements and that's that section

there that you see. So that's the that should be the end of the A1 district red line and then we should be moving into a clean [Music] version this point there. Yep. So this is for the folks in the audience. What we do is we we show where the changes are proposed and then we show a draft that shows what happens if all those changes are made and that's what the clean version is here. So this is the same information just cleaned up. Just a second. Laura, I backed up. Can you guys still read that or do you want me to zoom back in where we only see part of it? Yes. Yes. What? Zoom back in. So, like she said, this is the clean version. The other the other one was the red line version. So, this is what the new draft is looking like after everything was cleaned up and moved around. And then we have the other side of this, which is still the A1 district. This shows what well princip what principal um this is principal use structures any required parking and where you can find the definition of such structure and then this over here is also the same continuation of the other column principal use structures and your required parking and where you can find the dis um definitions of such use and those will all be hyperl eventually.

Okay. Yes, that's the goal. Okay. And this um outlines the um assessor use structures in A1 zoning. Are you ready for the next page? Laura, could you tell us? I am. Oh, I beg your pardon. Could you tell us what the definition of agriculture is? Uh well I can we can definition of agriculture. It's in the it's in the ordinance and it refers to Iowa code but I don't have that. I don't have it right now. Yeah. And I'd have to dig through it and but it's who do I need to email the definition of agricultural to? Give me one second ma'am. [Music] Hang on, Laura. We have someone looking up the definition of agricultural from our code or from our ordinance. I can just show it to him if you want. That works if it works for him. Everybody's here. I don't know if you can Can you share something from my screen? Uh, give me a moment here. [Music] Let me go into that one. We just went through this forest. There's a way. I just don't do this often enough. Laura, okay, because I pulled up chapter six, which is the definitions. Do we have that in here? No, we don't. Do we?

Actually, the definition has not changed. It's the current definition. So, if somebody already pulled that up, that's the definition. But I I've got it. I can read it. Part of the reason we need a rewrite of our ordinance because I cannot go directly to something in our old ordinance. Uh and nobody can. If I can How long is that definition? It's two sent. two sentences. Why don't you read it if it's just being sent to us? All right, I will do that. Agriculture, the use of land for agricultural purposes, including farming, dairying, pasturidge, horiculture, floriculture, viticulture, and animal and poultry husbandry, and the necessary accessory uses for treating or storing the produce provided. However, that such accessory uses shall be secondary to that of normal agricultural activities. Agriculture shall not include commercial animal or poultry feeding or raising in confined lots or buildings as defined here in see also farm and horiculture. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. that is that addressing the situation we're concerned about public database. That is correct. This is a work session for the ordinance rewrite that we started working on in what December, Laura. Yes. So, this is a work session. This is part of the regular business of the zoning commission. Part of their

responsibilities is to revisit, rewrite, and adopt ordinances. And this is what we're working on right now. We're not even at the part of the data yet. Not even there yet. Any agenda? Yeah. So, Laura, please continue. Sure. So, we can go we can just kind of work through this. This is the again this is the clean version that we're looking at here. this this uh entire agenda packet for that the commission is uh looking at tonight is posted on the project website. Um again, here's another placeholder for something that's coming up. Wind energy, assuming something gets adopted. Um we can just keep going, Lori. Here, I'm going to also scroll to the bottom. Yep. And then go to the other side of the page. Laura, thank you. And this is all A1 districts still. Yes. And this falls under the special exception uses, not principal use. Right. Okay. And we're still in that A1 under special exception use. Correct. And as you can see, the things that are highlighted boldly are things that are listed under special exception use under the current A1 zoning ordinance and will be in the new one also. Okay.

Actually, Laura Garden Center was one of the new ones in event venue is one of the new ones that are part of here that we saw in our um red line version. Correct. Right. Okay. And now we're back into the the the the grid, the the graph that shows the setbacks, minimum lot sizes. And don't let me take over, Laura. No. And we can just we can just keep moving. The next one chart should be the uh signs which didn't have any changes and then the special requirements and then Lori if you want to just uh move over to that second. There we go. So this is another district. This one is not a district that is organized the same way because the planned unit development district is one that allows for a developer to create a basically like a customized zoning district for a project. What we've done here with the changes for the planned unit development or PUD district is we have set it set it up to have some of the same criteria that you would see for um other applications. So this one lists what should be in the application. We can we can go to the next page.

Lori, there's information in here on these these next two pages about the application process. Trying again to make sure that it's clear. Uh, one of the things that can happen with a planned unit development district application is it can be a change of the zoning, but it can also be related to a subdivision plat for the development. And so we wanted to make sure that there was uh references to both the the zoning change and the platting approval process here. And again, we'll be you trying to use those hyperlinks so people can go back and forth. So again trying to make sure this is comprehensive um that we cover the bases we provide uh cross checks between ordinances and within the ordinance uh so that it's clear to the staff and clear to the customer clear to the commission and board of supervisors what is the process for this. So some changes but really not much in terms of changing it again trying to make it organized better more user friendly and then I think Lori we would be moving into the clean version of this here pretty soon. Yep I see. Yeah. So again, like the one we just looked at, this clean version incorporates whatever was in a red line state and leaves the changes there to be viewed without the red line.

Okay. Um on the on the right hand side there, this is another section of the ordinance. It's part of chapter 2. It's called supplemental district regulations. So these are regulations or sometimes exceptions that will apply to all districts. Um and here what we've done is u added some illustrations for thing this very first one for example the visibility at an intersection there are several uh things that are going on in terms of geometry and measurements. And so each of these images relates to one of those ways that the site visibility triangle and um making sure there's no obstructions at an intersection, how those are treated. Laurian and Laura, I have a question on this with the sight triangle because there are a lot of farmers that plant clear up into the rightway and this is something that we need to look at very closely. Um on obviously on highways we in county highways heavily traveled roads. This is something that we need to look at. However, when you're getting out into the rural areas where there's not as much traffic, um I think this could be an issue. We can review this with the county engineer and see if they have um things that they might will do. I know that uh site visibility

often will lean on the side of conservative and take into account that there would be full full row crops present. So I think that would be something Lori that we can do and get back to the commission with an answer at the next meeting. Let me mark that online too. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Okay, then let's see the next I didn't go too far, did I? No, I I'm not being I'm not seeing it. Okay, here we go. So then this is this is the information that's in the current ordinance and you can see we've added a few just a few suggested changes here in redlinining for these for these next several items and then we can look at the look at this next page Lori. So, this one I had a this one I have a question um for the commission in terms of the off- streetet parking. Right now, it says it it [Music] um parking shouldn't be in a required front yard in a residential district. And I thought this this might not be the wording we were looking at. I have a diagram there

that shows a vehicle in a driveway. Um, which to me would could very easily happen in a residential district. So, just wanted to let you think about that. Maybe this language needs to be modified. Okay, we can go on to the next H the second bar. Okay. Okay. The next section um had to do with making sure there was compliance with other county development requirements. And what we did here was try to make sure we put in those where you can find those other requirements um specifically so that when we create a hyperlink we'll be going to the section that's appropriate. So it's not a just go and look in the all the ordinances and try to find this one. go to this ordinance, this section, um this chapter. Um accessory dwelling units currently are um being debated at the Iowa legislature. So, we're uh trying to get uh just having something in reserve here for when and if that gets passed. uh solar energy systems. I was asked to uh look at solar energy systems

particularly for con consumer scale. So uh if if we want to these would be things that be used by a homeowner or a business they would not be generating electricity beyond the needs of that business. The utility scale solar array is not there's no regulation imposed for that at this point. We created a set of definitions within this set of regulations so that they're handy or and included a diagram that can show some of the many ways you can have um solar arrays mounted on a building or other structure. along with those definitions. And then I if we could go to that we can go to the next page. We also um have an illustration of a freestanding solar array. This might be comp. This is at the Hurstville Interpretive Center. And then you see there's a definition for the solar energy generation at the utility scale. Again, really that's a placeholder until the commission begins working on that part of it. For our purposes though, we wanted to be able to uh provide for solar energy systems for for homes and farms and businesses that were on the consumer scale. So the regulations here are on this page on and on the adjoining page are all

geared to that consumer scale solar access either as a building mounted array or a freestanding array. Uh we have a placeholder for those utility scale solar and then also the placeholder for the wind energy conversion systems that are being considered by the board of supervisors at this time. and just something reserved for data mining for whatever whatever gets approved by that by recommended by the K commission and approved by the board of supervisors and let's see I think we might be moving into the clean version of that yeah so this is the clean version of that supplemental regulation and again we'll check on is visibility at intersections with row crops. And I think we're at I think that may be the end here. We're getting close to the the end of this packet.

Sorry, Lauren. Nope. I think this is this is just a solar just a clean clean version of that consumer scale solar and then the other provisions that relate to that. And then I think we have one more page. This is the last page. And so this is just the uh the final page of just this section. We'll be bringing each of the other components of this chapter to you in sections. Again, are there any questions or comments from the commission? Okay, thank you very much for your support and thanks for those questions. We'll be looking into those Monica and bringing you back some recommendations. Good night everyone. Thanks. Lori, are we staying pretty much on schedule with this then? Yeah, right now we're done with Laura and now we have um He means on Tony. Oh, excuse me. Oh, yes. We're right on we're right on Yeah, I meant on this but we're working. Yes, I'm I apologize. I was heading on the schedule in my head. Sure. But yes, we are. We're right on target. Okay. Um and so and we're because it was I always thought it was a fairly ambitious, you know, schedule, but it looks like we're staying on track. It is an ambitious schedule. Yeah. Um Yeah. It isn't Mr. schedule, but you guys, I thank you guys for accepting the challenge. Yeah. So, so, um, I'm going to go back to the

top so everyone can see the agenda and where we are on the agenda. We have a cast. We should be able to help. Yeah, I'm gonna get back up to it and turn everything back around here. So, here's where we are. I will blow it up. Um, so um Mike, did did do you have something that Yes, we will uh somebody wants to make a motion to vote on the public hearing and when we do the public hearing. Actually, Mike, this is just for public comment. You already closed your public hearing. Oh, right, right, right, right, right. We're just This is just public comment. Public comment. So, uh, one person will be able to speak at a time. Only one person. No interruptions. They speak for three minutes only. And only that one person will speak only once. Yes, sir. Sir, I just have a real quick question. You want us to speak on what everybody's here for during this time? Yes. Or when you're discussing like last time and you had us discuss it while you were talking about Yeah, we shouldn't have done it that way last time. We were we actually Mike, you were you were good last time. You already closed that public hearing. Yeah, I know. But I mean, we should have been commenting back and forth. That's

true. Person should have spoke for three minutes and then that person and you can talk about it doesn't have to be about data mining. You can talk about anything that's considered zoning in Jackson County at this time. Okay. Did Did you want me to bring up what your what your roles are? Yes, you you do that at this time. Yeah. All right. Um, so I'm going to go back. Is that on the very last page? Yeah. Very last page. So everyone here is familiar with what our job as commission is. [Music] So below is the below is language in the ordinance as to the zoning commission's role in determining the zoning districts uh for uses not spelled out in the ordinance. Proposed use is not covered in the ordinance. Any proposed use not covered in this ordinance as permitted uses or special exception uses shall be referred to this body, the zoning commission, for a recommendation as to the proper district in which such use should be permitted and the ordinance amended as provided in section 3.2 before a permit is issued for such for such proposed use. Should the commission determine that this best this use is best used under A1 district with the appropriate special exceptions to be determined by the board of adjustment. The board, excuse me, a motion would be motion to recommend to the board of supervisors to keep this zone A1 and then allow the board of adjustment to set the appropriate special exceptions for this type of operation. However,

should the commission determine that A1 an A1 district is not appropriate, they would need to determine which district is appropriate. The bas the districts that you basically have in front of you right now are M1 or M2 if you find that A1 is not appropriate for this use. So in this case, there would be action to follow. The commission would determine if this area is suitable for such industrial and one2 zoning. If they if they would need to reszone to make they would need to make the appropriate motion to recommend to the board of supervisors that this operation is best suited for use in that industrial district and that the commission also recommends this area is suitable for reszoning to an industrial district. on this operation in the twoacre tract to be reszoned to the industrial district M1 or M2 and then allow the board of adjustment to set the appropriate special exceptions for this type of use or if the commission determines this area is noted excuse me is not suited for industrial use operations or zoning there would need to be a motion stating that the commission has determined etmined the type of use for this proposed for the excuse me the commission has determined the type of use proposed is best zoned under M1 M2 industrial zoning. The commission has determined this area is not suited for industrial use and for these reasons recommend to the board of supervisors to keep this zone A1 and deny the application for special exception use. So, the board, this board, this commission's duties is

not to say no. Flat out no. There has to be a reason for them to make one of these motions. Special conditions is not set up by the zoning commission. It is set up by the board of adjustment would be the next step in this process. They do not set conditions. And I'm just going to speak because I know I've talked to many of you since your last meeting. They just finished working on a wind energy conversion system ordinance. It took them 18 months. So they they were kind of used to thinking that they were delegated to set up conditions for the ordinance. Yes, that was what their role was for this purpose. their only purpose. Any proposed use not covered in this ordinance as permitted or special ex special exception shall be referred to the zoning commission for a recommendation as to the proper district in which such use will should be permitted and the ordinance amended as provided in section 3.2 before a permit is issued for proposed use. Lori, can I say something quick? Sir, I'm gonna step back here. Yes, sir. Um, for those of you who weren't here last month, my name is Tom Stewart. I am on the Valley Electric Board. So, at this point, I'm going to just go to the back. I'm not going to be part of this u discussion or this decision. Um, I do not believe that I necessarily have a conflict of interest, but I do not want to give the appearance of a conflict of interest. Well, I would like to say there is a misconception out there that Coconut Valley Electric is partnering with the data mining company. That is not true. What we would do is we would supply the data mining company if it would be approved with power just like we would for anybody's house business drain. So anyway, with that I'm

going to set back so nobody has any questions about me, you know, being on this. Thank you. Thanks, Tom. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, whoever wants to start, please stand and we'll give them three minutes and once per person and state your name. But I got a timer out here. I hope I can get through in three minutes. Uh, my name's Ranger Owen, wife. We have no objections to anyone selling their land for unless it diminishes the quality of life of the neighbors. Okay. We're owners of the closest residence to the proposed Bitcoin mining facility. We're we're nearing retirement within the next year or so and never in a wild stream we think we'd have to be dealing with something like this at this point in our lives. The pro site would be 600 some odd feet from our house and 400 some odd feet from our property line. A house that we've been lived in for 38 years. As I mentioned earlier, we are near retirement. We don't want to have to tap into our hard earned retired money to to fight this with a lawyer. We don't think that Bitcoin mining facilities are a good fit for Jackson County. given the environmental impact and footprint that they involved and with alo with the amount of electricity that they required largely largely generated by coal fired power lines. I read somewhere where China pretty much banned these facilities in 2021 due to their environmental impacts. Is this the rabbit hole that we really want to go down in and for Jackson

County? Because believe it or not, folks, this is just the tip of the iceberg. If this gets approved, I'm betting that in a very short period of time there there will be one or more of these facilities at every substation in Jackson County. We wanted to learn more about these facilities. So on March 1st, my wife and I drove to three of these facilities. One at Grundy Center, one in Union, and one at St. Anthony. The new building at the Grunny Center burned down this past January. The last I heard it was from uh unknown causes that resembled a junkyard to me and us. There were missing louvers and some of the pods and some of the fans that were running sounded like they had bearings going out of them and uh because of the screeching sound. I have pictures and video for anyone who wants to see that. The second place we visited was at Union. I think this is ORM's newest facility at 8 meg 8 megawatts. We're on the gravel road just to the west of the facility and on the exhaust side and it was loud to say the least. Now keep in mind this is March 1st and not very warm outside. So the fans that were burning were probably not running at full speed. Uh the third site we visited was at St. Anthony, this site was developed in 2022. Three minutes there. Sorry. This site was developed in 2022 was at St. Anthony. This site was developed and looked to us to be in a state of disrepair. There were louvers missing on the exhaust sides of the pods and of the fans that were running. They were also loud and also sounded

like they had beeries blowing out of them because of the screeching. I have pictures in the hearing service. In in some of all of these sites that we visited, there is one thing in common that stands out. Folks, these sites are out in the middle of nowhere. There are no there's no livestock. There's no residents to be found around any of these sites. They are in gravel road with no inhabited residents nearby. Also, in our research, we discussed that RM applied for reszoning request in Woodbury County last year. It was denied essentially because of the nearest residence was 1100 ft away. ARM also said that it would use liquid pool pods in a closed loop system to migrate the sound mitigate mitigrate the sound. This also said that other sound migration mitigration devices could be available such as fencing and shrubbery. In closing, we would like to appeal to the board that if you feel that you have the res to reszone this property and allow this proposal to be to move forward that you make it make a stipulation or condition condition of use that the Bitcoin mining facility can be no closer than 1500 to,800 feet away with exhaust fans pointing away from the nearest residence at any residence in Jackson County. and at that decel reading and that the decel reading at the nearest residence cannot exceed 50 dB at any time of the day or any time of the year. Thank you. When we visited these I I thankfully that some of you possibly visited these sites also. Del Marcuses visited them one week prior to us. We

visited them one week later and I believe you went in the week in between us. I think we actually saw your tracks at some of your sites, but we were not in We were not when we went, no one knew that we were coming. But I I assume that when you went, they knew that you were coming, right? To one of the sites to one of the sites. And I'm sure at that site, they probably just like as you clean your house up for visitors. I'm sure they probably tidied it up for use. Both Dale and Randy have videos of the same places for anybody that would like like to watch and see them and it's one actually I do have that to present. I have Dale's video of Union and the St. Anthony site and I have the video of Union and St. Anthony when Mary and I went. All right. Randy also has the videos. I have them to put on the screen. All right. Thank you, Lori. And I also Sorry, but thank you to Lori. She's been nothing but kind and courteous to us and we appreciate everything that she has done for us. Thank you. Okay, it looks like uh uh Amanda, you can stay right there if you want. That's fine. Uh thank you for I'm Richardson. I'm from Bryant, Iowa. Actually, um, thank you for allowing me to address. I am actually speaking on behalf of my family that are land owners in Jensen County, approximately a half a mile from the proposed project. My brother's house and shop sits on approximately 50 acres and my parents also own around 35 adjoining acres. We are all opposed to a special use permit for any Bitcoin operation.

Uh my first thing um a fire risk. Obviously there is a fire concern if um the plan owner operator had his Grundy County operation burned in January and failed to disclose the information. If a hoop shed like that surrounded by dried corn stocks had like we had this last fall were to catch fire, it could easily spread, putting homes and lives lives in danger. Two, the amount of daily electricity this operation would take is huge. We do not want our bills to go up or potentially blackouts. Three, there is no benefit to our community, only risk. Four, my family and neighbors spend a lot of time on the property outside, especially in the summer. There is a high very high noise level, which is unacceptable. Five, the Rowan home is far too close to the property to cons to consider this. If you allow this special permit, you are clearly harming them. Six, the ground is zone agricultural. There is absolutely nothing egg related to this. Thank you. When did you have anything? I do. Thank you for allowing me to address you. This ground is zoned agricultural. Clearly, there is nothing eggreated to a Bitcoin mining operation, even if it is placed in a hoopshed like the Grundy County operation that burned down. As we believe, that fire is still under investigation. However, placing a large number of computers together would generate substantial heat. Also, it's very easy for rodents to work their way into a hoop shed and build a nest or chew through wires to create a fire. This is a risk that could be very dangerous in a dry field with corn stalks, particularly where we're dry now

and um last fall when we had a drought. The economic impact of this is negligible. However, the extreme use of electricity is a concern. This would be a drain on the system and could lead to higher prices, shortages, and blackouts. This sets a precedence. If you allow one, others will surely follow. I would like to support the Rowan family. Certainly in Iowa, we take care of our neighbors, and this would lower their property value, cause them to put up with a significant noise nuisance, and is not how we treat our neighbors in Iowa. I implore the board to keep this egg brown zone as it is A1 agricultural. Thank you. Do you have anything? Charlie is on my list. Charlie White. That's me. I'm so Okay. How about we get if there's any questions at the end, we we pull you up. I'm going to go down my list if you don't mind. Excuse me. If you're going to follow the rules that that strictly by us not clapping and giving us an exact three minutes, please give us a 10 second that we're 10 seconds that we're about to end as it says in the rules of the chair. Please don't read the rules. Um so agree with that that if Lori intervenes with someone talking they should be credited that much time that she spent against talking won't intervene. Oh did I talk? Oh I called. It's fine. You're good. We're good. Um Charlie White. Oh okay. Sorry I'm a little flustered. Um Terry, did you want to speak? Yeah, whatever it is. Uh we've heard everybody

a lot of people hear about the opposition of building this. Everybody says the Bitcoin people say it's going to be great for you. Going to be great for you. But let's say what happens if the what will not happen happens? What rights do the people surrounding very close to this area have in the contract and purchase? Is there a whole armless agreement? Are they able to bring civil suit or for or uh you know the civil suit for compensatory damages or punitive damages and what rights do they have because there's many neighbors that are going to be affected severely financially with their property. I mean, we are not going to agree. We all agree this is not right here. But what happens if it does happen? Something happens. There's, if I'm correct, there's a little creek right there. Creek there. Okay. What about environmental protection? We get a fire, we got the plastic burning, we have the ash, unless they come in right away and clean it up. Heavy rain, it takes it down into the creek. You know, there's so many other things. And I agree with the opposition 100%. What happens if this something does happen? Are they are they stuck with no value? Are the person stuck with the value of the property? Another person stuck to the livestock won't perform, won't gain weight? I mean, there's so many other questions. You just agree to this zoning, agree to it. Well, now you're stuck out there. Let's see this permit. You can read that the personal names but keep the corporations and the co-ops in it and let's see what all the the wording of this purchase and what they are going to do. Another thing is the decibb. We've all experienced a jet maybe for 5 seconds 10 seconds but this is constant. What's that going to do to

livestock? We know what it's going to do to Rollins's property. U there's just too many questions out this. They should never be passed today. They shouldn't be passed with a month. And there's more than that. Thank you for your time. Um, is there anybody that didn't sign in that wants to speak? Okay. Can I get your name? Nicole Shibly. I'm gonna write your name down, Nicole. Okay. Yeah. I'll set my own time. It's three minutes. Thank you. Okay. So, I appreciate the recap of where we're at right now and what the duties are. Um, I'd like to refresh the group. I'm back on 91724 when a 9-month moratorum was enacted on the development and construction on these data mining facilities and issuing applications for permits. uh verbatim concerns were raised by public officials regarding the county's level of preparedness when it comes to the development of data mining facilities due to not having a current data mining facility ordinance. Planning and zoning commission will require time to gather information and coordinate multiple agencies for the purpose of reviewing updating of creating ordinance policies and procedures relative to these facilities development. During that meeting, our astute board pointed out that bit mining, Bitcoin mining is a lucrative business and shared concerns about e-waste and limiting the number of these facilities in our county. At the 40 minute mark of that board of supervisors meeting, a list of drawbacks to these facilities was shared, including minimal tax value, minimal revenue generated, a ton of power used, and following that it was stated that MBEC knows there's money to be made that's reported. It was discussed that in addition to current wind, solar and battery storage ordinance drafts, data

mining facilities would be added a mere 49 days following the moratorium being enacted. Zoning commission requested it be rescended on 115, stating that its purpose was to ensure safeguards were in place prior to issuing permits. It is my opinion this is an oversimplification. Further, it states, "Reasons for the moratorum are adequately addressed, quote, in our zoning ordinance through zoning commission decisions and by Jackson County Board of Adjustment Consideration and placement of conditional use restrictions." I'd also note that John Paul Veric then applied one hour after this moratorum was lifted and his LLC was established 6 days prior to that. According to public record, as the initial moratorium outlined, time was allowed to create policies and procedures in the development of these facilities and to coordinate with agencies. But as of 217's meeting, in the four months since that moratorium was lifted, the fundamental question still remained on how this operation would be zoned. To briefly revisit the board of supervisor and community concerns, e-waste. Has a board of supervisors concerned of e-waste handling been investigated? As noted on Mining Store's website, their equipment lasts an average of 5 years before breaking down or becoming obsolete. Has Mining Store committed to timely and responsible disposal, or would Jackson County be left with piles of electronic junk? Expansion. In the 217 meeting, ORM Capitals rep Tasha did not commit to staying the proposed 2.5 megawatt size duration, but mentioned the operation quote could grow at 24 minutes and 30 30 second time stamp. And reminder, Origin Capital has seven banks behind them ready to invest 1.1 billion. Charlie mentioned in seconds. Oh, okay. So, who does this all truly benefit? I mean, in some I would really request that. No problem.

I saw another hand. Hi there. What's your name, sir? My name is Marcus Winkler. I was on the last one. I just couldn't figure out on Zoom how to talk. So, I decided to come here today. So, since you probably already started the timer, I'm going to give you a real quick view of me. I care about my children and my wife number one, then my animals, then my finances, then myself. All right? I don't care. I'm going to give you the short version of probably my 30 minute speech. This guy has lied to us already twice. He said he went and talked to every single one of us that that are around there. He never went and talked to me. I got notified about that meeting literally 3 minutes after this meeting started last month. And my property line is 100 meters away from where he wants to build this. That's a lot. Number two, wind energy. Why is he investing in a lot of the wind energy companies that we are actively fighting against? Uh, she hit up on the e-waste, but I'm not going to hit on that too much. Um, he already accused himself. Who's the other one that said that they live they work at Makoka Valley? No. Oh, I thought there was another one that got pretty defensive at the last meeting. Um, but yeah, thank you for recusing yourself because that's the right thing to do. I appreciate that. Right. Um these this is this is just going to end up ruining everything that they have worked 30 40 years for. Everything that I am trying to work for because I'm the newest resident in the area. It's going to screw everybody in that screw up I'm sorry screw up everything in that horseshoe of everybody that lives around there. He's going to be building this right on top of the water table that all of us are pulling off of the e-waste. If that starts on fire, our water table,

screw it. We're We're done. Everybody in there is going to have to move. All those harsh chemicals going straight into our water table. That's not right. I have three kids or four kids underneath the age of 10. That's That's not right at all. Um, we fought the wind wind energy companies. Once again, why is he investing in wind? Number two, we're going to fight these guys. But if you want to actually know who I am, I did six years serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. I'm a green beret. Did contracting for another six years. And now I work at the federal prison. That's why. Oh, two purple hearts in Bronx. Thank you. Was there anyone else that maybe didn't sign in and get an opportunity serve with the ball? Dan Lane. Hi, Ken. Mine are more questions, but I just haven't been able to grab wrap my mind around. One thing I will preface by saying, I have a nephew. The union facility was built about a half mile from where my wife grew up. And so then my nephew went over and we facetimed right next to the building, right next to the facility. We went a quarter mile away. I'm just going to tell you right now, I was pretty open-minded to it. I'm not now. It was so freaking loud. And that was in March. So, um, the the nearest and they're right, the nearest house probably quarter half mile. I just guess, but it was so stinking loud there that I I was just like, wow. Okay, so then got me thinking, how many sites are being planned for Jackson County? Is if there needs I'm sure they have a plan. I

want we would we I guess we as county members need to kind of be aware of how many they have planned. What happens if they don't what consequences they have if they don't follow the noise ordinance? We can all sit here. I've been on enough committees and boards before. Everybody talks the big talk. They sing the big song. We do and we approve it. And then what are the consequences when it doesn't happen? Where are the consequences? That's what we need to know as community people. Are there going to be like an escro set aside for cleanup? Because there eventually when you don't live in the neighborhood, it's easy to kind of No, that's not working. We'll just kind of brush it aside. Where's the funding going to come from to clean that property up? I'm not expecting answer. Just these are questions that come to my mind. I don't want to be naive, but I also need to be realistic about this power situation. And I do respect Tom for being doing the right thing. But this place is supposed to use about $4,500 $5,000 of power a day and they're automatically going to shut it down when the when there's a power drain. Let's not be naive here, okay? They if it's if it's that hot, especially when the power is required and those computers need whatever they are need that much power draw, then it's naive for us to think they're just going to shut it down. Come on, people. It's not going to happen. They say it is. What happens when it doesn't happen? What are the consequences for that? Okay, thank you. I just need those question. Everybody needs to think about these questions, ma'am. your name

please of Iowa with Joel. Okay. who is very close to this facility proposal has because my time started I'm just introduc um there's a catalyst motivator for this JP Barrett um the mining store uh under the 11 stock exchange and at least three articles that can be bibliography um the people's republic of China is backing him he is now the how permanent another foreign country is. And as far as I'm concerned and our United States government, land acquisition for United States citizen to purchase anything in the US and for Republic of China is not allowed. Um two the code 91 chapter 91 will be agricultural use that is interfering completely and deteriorating to anything. It is it is not in that definition of the Iowa code. Um three we've got I Jane Paulie from CBS Sunday Morning um Time magazine, Popular Mechanics have all put out articles and news features about the Bitcoin facilities and how they farm communities, people, the um animals around it, the environment, the ewaste, the gross electrical use. Uh basically uh what's the payoff motivator for this JFP Barrett? Um just once it's just greed it's all I can see. Um it's not a part

of the good news that we learned at church for St. Francis of the CC. as far as I'm concerned. Um, basically, uh, the Bitcoin mining facilities, they put out a negative impact toward the legacy of land inherited into generations like my great-grandfather, down to me, down to my daughter. Uh three, this mil militaryra torture noise that is put out by these fans, uh it is detrimental to these all the birds that I see. I'm an outdoor person. the hawks, the eagles, the cows, the goats, the chickens, the cattle, the pigs, anything you had outside, um, your dairy cow. Basically, it interrupts their threat detection, universal threat detection. And this is response just it disrupts their instinct to determine that. Um, it's against all of mother nature's Thank you. If you got hundreds ATVs side by side, golfers, people who are coming in for the economic reasons of Jackson County, you're going to ruin it with the 20 or more Bitcoin facilities that could this year. Okay. Okay. Do you want me to go Charlie? You want me to say you? Do we have anybody else? Oh, I'm sorry. I apologize. I see another hand name, please. My name is Beverly. And I'd like to say I wish the board would think about they like it alongside of their house. That's

all about what I wanted to say. Thank you. You want me to go online? Oh, there's more. I'm sorry, Leon. I just want to say I got probably 60ome signatures that I would oppose and like the restriction is to stop on the the decision to do this. I will probably get the consensus and appealing from people opposed to it. I guess somewhere you have anybody else. [Music] So, um we're I'm going to start at the top of my list here. Um Firefly Notetaker, do you have comments? And if so, please unmute. That's actually a note takingaking app that we use. So Oh, got just a bot. Okay. So, Jen. Yeah. Can you hear me? Lori, can you hear me? Yes, I can. Okay. Sorry, it wasn't coming up for the chat, so I wasn't sure if it was disabled on purpose or by accident. So, um I couldn't raise my hand. Thank you for asking. I just want to follow up with um you know I just want to say I urge the county um to consider to proceeding with caution and transparency with whatever decisions that they think they're going to make um before any commitments. Um that includes all involved parties. You know, fully disclose the risk and benefits clearly outlining how the Jackson County citizens will benefit beyond the addition of two like of these positions and grid stabilization both

publicly and in writing. And that the mining store or a room capital provide transparency regarding their future expansion plans and objectives for the ownership and operation of the facility. and that the environmental impacts be independently assessed without relying solely on the mining store's claims. And I ask please that the county consider establishing an ordinance for such facilities as initially discussed. And if the mining store truly aims to be a responsible neighbor and partner, they should respect the county's obligation to safeguard our land and resources. This includes allowing them necessary time to thoroughly evaluate, plan, and prepare consistent with the intent of the previous moratorum. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Okay, next let's call on Jared. Do you have anything to add, Jared? Unmute yourself if you do, please. Nicole, was Jared planning on talking? Yep. Sorry, I'm here. Okay. Okay. So, I'll make this uh short statement. Um, our homes should not should be a sanctuary, not a sacrifice zone for corporate greed. But right now, our community is under threat from exploitation. A company that wants to set up an industrial Bitcoin mining operation in our backyard, bringing unbearable 247 noise, skyrocketing energy costs, and serious fire risks. Bitcoin mining is designed with built-in safety features to prevent overheating, fires, and excessive energy use. However, when these machines are pushed to beyond their limits for maximum profit, which this company is going to do, what happens when an overworked machine malfunctions, when it starts an electrical fire in the middle of the night, when our already strained power grid is pushed to the breaking point, these are not hypothetical concerns. These are real dangers that could put

our entire community at risk. And then there's the relentless relentless noise. The constant industrial hum of mining machines and cooling fans will invade our homes, our backyards, and every moment of our daily lives. This isn't just an annoyance. It's a direct attack on our ability to enjoy our homes in peace. We cannot allow this. We will not stand by while exploitation puts their profits ahead of our safety, our property values, and our quality of life life. This is dangerous. This is unacceptable. And this must be stopped. Thank you. Um, John, I hope you don't mind, JP. I'm gonna push you to the end. Is that all is that okay with my commission? John Paul. Um, yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna just hang on and I'll get back to you. I promise. Um, Kelly Gerlock, would you have comments? No comments, Lori. Thank you. Um, Marley Klein, if you'd like to speak, please [Music] unmute. Marley, did you have Am I saying her name right, you guys? Okay. Did you have anything to add? Um, if you don't unmute, I'm just going to bypass you and I'd come back at the very end and double check on you. Mary with no last name. Do you have any comments? If so, please unmute. I'll come back at the very end and just double check to make sure you didn't have anything to add. Ron, Dr.

I no just observing I got home late so just watching thank you Tasha do you have a comment I do not I am also with Warham so thank you and then the the phone number 9645 do you have anything to add guess So, I'm going to go back to Marley. Marley, if you had anything to add, here's your opportunity. Please unmute. And same thing with Mary. Mary, did you have anything to add? No comments. Okay. Thank you. All right. I'm gonna go back to JP. JP, would you like to unmute? Hello. Yes, happy to unmute. Um, as the applicant, do I have uh longer than three minutes or only three minutes? Three minutes. Okay. Um, we why that's been brought up. My name is John Pauler. Why are we doing this? It's because I believe in the opportunity to transform energy into wealth by leveraging this lowcost sustainable power um to fuel trusted Bitcoin mining solutions and bringing creating high value IT careers in rural America. We're not backed by China. This is why we've been why I've been in this industry. We chose this location as there are no adequately zoned substations in Jackson County in an industrial district. We are seeking clarity on where we can develop and build our business and are here to provide clarity on what we are building and what we are not building. We use no harsh chemicals in our facilities as was brought up by a public participant there. This is our only site planned for Jackson County. This will not open the floodgates for more facilities. We do not invest in wind energy. Wind

generation is the top generation in Iowa. We are utilizing this clean excess energy. We have not been given approval to clean up our hoop building which burned down in January. That's why that site is still as it is. The louvers are missing. Yes, we do acknowledge that and we have upgraded our fans and we will be fixing them in a few months across all of our facilities. We use direct drive fans in our new deployments that are not the old fans of the belt driven that you hear with the squeaks and noises. Again, those are all being replaced. Our St. Anthony site is 717 ft away from the nearest house. We have built facilities with the fans facing a neighbor and have had no complaints. Reminder, this house is about 650 plus feet away and the fans are facing the other direction. That site is also double the size. This site is 2.5 megawatt. We are not building a hoop building as outlined by our application. We are building metal structures that cannot that do not have wood in them and are much harder to burn down. We are giving away our cooperative patronage benefits to the community. That is in addition to the state annual tax contribution of $61,000 for electricity. That is $32,000 per year to every electric cooperative member that'll be distributed to all members by Makoka Valley. We are not taking this patronage. That's $322,000 directly in your pockets if you use the REC's power that we are not getting. We have built seven facilities in Iowa and have not had one example of property values declining due to these facilities. So stating that the property value will potentially decline is not a fact. We do have an e-waste plan and we do partner with JKT's decommissioning services and we have an electronic e-waste disposal process that we follow um that is up to code according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. We are here to answer any questions. We

give site tours to people and we're happy to work with the community to make this a a benefit for everyone. Um, thank you JP. Uh, I'm going to go back to the telephone call that's on here, the 9645. Uh, do you have anything to add? Um, Mr. White. Um, I've heard some some stuff in the room today about power. Everybody's concerned about power and not being able to shut down and things like that. Um, if you have a half tank of propane that's sitting at your house and guy comes along and wants to deliver propane for you and it's five times the cost, do you guys buy it or do you just hold off and buy it later when it comes down in price? That is what we do with power. So, when it comes to having a peak in power, valley comes and charges a peak price. So, we do shut down. We don't want to have to pay the peak price when it comes to the power. Um, as far as brownouts are concerned, that's how we manage it. We shut down during peak times. Everybody's also scared that we're going to make the electricity rates go up. We're actually going to actually stabilize them. Is that correct? In theory, that would happen. Okay. So, um there's power that is not being utilized as power that's not being used whatsoever. So, we're actually buying that power. So, you guys are getting money in your pockets back into your cooperative. So, they're not inflating the cost of power. Like I said, um like JP is pointing out, we're paying $32,000 in patronage back to all of you. So that's also helping readers without talks. Um we're also going to be creating a couple jobs in the area that are good paying jobs. They're 2750 an hour I believe is what they are. Um also comes with full benefits. It's a full W2 time job. 40 hours a week 9 to5 um is

what's going to come to your community. So you'll have some high-tech jobs that will be created here. Are you saying that you're going to pay Don't interrupt. Don't interrupt. Don't interrupt. Because I don't care how much you're going to pay when you want to be here. Please. Um I I'm sorry I'm not doing great to you. So I I don't appreciate if you don't do that. Um so in in order to answer that question, it's $30,000 back to the cooperative that's flipped between everybody that's using the cooperative power. Um sorry, I have some notes I wrote down too that I need to go back and take a look at. Uh as far as as contaminating the water table fire, we don't use, you know, PCBs. We don't use mercury. We don't use things like that in our computers. So, that's not an issue. Um, this is not a hoop building. Noise level is not an issue at 500 ft. We are putting in culverts to uh help with drainage. Um, yeah. And that's that's basically what I have that I've overheard that just kind of seems to be some myths in in the area. So, um, like I said, we're 500 feet away and more from these centers. You're not going to be able to hear Go ahead, Mike. I'm gonna go back to the um to here. Yeah, I do. Landon, did you have anything to add? If you if so, please unmute. Landon, I'll give you another second there. Okay. Guess not. And then call in user number two. Do you have anything to add? If so, please unmute.

Okay. Nothing else. We'll close the public comments. So, I'm gonna get back to you your agenda, you guys. Okay. As you know, last time during your meeting, you you tabled um any decisions um regard back in the February 17th meeting, you tabled um the meeting regarding the termination of zoning district. Um do I have a vote to I would entertain a motion to open the or to lift the tableing of the decision at this time. I'll second. Second by Monica. All in favor? I. Okay. Discussion's back open. I rezoning of district for case 25-01. Okay. Um, do you want me to share with you the the video or anything that we brain saying? Yes. So, I do have video. Um, I'm going to share with you the the what the Delunkuses sent me. The first site here is from Union, Iowa. When when they were out here, um, they they drove by

shut down. And they were right there. They were probably about Sorry. They were probably about 70 feet away. Um, they were at the center the center of the gravel road. Um, which is a north south gravel road. I don't know what the winds were that day. You could hear Mr. and Mrs. Stmunkus in the car with their phone talking. Um, exhaust side. That was the exhaust side. Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. U I'm gonna go to when Mary and I was out there on the 28th. Uh what's the number right here? We were right on top of them. It's going to be loud. We were right there in front of it. You wouldn't expect anything different, right, Mary? I mean, we were this far away from the fans. It's going to be loud. Um when we were out um this is probably in the middle of the

road, but uh right What was your when we were outside? Mind you, we were about 60 70 feet away. The winds were sustained 25 miles an hour with gust over 45 miles an hour. So, not a great representation of what that's normally going to sound like. And mind you, we were 60 feet away. Uh we had some that were a little further and mind you, they were very accommodating to us. This they were answered all of our questions. Probably about 100 feet away from that. We were here in Squeaky. That we're gonna go back to later. That's not that site. Um, so what I am going to go back to is the Still Monkus' uh St. Anthony site. So this is um we didn't we didn't stop there or get out of our car. We were just there. Uh this is what still has heard. This is approximately 600 foot away. The sound [Music] is [Music] no definitely noticeable.

You guys get the idea there. I'm going to go back to the one where Mary and I were. And um this is going to be the And Dale, your measurements were right. I measured them on online maps. You're about 600 feet away. Um real close to the distance that the um Rowans are. And I think this video is actually at the same spot. Um, these are the So, we were in the same spot that you had your video going, mind you. same day. 25 mph winds, 45 mph wind gust, but we could still hear those those those squeaks um where we were. I will go back to one other um probably about 100 feet away from that. We were here in squeaky bearings and we're going to try to get on the exhaust side of it. See different was saying is only about half the fans were probably running the desk. So, we did do our due diligence. We went on site. We got good information. Aram

um is that how you say the company name? Arm was very accommodating. They were very kind, very um very very easy to work with um as far as getting appointment and going out. We appreciate that. They showed us where their e-waste went. They had a specific container designated just for the computers that um the servers that they were having to get rid of. Um the site that particular site was clean. Um I mean they both they both were decent. Um, say a side note that everything that you guys heard with the bearings are from belts and bearings and that is not what is going to be put in this facility. It's going to be put in direct drive motors. So, you shouldn't have to hear that. We're not either. We know that we create issues in communities. We're in the process of cleaning this up. Okay. Um, I reached out to a neighbor of the union site. um the first one that we went to and um the gentleman I called lived a half mile away. Mary and I were looking to see if we could find anybody outside their residences when we were were there. Um and mind you, the wind was out of the west when we were there and the closest residents were to the west. So at that point, the wind was was helping the sound. However, I reached out to a neighbor that's a half mile away um to the west and he um said that he can hear in the morning what sounds like a freight train or a tractor running and that's in the morning. Um however, when they're on the back side of their house, everything is fine. Um I reached out

there's a new plant going up, a new one in Gilman. Is that I'm Pete? You don't mind if I ask him a question? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, Mr. White, there's a new one in Gilman that's going up and that's going to be um water cooled. Is that correct? I am not aware of what the Gilman's going to be. Okay. May May I ask questions to Mr. Veric for you guys? I guess. Yeah, that's fine. JP, could we ask you some direct questions, please? Sure. Okay. Um I had contact with um some people from from Gilman. One one gentleman in particular, Mr. Thompson. He lives a half mile away. And there's a new um Bitcoin operation that's going on going up there. Is is it operational yet? Yeah, the the facility is half operational. the air cooled which is uh almost about the size of what's being proposed here today uh has been running uh since early late January. Okay. Um according to to that neighbor who is is a half mile away. I measured it on online. using the Harden County um beacon site and he's going to be right at a half mile away and he reported that it just sounds like a tractor running all the time um 24 hours a day and that's an air or excuse me a water cooled site JP uh that site's air cooled um at the what was running up until actually today so it was just air cooled running okay and now it's water cooled Um there's a separate unit that's being installed. So now it's a mixture of both. Uh but at the time of that comment, it was only air cooled. Okay.

I'm just going to take a note of that, please. I just need a second. And they they were that's a new that was a new system and they were a half mile away. Uh and they do do those units face um that little area where like that um that radio tower is the the exhaust. Um I'm trying to pull the GS, but I can't speak specifically to it until I pull it up. You can see we just want to get some good information to share with our commission. And so here's here's my concerns. We don't have a data mining ordinance out there right now. We have to go with what is in our ordinance right now. So unfortunately with the noise we don't have anything correct. That being said I would like to propose that we remain that this remain as an A1. I my concern with this is that what is being proposed to be put on there doesn't belong in an agricultural setting. Correct. My I am going to make a motion that we remain this property as a one or as a

related. Um I don't know if there's a second out there but I'll second that. that the use you believe is I believe that I believe it should be an egg egg use. Okay. So that it should remain an egg one. Oh, okay. So you're thinking it needs the use does. Well, I don't I think the zoning should remain as egg. What is being proposed looking at what our ordinance states what is being proposed to be put there should belong in an industrial zone either an M1 or an M2. Okay. And so I am I made the motion that this remain as an a one is as is an agricultural A1 egg zoned property. Okay. Anybody have that second discussion on that motion? Good. Could I ask a couple questions? Yeah. So, you think the the actual use is A1 or you think this land should not be reszoned to anything other than I don't think it should be reszone to anything other than than A1. Okay. I think I think it should stay as an A1. Okay. Do you what do you feel the the use of the operation is? Because you have two things to do here. One is what is the use of this type of operation? Would it be a industrial M1 or M2? I think it I think that is industrial. Okay. So, so I guess my proposal is is to

leave the existing zoning as A1A. Okay. So, I have a suggested motion for every scenario here. Do you want to use that suggested motion? I I need to look I need to I need to look at it again. It's the last page and then Yep. Yeah. way I read it is you your own you motion was to leave it as A1 and then allow the board of adjustment to set the appropriate special exemptions for this type of operation. Yes. But I just reading quote. Yeah. Wait. I I I am making a motion that we recommend to the board of supervisors that this remains an a an A1. But do we have to designate what we believe the appropriate zoning need for this? I would say yes because you you're tasked with according to this your job is to any proposed use not covered in this ordinance as permitted use or special exception. You are looking to make a recommendation of the proper district for this use. So what is the proper district for this use would be your first determination. My fir Okay. So my first determination, okay, let me withdraw my motion. Then I would I would consider this and I would make a motion that this should either belong in an M1 or an M2. Um, and I think M1 is the light industrial. So I would think that this would belong in an M1. Okay. M1 requires though it be enclosed. And this isn't enclosed. Actually, it is enclosed. Everything would be inside. So the pods aren't in building though. Doesn't matter. What's inside the pods is in

closed. Okay. Oh, here. Let me share something else with you real quick. Just I apologize. We um That's the inside of the building, you guys. That's what I mean. No, ma'am. This is the winning union. Yeah. So, everything is Everything's inside. Yep. All that's inside other than the storage. Um there was containers out there. Um but every Yeah, there's no computers sent outside. Nothing sitting outside. Yes. So you're you're thinking this is an industrial zone. I I think this is an industrial is what I really think that this belongs in. Okay. So we have a second on that motion. We'll second it. Then your next question is, is this an appropriate area? We have to vote on that first. Well, you can do what? Okay. Go ahead. Okay. So, your question is Yeah, go ahead and vote on that. So, yeah. So, we discuss, right? Yes. Go ahead. No, I was just I I really believe with our zoning that what is being proposed for the use is actually belongs in an M1 is what I think that was really false. And then allow the board of adjustment to set the appropriate special exceptions. No, let's we I guess we need to determine that first. So now we need to either reszone it. Yes. Or leave it as Yeah. Right. Do you think Okay. So, you think this is an M1

operation or Okay. As industrial operation. Do you think this is the good location for an M1 location? Do you think this land is conducive to being reszoned to an industrial classification or industrial zoning? No. I think you just answered your questions. Number one, they permitted principal uses and structures. Right in there, it says no offensive noise. Yeah, that's right. In your M1. Yep. Up front on top. And then in your M2 about the same thing. The general industrial district is intended primarily for heavy manufacturing and closely related uses while providing protections against harmful effects to existing and future uses in other districts which would be your your neighboring districts like um A1 or R1 C1. So does you have a motion there or in a second? Okay. Change it to Yeah. M1 or M2. But that's the I don't know what I think your motion was that that was the appropriate use but not necessar we didn't get to that part yet because the appropriate use Monica you said is I I think it's an M1. Okay. So is this the appropriate district or the appropriate area to reszone to M1 is your second No. My second part of this is no. This is not an appropriate area and then it should remain as an A1.

Okay. Um, I have a possible I like I said I have all the ifs, ands, or buts drawn out here. You're right. You do. So, I'll make a motion that the that the type of use withdrawing withdrawing that previous one and uh um the type of use proposed is best zoned under an M1 and that this area is not suitable for an M1 and that we recommend to the board of supervisors to keep this zone to A1 and deny the application for special exception use. And I will second that motion. Hey further discussion on your speed. Now's the time to do so. Now we'll call for vote. I do roll call. Okay. Monica Miku. Yes. Christine Fab. Yes. Brian Benma. Yes. Key. Yes. Sandra Gerlock. Yes. Mike Burke. Yes. Got call. Tom Stewart. You should vote. So motion is um the commission has determined the type of use proposed is best zone under M1. The commission

determined that this area is not suitable for M1 and for these reasons recommend the board of supervisors keep this zone A1 and deny the application for special exception use. I understand. Okay. So that goes supervisor that way. That will go to the board of supervisors with that motion for their decision. For their decision. Okay. And when I vote for not sure. Um I don't think I can I can't get it tomorrow. It's probably going to have to go next week. It'll be on the agenda, but yes, I can. Yeah. Yep. And um so next on here is Tom gets Tom gets back. Yeah. Just could you please explain in layman's terms what the A1 with the no exceptions means in layman's terms so that I can understand please. I hate the volume, but it really would be helpful. So, get it right there. What the commission has just said, they feel this is best zoned A1 as it is, which is what it's zoned right now. Even though they feel that this usage is best done under an industrial zoning, they do not feel that this is the appropriate area to reszone to an industrial zoning. Ron, are you asking what the A's and the M's mean? I know what the A the A is agriculture, but M is manufacturing.

Yeah, industrial manufacturing. So, what does it mean with no exceptions? What it said? What it said is um they recommend to the board of supervisors to keep this zone A1 and deny the application for special exception use. They're applying they were applying for an extra special exception special exemption use for that property and they have been denied. Okay. At this time, thank you. That is Yeah. And I want to say that, you know, just one comment on this that everybody should understand that this is a recommendation to the board of supervisors. I've been on this board a long time and normally they follow our recommendation, but that doesn't mean they're going to. So it's it's in the supervisor's court. Thank you. Thank you all. Do you want to address me? Yeah, we'll address Yeah. So if just real quick, if they if if JP does not like this decision, how long does he have to decision? Oh, I don't know. I believe it's 30 days. 30 days. And the board hasn't the zoning u the board of supervisors hasn't made their their um and I will verify that. I don't get a lot of them to the board of supervisors, but sometimes I need to review a little bit. Okay. Thank you. Y Okay. So, moving on to our next agenda item. Looks like items commission other business. No, I'm supposed to be working on your um utility scale solar. I haven't had the opportunity. There's been other dumpster fires I've been working on. And then being sick again last week, you guys. I don't know what crud I keep getting into, but don't share it, please. I know. I won't.

So, next meeting. So, next meeting. Yeah. Okay. So, we're looking at April 21st and um we'll be moving our meetings in April, please. We'll be moving. We'll be moving our meetings in April to 7 p.m. Okay. Yeah. said April. Yes, sir. Okay. Any other business? You got anything new business? I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. I'll make a motion to adjurnn. I'll second. All in favor? Anybody opposed? Thank you all very much. Thank you. You're fine like how we did for