Commission - Special Meeting

We will start with the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Good morning. Good morning everyone and welcome to Shaunie County Board of County Commissioners. It's April 13, 2026. I'll do a little some introductions here. On my far left is Lisa Schmidt, our county clerk. On my far right is Rich Eard, our county counselor. And on my left is Commissioner Aaron Maize who represents district three. And on my right is Commissioner Kevin Cook who represents district 2. And I'm Bill Ripon. I represent district 1. So we have full house today. That's good. Um Lisa, what do we have first on the agenda?

Uh first item is item four, new business. The county clerk has no voucher payments or correction orders today. So we'll start with B, land use and development department. One public hearing. Consider approval of home rule resolution number HR20260001 providing for the amendment of the zoning regulations of Shauny County, Kansas for solar energy conversion systems. Good morning, commissioners. Joan Ethani, director of land use and development. We are here solar regulations. So, we are here today for special session. Um, solar energy conversion system regulations have been um under consideration for quite some time now. So, I wanted to give a quick timeline of how we got here. Uh, in 2022, two solar farms were up for consideration as a conditional use permit. Um, those applicants were local energy companies. Um, at the time what both the planning commission and the board of county commissioners felt is that we had a lack of specific direction to follow for consideration and approval of those conditional use per uh permits. Um, we did approve both of them. One of them was up for considerable consideration in regards to some setbacks and issues with a residence that was nearby. Um, the other one was approved a little more quickly. Uh later that year the planning commission did talk about putting a moratorum into place on solar and that fizzled out and we didn't go any further on it. Um during 2023 there was a lot of research and review by the planning department at the time land use and development staff. Um we researched regulations in Kansas and nearby counties. Uh we made contact with other jurisdictions to talk to them about how they had gone about their process and what kind of regulations they had. We did legal research on county rights,

whether or not we could put into place a moratorum andor a ban. Um and we invited speakers to come to planning commission meetings to talk to us about the pros and cons of at that time both wind and solar. We also did a community survey on wind and solar. In 2023, we continued to do research and have speakers come to the planning commission meetings. And then in December 2023, the planning commission directed staff to move forward with consideration of a one-year moratorium on solar. Um we were also considering wind at the time, which both of those moved forward um in 2024 to public hearings. Uh we had a public hearing at the planning commission May 2024 and they recommended a one-year moratorum and then in June of 2024 that came here in front of you and you also approved that one-year moratorum. In essence, what that did was with personal or small scale accessory scale uh solar that's excluded from the moratorum. Those are the types of solar farms that you may see or solar farms solar systems that you may see on a house or a business that supports just that house or business. In all that we talk about even today, we're not talking about regulating the the personal solar that you may put on your house. This all has to do with larger scale commercial style solar uh that would be supporting many homes andor businesses and or an entire community or being attached to the grid. Um in 2025 we got down to serious business. We every month pretty well had a planning commission meeting. We had work sessions where we discussed or planned for next steps. We I personally drafted the regulations. So I would draft regulations. I would bring them into the

planning commission. We would talk about them and then we would break them down. Um it would come back to me. I would rewrite stuff. I would pull stuff out, add stuff in. Um and it would go back and forth like that all through the the year of 2025. We did hold a town hall meeting uh with public comment in October of 2025 and then we made a final decision in December to set the public hearings. So in January was the first public hearing for the planning commission. We did receive public comment by 17 people. There was a lot of conversation, questions and discussion by the planning commission and they elected to defer action for one month at that time because they were considering some changes in February. They came back for an additional public hearing. Those changes were introduced and discussed by the planning commission. We had additional public comment by 16 people and then the planning commission moved to make the change for acreage to 1000 plus adopt some other changes and they voted to approve the regulations that you see in front of you today 5 to one. Um, I would note that I I well, first of all, I want to thank the planning commission because they've spent a lot of time and effort going over these regulations. Um, this isn't something that they took lightly. They understand, they know, we've talked about, and they fully integrated those solar regulations into a part of their planning commission life. Um, I would also point out that the one no vote wasn't a no vote in regards to not wanting solar in Shauny County. It was a no vote because that commissioner felt like uh regulations aren't necessary that we can use these as standards or guidelines instead. And so that was his vote for no. Uh so now

here we are in April where we're at our public hearing in front of you. Um some of the top things that we considered in regards to these solar regulations. I'm not going to go over all of this, but our comprehensive plan. Um we looked seriously at the comprehensive plan and what it says. Um there was no specific guideline when it comes to that comprehensive plan on what we do with solar in Shauny County. In essence, it was inquired within a survey about whether people felt strongly about it and there wasn't much back and forth in regards to uh wind or solar when we considered that comprehensive plan. But things that we did consider hotly were land density in Shaunie County, the flood plane, the airports that we have here, um urban growth areas for the city. We talked a lot about the issues that we encountered with the solar farms in 22. Um I did send out copies of these to cities, fire districts, townships, um other Shauny County entities, and we did get input back from fire districts. We got input back from public works and environmental health um the city of Topeka as well. I I got involved in a lot of discussions with other county um we have an association the Kansas association of county planning and zoning officials. I spent a lot of time communicating with uh the various directors from other counties. Um I participated in some presentations and roundts with Kansas climate and energy project workg group. Uh I attended a presentation in regards to battery storage with the energy safety response group. Um so we we did get a lot of professional input in regards to these. We met with advanced power alliance consultant on a couple of times. I met with the women league of voters at least once. Um and then we had many emails, petitions and conversations with the public. So, the statutory authority in regards

to amending zoning regulations, um, Shauny County does have zoning regulations. And so, pursuant to 192960, you do have the ability to supplement, change, or generally revise those regulations, which is what you would be doing here today. Um, it it has to go first to the planning commission for consideration and recommendation, which obviously that happened. The existing zoning regulations have been in place since at least 1953. Those have been changed and approved um over and over, but the last time we considered those regulations as a whole was in 2006. We've had minor amendments made to the text since that time. I am going to point out this map because this is one thing that I feel is quite important when you're looking at Shaunie County and how solar may work. What you see here is the land density for Shaunie County and we use our GIS mapping um professionals to to give us this. Um what you can see is the the parcels that are red or orange are three acres or up to 10 acres. So you know in the northern area you can see a lot of orange and closer to the city of Topeka you see a lot of orange but frankly you see a lot of orange and red scattered throughout Shauny County. What I would point out then is the fact that the the dark darkest green means that you've got parcels that are 320 acres or larger. And so you can see that we do have some parcels that are 320 acres, but there are not very many together. They are scattered throughout. So in considering what you're looking at today, when you look at a solar farm of 1,000 acres, you would have to parcel together many

parcels. You would have to put together many parcels in order to have 1,000 acres to have a solar farm. It's possible. It is possible. And that's one of the things that you'll hear in public comment today is that just because you only have a few 320 acres doesn't mean it's not possible. it is possible to put together a thousand acres. The question is is is is that what Shauny County wants? Um on top of that layer, you can also see some thatched lines. Those and even I think checkerboard those are flood plane. And one of the recommendations uh in these regulations is that we not put any solar farm within a flood plane to avoid a having to over permit stuff because of the flood pl flood plane rules. But it's just not as safe to have them in my opinion within a flood plane because it moves floodplane waters elsewhere. You have the potential for these being very water dense areas. So, um it's a little bit harder to see those thatched areas, but Shaunie County has a large amount of uh flood plane within the county. We did not put an overlay with the airport in general because the airport isn't necessarily airports aren't necessarily opposed to solar, but I think we do need to take into consideration the fact that we do have two major airports plus multiple private airports in Shauny County. And we can always come back to this map if you have questions about that. Um I don't want to go through the entire set of regulations. There's, you know, multiple pages unless you have specific questions um once it comes to that that you would like to ask me in regards to what we have proposed. But I do have each of those posted up here. Um, in general, what we've got is a few things

that, you know, here's where they are not allowed. And then we have setbacks and a maximum size. And then it goes into items that are required to be filed in each case. And then the next are items that could be requested to support a case depending on the the application that's filed. And then I did add a section of definitions that will be that will need to be added to the zoning regulations just so that we can clarify if there are questions about what what the various types of solar farms mean. I have no further presentation so can stand for questions. What about the battery storage? Is that

It is included on here. Um what you'll find is it falls I think it's on it's number seven. So, what we've allowed for is that battery storage, it's page two of the proposed regulations, battery energy storage systems as an a pertinent facility to a solar project may be considered if it's installed pursuant to the most current version of the NFPA855. Um, so in essence, an a pertinent facility would mean that it's not a standalone facility. it would it's there to support the solar. So if you have a solar farm and you want to have that battery storage facility to hold solar energy until it gets transferred off elsewhere, then you could have that a pertinent facility. Um it it would potentially be considered if they have it meet NFPA855, which is the National Fire Protection Association. Um there based on our research and meetings that we've had with anybody who knows anything about battery storage, that is the holy grail of what you want to consider when you are looking at battery storage. It it they have regulations about what you should and shouldn't do with the installation of those battery storage facilities. If you were looking at them as a standalone facility, you would want to add setbacks and a bunch of other rules to it. But because this would be part of solar, all of the solar rules that we have here would already regulate setbacks and um you know how far it can be from a residence etc. So we didn't add any other battery storage specific regulations other than it needs to comply with NFPA 855.

Do all solar farms have battery storage? I mean is that just comes with it? It it doesn't have to. No. um you if it's tied in directly to a grid when that energy is collected it can just go straight into the grid. It is very important if you don't tie directly into the grid because otherwise you have nowhere to put that energy until it gets transferred somewhere else and so it it no you don't have to is the short one.

Yes. When we did prior to this meeting and prior to having a moratorum, we had approved two different solar farms in Shauny County. And the issues that we dealt with at that time were the size, location to residents, buffering, u trees, etc. And then also the setback. Correct. Wouldn't that continue to be our primary concerns in every project moving forward? Absolutely. And so I see that in our regulations. And so today, if we're going to approve this, I I would assume that there may be some tweaks to size, setback, buffering, location of the residents, would you not anticipate the same?

Yeah, I I would anticipate that that would have to happen. Okay. All right. That's all I have. Even if we were to approve this as written, we would they would still have to come to us before they could put something in. Or is it just okay, we meet all the regulations, we can go?

No, they have to come apply. So the requirement is is that they have to apply for a conditional use permit. These these just set forth exactly what it is that they can expect when they come to us. One of the things that as mentioned, you know, at the the get-go, you know, one of the planning commissioners felt like we were overregulating it and that we just needed to do it as standards. In a lot of situations when it comes to conditional use permits, we have no guidance whatsoever. Um we say for inance a rock quarry, we would we don't have a whole set of regulations on what you do with a rock query. Now we have standards that we use because we've done enough sand or rock quaries that we have those same regulations that or conditions that we add. Um and so you know they they have to apply for the conditional use permit. We'll consider them all on a case-byase basis. This just sets some very specific guidelines about where you can apply and the setbacks from them. And then we may add those additional conditions depending on the circumstance of the case.

We're a very urban county, so it it it's more difficult than say you're out in Lincoln County, Kansas, where you have lots of open space. We have a lot of people that live out Absolutely. And it u maybe there's something to just using a conditional use permit and just taking each one individually. I don't know. But yeah, we probably should have some regulations. But u but

Commissioner, I I think that it's better for us to have um regulations so at least we know what the parameters are so that people have expectations of what is or what is not. It's part of the development of the comprehensive plan. Uh prior to me becoming a commissioner, Shauny County didn't have a comprehensive plan. And so that was part of a regulation and building that. Uh just where are we wanting to have development? Where are we not? Joanie, if you could go back to the map. Yeah, sure.

I mean, if you look at the map, I mean, outside of your uh blue and your crimson and your shaded areas, there's there's not a lot of opportunities. And then you have to take into account if you're talking about solar farms, you're going to want it close to transmission lines ability. So we're really narrowing down where we might potentially in the future even see a solar farm as contemplated by the regulations. And the regulations as written is 1,000 acres. Is that right? Correct. 1,000 acres.

That would be tough to accumulate a thousand acres in any part of the county, I would think. I you know my my point on that is again it's it's possible what will happen is that based on what you see you will encounter more residential use and so if you have a solar farm of a thousand acres the likelihood is that you are going to have many uh residents within that area and so those setbacks would apply which makes it harder to because you have a certain amount of distance to set back from each residence. And so it just compounds and will create interesting uh sections of land of where those solar farms can and cannot go

as written right now. What what are the setbacks? What from a residence? It's 500 500 ft. Mhm. Yep. So from a residence um it would be 500 ft from any other party. So, if there's if there's a parcel, if you have land that's a party to the the conditional use permit and then the land right next to it is not a party to it, then we have 150 ft from that property line. Whether or not there's a residence on it, it's from their property line or from their residence.

Property line. The residence is from the residence on site. So, if it's the house, it has to be 500 ft from the house. Um, if it's just another property, it would be at least 150 feet from the property line. So, it depends on if it's the building or not a building. And then even if there's accessory buildings, we have uh 50 foot setback from any structure, there's setbacks of 150 ft from any road or unimproved road right away. And then we can always add additional setbacks. Now, one thing that we have to consider is that there are uh subdivisions that are out there that have been subdivided that are not developed yet. And so, that was a a discussion that we had like what happens if you have this subdivision of land that's not yet developed and someone wants to come put a solar. So, that's something that we'll have to consider on a case- by case basis when that happens. There's also plenty of road rightway out there that's not been finished. And you know, if it hasn't been finished, it may be that it won't be, but we we still have to consider it as potentially being finished when any one of these solar farms goes into place.

You recall what our setbacks were on that solar farm on Auburn Road? I feel like it was 100 ft. 100 ft from the residence, the actual residential building from the property line. It was much less. Okay. I thought we increased that. Say that again. I thought it maybe was 100 ft when it first came to us. I thought we extended that out. I don't recall. I think it was closer prior. I I would have to look back. I don't have that exact um conditional use permit in front of me, but we did it was something that we talked about and considered extensively.

Yeah. And these regulations as written, they they deal with decommission at some point when they have to tear it all out and haul it off. There are requirements that they provide us plans for decommissioning, reclaiming the land. So, not just taking it down, but bringing it back to nature. So, decommissioning, reclamation, um it requires a financial assurance. So, a bond or cash assurance so that if they walk away without doing it that we have money then to pay to to do so. Um Yeah. Any other questions? No, not at this point. Ready to move into a hearing?

Yep. Uh, this time I will move that we uh open this issue up for a public hearing. Second.

Motion's been made by Commissioner Ripon, second by Commissioner Maize. All in favor say I. Those opposed. Motion carries. We're now in public hearing. So, first uh we have a lot of people signed up here today and um we have a kind of our fourminute rule on speaking and we have a little clock that be running and I'm going to be fairly strict on that so we can get everybody in today. So, uh we'll uh I'll just start at the top of the list and move down. These are uh uh first on here is Paul Post. Got a lot of yellow out here today.

If I may approach, I have copies of my testimony for the record and one for each of the commissioners.

Good morning, commissioners. My name is Paul Post and I've been a Topeka resident now for more than 50 years, not including my four years of service in the Air Force. I'm currently serving as vice president of the League of Women Voters of Topeka and Shauny County, Kansas. You've probably seen me here on a regular basis at commission meetings as I am one of our designated observers of the commission in order to report back to our membership on what's happening over here on Shauny County government time. I'm pleased to speak to you uh briefly this morning and for our support of the pending solar energy conversion ordinance which is now before you for consideration. Now, the League of Women Voters is a political grassroots network and membership organization that believes that freedom to vote is a nonpartisan issue and for more than a century we've worked to empower voters and defend democracy and we encourage everyone to take part in our democracy. That's why I'm here today on behalf of the local league chapter to participate in the democratic process of providing support and advocacy for the pending ordinance. Now, you might ask why an organization dedicated to good government and ensuring voting rights would have a position on this particular ordinance. Well, here is the answer. The preservation of the physical, chemical, and biological integrity of the earth's ecosystem is essential for the maximum protection of public health and the environment. The inter relationship of air, water, and land resources should be recognized in developing environmental safeguards. Beyond that, this proposed ordinance has to do with the protection of private property rights of land owners who desire to develop their land for use on what is sometimes known as solar farms to provide for conversion of unlimited

free energy from the sun for use in our homes and our businesses and to create a stream of revenue for Shaunie County in the form of tax revenue from solar farm development. I want to thank uh Jodi Fedani and the planning commission for their hard work in getting this ordinance before you. They've spent hours doing what needs to be done. Solar energy conversion is a proven and reliable system. This is a mature industry. Solar energy technology has been developing for over 180 years starting with the discovery of the photovoltaic effect in 1839 and the first solar engines in the 1860s. Modern siliconebased solar panels were invented in 1954 and solar has been used to power satellites since 1958 evolving into a major renewable energy source that we have today. In fact, the recently completed Aremis 2 moon mission, the Orion crew module was powered by four large solar panels. Considering the everinccreasing cost of fossil fuel energy sources, who would not want free energy? Who would not want an inexhaustible energy supply? The sun has been powering life systems on our planet since the beginning. And now humans are able to capture the source for our personal and social needs. I'm keeping an eye on the clock and I have my entire testimony in front of you. And so I'll cut it short by saying that is there while there is a concern about the acreage uh that uh is provided for in this proposed ordinance. I would note that very urban Johnson County has a 2,000 acre ordinance limitation. And so if they're able to find space over there, I'm sure we can find space here

for solar farms. My time is running out. I would be happy to stand for any questions that you might have. And I thank you. Thank you. Right. Next is uh Christina Hasswood. And please give your address too. Name and address. Hello. My name is Oh, okay. That's for the clerk.

Oh, okay. Hi, Christina Hazwood. Um, I'm from Lawrence, um, 1942 Steuart a 66046. Um, I'm here in a capacity as I serve as a program director um, the 19-year-old Kansas based nonprofit climate and energy project. Uh C works um throughout Kansas and we have uh members and partners here in Shauny County and we work to support the transition to a carbon-f free company economy through programs and policies here in our great state of Kansas. We write in support of the planning commissioners for their consideration of a new ordinance and urge the commission to pass the ordinance. A few of the benefits that the solar ordinance can bring to the area is benefit to solar to Shauny County's economy and grid support the farmers and their families. Safety and sustainability of solar projects. Supporting clean energy projects such as large and utility scale solar and battery storage not only benefits the counties through job creation and tax revenue for local schools and roads, but provides other economic tools in the toolbox for rural community members. Solar projects bring in construction jobs create long-term maintenance positions as well. The environmental impact on water, air, wildlife is minimal in comparison to other energy projects. Lastly, we want to ensure Shauny County farmers and land owners have a say in the usage of their land without having to permanently sell off their property. In conclusion, we rise in support of the new ordinance with policies that welcome solar projects and development for Shauny County. Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you. All right. Uh, Zack Ptor.

Good morning, Zach Ptor. I live just south of Tong Knoxy, but I'm actually here on behalf of the Kansas chapter of Sierra Club and our just under 800 dues paying members and supporters uh in Shaune County uh supporting the ordinance in front of you for solar energy. Uh, great to be with you on a day with some sunshine. In fact, I looked it up that Shauny County and Topeka generally has over 200 days of sunshine. So, that's a a nice uh free resource. Uh can be generated without pollution, not affected by global energy prices, and can provide economic development in your county uh should you host a solar farm. uh we worked with uh Johnson County and Douglas County and working in other counties on providing uh sensible regulations that help provide for an on-ramp for solar energy in in their community. And uh what we've seen is you can often greenlight a project by greening the project and creating better community buyin so they know what they're getting involved with with a solar farm. It's not every day you can put uh a power plant in a in a rural area next to some neighbors that can uh enjoy the the benefit of no air pollution, no noise and all that. And I just say on the regulations that you have in front of you and I admire your public service. I imagine you have some pretty hard decisions in front of you. Uh but this decision in my view is pretty easy because you've had enough of the foundational work from your planning department and the planning commission that I've outlined some really good regulations in front of you today. Uh I'm looking through it and I see a a framework that provides for setbacks, decommissioning, financial asurances, uh cases of extraordinary events and emergencies, water and soil testing, etc. Uh so you I think you can feel good about these regulations. I think they're comparable. Uh we would say you could go a little bit bigger as Johnson County

did an urban community, but if this uh makes sense to uh the the planning commission, I'd say submit to you that we feel like it would be fair. And then as we get more comfortable with you, say, "Hey, that was a pretty good deal for us. Maybe we want to invite more land owners uh to be a part of this by expanding the size, etc." uh or reducing the buffer uh two-mile buffer between projects too is as a consideration there. But by and large, we're supportive of these uh ordinances. You can provide and still allow for more scrutiny as a conditional use permit comes up. So take it by case by case project, but we would argue this parameters and framework provides for the businesses and developers to see what's workable for their business plan as it uh they approach you uh decide to approach you or not. and uh thousand acres is um is a a pretty good standard for developing maybe a mediumsiz utility scale solar project uh across the country. They're often looking between 100 150 megawatts. Now they're looking even more uh to 300 megawws etc. Uh but this is this is a pretty reasonable size just to get things started in your county. Uh I would also say that building a power um you renewable energy power in your county can invite other business opportunities as well as uh do right by providing electricity affordable electricity in your community uh that people can be proud of doesn't impact pollute the air um harm the land etc. So it's cheaper faster and often more reliable than other forms of energy. So we would support uh this ordinance and encourage you to uh pass it today. Thank you very much.

I have a question. Yes, you're with the Sierra Club. Have you heard of any negative uh ramifications of wildlife flying over the top of solar?

You know, we've had um both members and the public reach out to us. We've never experienced that. You know, I heard uh back in the day, well, they might think it's a a lake to land on if they're blue panels and all that. We just haven't seen the the science and evidence support uh either bird kills and all that. I think in you come up with a project in front of you, you can do wildlife corridors, the fencing for, you know, turtles and all that to pass through the fence or rabbits, etc. Uh, so there's a lot you can do with a conditional use permit, but as far as a framework, feel pretty good about this as far as affecting the wildlife and nature. Okay. Thank you.

Yep. All right. Uh Mary uh Gillan got more. Yeah.

Good morning, Mr. Chairman, commissioners. My name is Mary Gallagghan. I live at 6321 Southwest 25th here in Topeka. I thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today in favor of the recommendation recommended solar regulations. I urge you to adopt them as presented. Before I talk about the regulations themselves, I'd like to just take a second to commend the planning commission and its staff for the effort it put into developing these regulations. These regs are clearly the outcome of a sincere attempt to listen to the residents of the county and factor their concerns into the framework developed. While these rags aren't perfect, and you've already heard a little bit about that, they do balance, they do present a balance that opens a door to a new market and mitigates risk at the same time. The regulatory framework you have before you sets the stage for developers and land owners to work together to achieve their business interests while ensuring that solar farms are good neighbors in the process. These regulations define a level playing field, ensuring that Shauny County is open for business. Let me review quickly how the regulations achieve a workable balance of solutions to issues raised in the hearings. The first is in the area of land reclamation at the end of a project's life. The second is in the maximum size of the project. Third, the setback from existing structures. and fourth, the safety of the battery installations. So, in regard to land reclamation, these, you've heard a little bit of this already this morning, these regulations address that at the end of a project's life by requiring a financial assurance

of a 110% of the decommissioning and reclamation cost. That dollar amount has to be recalculated every five years to maintain its relevance during the relatively long life of one of these projects. Further, the plan for the project decommissioning and reclamation has to be set up as a project that is done in the plan with both the developer and the land owner. So the two parties who are most uh impacted by that particular part and that decommissioning and reclamation must comply with all existing laws and industry standards. So that's that's a pretty high bar and it's a it's a thoughtful planning process. In regard to size, some residents favored small projects, others spoke in favor of larger maximums to make the developments more financially attractive. The planning commission heard both sides of that concern and established a 1,00 acre cap and a two-mile buffer between projects. The combination of the cap and the buffer create a barrier to huge projects that would overwhelm the countryside while giving land owners the opportunity to use their land as they see fit. Possible uh neighbors of utility scale projects voiced concerns about vis about the possibility of visual and noise problems arising. The planning commission wisely recommended a 500 ft setback from existing residences. That setback combined with the requirements also in the regulations for vegetation and landscape screening um would would address those issues.

Finally, in regard to the robust standards for safety of uh any battery storage, the the planning commission set the um set the standards with uh attached to national standards recognizing that those will evolve during the course of these uh the length of life of these projects. So, as those standards are updated, they will continue to apply. Okay, your time's up. Thank you. Thank you.

Try to stay within the four minutes that we've set up here. Uh, let's see. Pre, uh, Jim, uh, apprentice.

Princess. All right. My name is Jim Prenice. I live at 4020 Southeast 37th Street in Topeka, Kansas. And I'm speaking to support the proposed solar regulations as a reasonable effort to enable Shauny County land owners to exercise their private property rights as Americans to enter into lease agreements with an interested company to produce affordable, clean solar energy on their land at a utility scale. Solar farms have existed in the United States since 1982. They produce roughly 4% of the nation's electricity in 2023. The number is growing rapidly. According to the US Energy Information Administration, solar now accounts for 10% of installed US generating capacity. Growth is expected to continue with over 41,000 megawws of utility scale solar being added by the end of January 2027. California, Texas, and Florida have the most utility size solar power production. But Kansas is considered by the US Energy Administration as an emerging state because the solar farm capacity here will double just this year. This trend may continue since electrical demand is surging and solar plants can be placed online much more quickly than fossil fuel and nuclear plants. And some utility-sized solar production is well established and is rapidly growing. Indeed, it is the fastest growing source of electrical generation in the United States. The Department of Agriculture statistics show that Shauny County in 2022 had more than 100,000 acres of crop land and more than 44,000 acres of pasture.

The 2022 census of agriculture shows that there are 791 farms in Shauny County and that the average farm size is 207 acres. So there seems like there's a possibility that there is land here to site a utility-sized solar installation. Private property rights are considered fundamental to our system of government and to our economy. And it is my belief that in judging an issue such as this, there should be a light hand of regulation applied to the decisions of private land owners as to what they decide to do with their property. if they wish to um employ solar power or to lease their land for the production of solar power, then they should have that right. whether their right is supported econ for economic reasons or for environmental reasons or for geopolitical reasons. I think that um decision should be respected by the governmental authority and the option should not be so heavily regulated that it is essence doesn't exist at all. So, I agree. I'm not going I've cut my uh comments short. I'm agree generally with the comments of the speakers before me and I thank you for considering the situation and suggest that it's only fitting that in Kansas as a sunny state, the state should enable land owners to take fair advantage of this attribute by entering leases for the production of solar energy on the utility scale. Thank you.

Thank you, Davis.

I think it says Jan. It's a little What's that look like to you? Okay.

Hi, my name is Jan Davis. Um, I live at 11756 South Topeka Boulevard. I was involved with that 2022 solar farm. That is my step-daughter's home. When it first I didn't hear about it when it first went through the planning commission. When it came to you, their house was 50 feet from the closest. And so it got sent back to the planning commission and it was redone. We pushed back almost two acres of the solar panels because of the prevailing south wind and the heat island effect. So they don't have that from their home and their outdoor living space. They still see the pasture they had. The solar panels got pushed back. So it looks very nice from Auburn Road. If you ever go up in there and look to the back, there's 50 to 75 acres behind that's gravel and electrical boxes and it's anyway it's over the hill so you don't see it from the road. Um my concern was um and first I I appreciate all of the work they've done over the last year. I think that it got kind of railroaded at at the last minute on the size, but um I'm very concerned about the best farms the the the battery storage such a fire hazard and typically I know Joany's done a research on this but typically it is rural um volunteer fire departments that would have to deal with the thermal runaway

and very I'm very concerned about that toxic smoke from fires and they do happen all the time across the nation and you know it's a good idea and they think about it but the average time of give back from a battery system no matter how large it is they'll store 1 to four hours of power. They can't even store enough to carry the load overnight. So, it's like solar panels are at best 25% efficient. Well, the battery storage system just isn't there yet, but it's loaded with lithium and cadmium and lead and all of these. It's just an environmental disaster waiting to happen. So, um, my concern is that when this first came that that the first recommendation the planning commission had was to not allow the best battery storage units and I'd like to see that go back to that again. So, thank you.

Thank you very much. You'll make a stab at that one. Mark. That's Mark. Mark. Galbreth. Yes. Mark. That's Mark. All right. That's me. Sorry about my handwriting. You know, we're going to have a pinmanship class after. We'll learn to print your name like an architect or an engineer when we're done.

I'd sign up for that. Um, good morning, commissioners. Um, and I want to thank you for this opportunity. Um, I also want Oh, sorry. My name is Mark Galbreth and I live at 12:30 College. Um, here in Topeka. Um, so good morning. I appreciate this opportunity. Um, I also want to say uh thank you to the department and to the planning commission for all the work they put in on these these regulations. I think they did a did a very good job. Um so I am here this morning to speak in support of these solar regulations. Um and um you know there are many sort of solar positives that I would like to talk with you about. There's not time for that. So I'll focus on just two. And the first has to do with um the cost of solar energy. uh because the price of um solar energy has um has become competitive with other uh energy sources and um uh and the cost of of utility scale solar has actually plunged over the last decade. Um many reasons for that as well but probably most critical of which is the fact that the cost of PVs or solar panels has dropped by about 85%. Kind of an amazing number but over the last decade a huge drop in the cost of solar panels. um very important and the upshot of that is that um solar is now one of the cheapest sources of power relative to the generation of electricity. Um people say that it's um u solar is the uh cheapest way to put an electron on the grid. Um and so that's that's the cost. Secondly, I'd like to talk about the um

the sort of the manufacturer, the roll out and the installation of solar um um across the globe actually starting with um um because uh there has been really rapid growth in solar installation. Um just one example to illustrate in 2023 um human beings on the face of the earth were uh were for the first time able to put up a gigawatts worth of solar um uh every day and um then in 2024 they were able to put up the same amount the same gigawatts worth of solar every 18 hours. So that's just one example, but I think it speaks of a kind of um um you know massive expansion in solar and to do it at speed u you know truly solar energy can now be made available uh in a more cost-effective way and um at scale if you will you know much can be said you know much of the same can be said about the US though slower has sold has slowed a bit in the last year um Um but again over the last decade um solar electricity generating capacity increased by sevenfold 700%. So great growth in solar here in the US as well. Much the same can be said about the states and I won't go into that because I'm about out of time. I just might I wanted I guess I'm arguing that this is solar has come a long way. It's no longer niche. It's now part of a mainstream um power and I think Shauny County should be part of that. Many other counties in the in uh the state, our neighboring counties, Douglas, Johnson, Jackson, uh Bourbon counties,

they're all looking and so are others and I I think we should be part of that. We should add solar energy to to our power mix. Um and um thank you. Thank you. Uh, Dan Han. Huh? Is it Diane? Could be. Like I say, we're going to have a class.

I I thought I wrote pretty well, but anyway, Diane Denham, 12170 South Pop Avenue, just real close to the Shauny County line. and I am res representing the 1,22 residents and property owners of over 31,072 acres who signed petitions against industrial solar. Now, these petitions were individual petitions and they were handd delivered to your commission um on June 13, 2024. Um I supplied to you the total page. I didn't have time to make multiple pages because there's like 30 or 40 pages worth of them. But uh you do have them also they were delivered to the planning and zoning as well. So we do have some concern about fire danger acreage and setbacks. Fire trace international reports that the solar industry is potentially underestimating the risk of fire. Their report, Hidden Danger: Why Solar Farm Fire Risk Could be Greater Than You Think, states that solar farm fires are seeing a sharp rise. Business Insurance Magazine states, "To be clear, fire risk is present across all utility scale high voltage renewable energy from wind to solar to battery storage systems. Fire risks cannot be totally engineered out. As a result of fire, wind, and hail potential exposures, insurance companies will likely start increasing rates or just dropping insurance altogether for properties bordering near solar farms. In our work, we have seen solar farm fires result in losses which encompass the entire solar farm with the potential to spread and endanger surrounding communities. So, what if a huge solar farm fire was coming toward your house and property? Would you be concerned it's only 500 ft from your house? Who

will pay for fire or other damages from the solar farm to the neighboring landowner if their insurance is canled because of the solar farm? Is there anything in the regulations regarding damages to the neighbors? Okay. Eagle Point solar farm in Oregon had two fires within two months in 2024. Both were caused by overheated electronic panels that dropped molten electronics onto the dry grass. Battery storage fires are extremely serious and hard to extinguish. They can burn for days, smolder for weeks, produce toxic gases and smoke plumes extending many miles, up to 37 miles in California. They cause serious health impacts such as exposure to dangerous chemicals, breathing issues, and forever chemicals in the water which damage crops, human and animal health. So, the 1,22 residents who signed the petitions against industrial solar are concerned for all of those issues in addition to reduced property value since no one wants to live near an industrial complex or an industrial solar complex. So for the above health and safety reasons and more, please limit the acreage to 240 acres as was in the previous uh version of the proposed regulations and consider setbacks for safety and health of at least 1,640 ft from residents. Now that comes from Go Solar Florida State. So you can go to their website and look that up. That's their minimum recommendation. 500 feet from property lines and 600 feet from other structures. Now, even those setbacks could be within a danger zone in case of a solar farm or battery fire. Also, please prohibit battery energy storage systems as stated in the

original proposed regulations since they are a major fire and health hazard. So, um, you were also sent an attachment of documents showing that there were at least 34 reported solar farm fires along with battery energy storage fires in um, 2024 and 25. And I'm time's up. So, thank you very much for listening.

Thank you very much, Terry Kaufman. I'd like to thank the planning commission, the county commissioners for holding this meeting and all the hard work that's gone into this over the past few years. My name is Terry Kaufman. I live at 2120 Southwest Hulk Road. That's a rural location 5 miles due west of Waker Road. My wife and I, my late wife and I moved there in uh 2008. Every evening we would spend watch looking at the sunset, beautiful rolling hills across our unpaved gravel road and uh it was it was a a ritual, you know. uh we never missed it weather allowing and uh that's where I'm coming from from a very personal point of view and um I my background my training is in physics I have training in uh nonlinear physics nonlinear optics which includes photovoltaics I worked for a company that was the ninth largest comp corporation in the United States and it was in the glass business. That included uh way back when the early days of fiber optics and um solar collectors. I worked in a materials research lab so I have some background in all of this and uh I can't get away from that. My sources of information are primarily the photo voltaic magazine which is the um solar energy standard globally and uh

nationally. One of the things that I called to the attention of the planning commission hearing a year or so ago was that they published a study that indicated that the greatest claim um for damages among solar industry insurance users was hail. And they showed a map, not unlike that map up here, colorcoded, the dead center most common hail damage claims in the solar industry as reported by the insurance companies is Kansas. And it's it's a bullet. It's a bullseye. And as far as the ecosystem goes, I'm not quite sure I see the value in carpeting. If you look beyond just Shauny County, but overall, including Shauny County, how covering mother earth in glass panels for thousands of acres helps the ecosystem. Uh coal is free just like the sun is free. Yeah, you got to pay to use it. Well, you got to pay to use solar the sun, too. Same with petroleum and definitely the same with nuclear. And they don't use up as much land. So, the the cost savings is disputable. There's a lot of argument on both sides. As far as property rights goes, I'm not sure that I think the purpose of the zoning commissions, but I think I believe I've heard it said is to protect property uh rights and the property rights of people exist on both sides of the equation. those people who are allowing or leasing land for solar collectors and their adjoining neighbors and living

next to one of these I envision is not that different from living next to an industrial park. So zoning regulation should take that into consideration. Um we know that they can be damaged by wildfires. There's plenty of reports. Anybody ever heard of a tornado or hail around here? Uh, and I'm glad to hear that there's an escrow account apparently or accommodation for picking up the trash after the inevitable failure of these. They're not very efficient. They start to degrade almost immediately. And uh what my my bottom line is I think it's a massive mistake, you know, to put as much effort into this particular form of energy collection. I do not believe it protects the environment

or anything like it. Done. You're out of time. I I was just about ready to say thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. All right. Uh Johnson, Richard Johnson. Richard will be teaching the pinmanship class afterwards. Very nice.

I've never done anything right, so I appreciate the compliment. My name is Richard Johnson. I live at 3536 Huxman, Silverlake. I'm a half mile from a solar site. It vexes me to see petitions signed by city dwellers when they have no risk of losing property value or property damage, never having to wake up and see a solar farm outside their kitchen window. Sorry. We have a policy at 1 hour. Our HR director has reminded us that we have a policy at one hour to stand up. So we have you keep talking to your phones. Richard, you got a standing ovation.

There we go. You can keep talking. All right. Okay. I'll I'll do my Be quiet while he's talking. Please.

I'll do my best. I'll say you know that the people in Dubai don't like the Flintstones, but the people in Abu Dhabi do. Okay, Rich got me this morning. Okay, I'll start over here again. Uh, you have my address and stuff. Uh, the property uh damage or never having to wake up and see the solar farm outside their kitchen windows. Time has been our ally at once since as once censored material on solar failures are being published. I have sent you several emails and most recent revelations so I won't repeat myself. I would like to highlight some of the issues, but first I want to address the elephant in the room. I would suggest the commission disregard the findings of the zoning committee based on the behavior of members Terry Robinson and Myron Glenn Weder. At the beginning of the meeting, a question is asked. Is anyone uh need to recuse themselves? And no one responded. Before the public comment portion was open, Terry Robersonson made the motion to increase the solar acreage to a,000 acres. That is about 1.5 square miles from the original acreage that was mentioned in the meeting before. Myron Lindreer sitting next to Terry seconded the motion and the vote was taken in favor. After the public comments ended, Terry Roverson confessed he was in favor of solar and was wanting as much solar as possible. You can view the session uh for confirmation. Be sure to watch the expressions on the other members as he continued. It was obvious he was biased and was and so was my u. They should have recused themselves. In plain language, they were not truthful. Prior to the vote and before the seconding of Terry's proposal, none of the committee members objected to mentioning should we at least listen to the public comments first. This taints the integrity of the entire committee. I emailed my concerns

to Joanie and and uh you should have received similar emails. The members of the committee are supposed to be neutral and their behaviors indicated the exact opposite. So their recommendation should not be considered in making the decision. Solar is not reliable. Now we have proof of that. To fix the problems they have to add transmission lines which is costly. Then they need battery sites which is costly. All costing more natural resources increasing our user rates. I don't see our rates going down. Um the um also there was a 100 solar companies that have gone defunct uh that gone bankrupt. Concerns that I would have for batteries is it requires a lot of the larger battery stations require at least 10,000 gallons of water on site in case a fire does break out. It's to retain it. The average amount of water that would be needed to retain the average battery is as somewhere around 50 to 60,000 gallons of water. We don't have that water, folks. We just don't have it. Um, we forgot to mention that over on Auburn Road, the birds and the animals have no longer there. They've just been moved out of the way, and that's a it's a sad site. Uh, concerns I have with storms and the fact that they're going to pick anything up. They're going to pick up the area of the site, but tornadoes and all this blows it all over the place. And again, you're looking at fiberglass, you're looking at lead, you're looking at all these types of items. So, uh, with that, I would say no solar in Shauny County. Thank you.

All right. Uh, Lesly, uh, Print this down. My name is Lesie Apprentice. I live at 4020 Southeast 37th Street. uh in Topeka. I've been here over 40 years. Love the pickle ball courts. Love the trails. Thank you very much for those. Love the actually parks and wreck. Uh my husband and I, Jim, that spoke, we played in a lot of good games in the parks and wreck department. Anyway, we love Shauny County. I'm a member of the League of Women Voters of Topeka Shaune County. We care about this county. You know, we have a national league. We have a state league. We care about the county and I'm a member of the climate committee. We have studied u solar issues and other environmental issues for three years. That's what we do when we form a committee and we study it very carefully and we have really intelligent people on our committee. We've read so many articles and they come out every day in this area. I don't know how anybody keeps up with it. Anyway, then we have our we present that to our membership and we vote on it. That's why we have a position on it and that's why we're here. And water is one of them, too. So, we'll be on that next. I'm mainly here to present our petition. We didn't go doortodoor. We we took this to 13 different groups, you know, and to our membership. We have close to 200 members. and we have a petition in support of solar um power. So, I'm going to present that to you or introduce it and that's mainly what I'm here for. But

I do want to say um you know it's not you don't have to find a thousand acres. That's the cap. You have to find a large enough area to uh build a solar farm. And this is a plant. It's not a you know it's not like what's next to the VA that it just serves the VA. all goes to energy and then energy has more power and solar power is much cheaper, much safer, much cleaner, does not hurt the ground. It in fact you can grow things under it. You can farm around it and under it. They even have lamb pastures where you see cute little lambs laying under the solar panels for shade. It's it's a remarkable development and we really need Enchant County to take advantage of this and I think you all are smart enough about economic development and care enough that you you will let this happen. But I also want to say my husband and I we own farmland but it's not in Shauny County. And farmers can struggle and and so can you know any land owner. And this is a chance for them to make significant monthly lease payments from these solar companies. And they will go out and they will talk to the land owners and find out who's willing to participate. And even people across the street that aren't going to have solar panels on their land can get paid just for cooperating. So it's it's a remarkable opportunity. And I'm sorry. I hope you're willing to take it. And I thank I thank Joanie and her committee for their work. Uh you know, it's not easy to come up with these regulations. And like I said, things change every single day. It's mindboggling, especially for an old lady. But I want to see this for my kids. I want to see it for my grandchildren. And I want to see it for everybody. That's what I want

to see this for. Health and opportunity. And I thank you very much for listening. Thank you very much. So do I just give these to you, Marty's? We have I'm sorry. We had 257 U members or not members, these are just people at churches and other places that signed it. Thank you very much. Marty Schneider,

I printed my handwriting is so bad. Um, my name is Marty Snyder. My address is 2824 Southeast 29th Street outside the Topeka city limits. I have no written remarks. Um, thank you for your time. I hope to be very fast. I have been a Shauny County resident, homeowner, tax uh payer, and voter for over 45 years here. Um, I am a flunky, non-honcho League of Women Voters member, but I completely support the League's uh position wholeheartedly. Um, I hope you won't hold it against me. Um, but I should disclose I am still an actively licensed Kansas lawyer in good standing. Um, I am primarily here as a daughter, a sister, a mother, a grandmother, and like Les, I care about all these folks, but I also care about everybody. I care about Kansas air and water and land. Um, I support clean, sustainable energy for the many reasons enumerated in the League of Women Voters, comprehensive recommendations. I uh support clean breathable air, drinkable water, arable land. Um please do adopt the regulations as proposed by the planning committee. Um thank you for your attention.

Thank you Margaret. Hi, my name is Margaret Kumar and I live at 1966 E00 Road which is inside Douglas County, but I grew up in Topeka and I've lived in Topeka and we come to Topeka all the time. So, I don't consider myself a foreigner or anything. Um I would I would like to address the overall issue that we're looking at and that is given the current conflict in the Middle East. Does anyone think that the price of oil and gas is going down anytime soon? Change is very difficult for us. We are kind of primed and conditioned to resist change. We so desperately wish that everything could be just the way it is and that we wouldn't have to face anything new and uncertain. But the future is coming for us. The future is coming and the future will arrive whether we want it to or whether we are ready for it or not. And when it does arrive, we have to ask our qu ourselves the question, would that be on our terms or someone else's terms? When we have these escalating oil and gas prices, it's not only going to affect the price of gasoline, but energy, the cost to heat and cool people's homes. the cost of many other goods and services is projected to arise because of the transport cost. And so I firmly believe that it is totally in our

best interest to move toward renewables as fast as we can, cheaper, better for the environment. Solar does not increase global warming and it's just the way to go. The future is coming again. no matter what we do. So, I thank you for your time and your consideration and please endorse your renewables with as little restrictions as possible. Thank you. Tad Kramer. Dear commissioners, I am Tad Kremar, 1966E 100 Road, almost on the western edge of Douglas County, almost within walking distance of Shauny County. I worked in Topeka more than 20 years and have two sons and a granddaughter in Topeka. I'm concerned about their future as we experience accelerating global warming and extreme weather events. I'm thrilled that you're considering regulations to let Shauny County reap the benefits of clean, efficient, inexpensive solar energy. Solar energy benefits our residents and businesses because it is generally cheaper than fossil fuels or nuclear energy and it does not increase global warming and does not contribute to extreme weather events. I hope you approve the regulations with a few adjustments that would allow them to better serve their intended purpose. The project area limit of a thousand acres would deprive Shauny County of the benefits of larger utility scale projects. The larger the project, the greater the economies of scale and the lower the electricity cost, which benefits electricity consumers. A very large project produces the cheapest electricity and its size causes no harm.

The relative lack of very large land parcels in Shauny County is no reason to limit the project area because a large project could be created by leasing from multiple adjoining land owners. It may be difficult, but it is possible. Please consider raising the maximum project area to 2,000 acres as set forth in the Johnson County regulations. There is simply no good reason for a lower limit. Uh in addition, land owners should be allowed to determine and agree to lesser setbacks from their own residents and from their property line if they so desire. This is important to avoid unnecessary restrictions that could make it difficult to create a large project site by combining adjoining properties. This can be accomplished by simply adding words similar to the Johnson County regulations to subsections A and C of the setback rules as I provided in my written statement that I recently emailed to you. Uh finally, please modify subsection D of the setback rules to ensure that setbacks are not required from private roadways or driveways. Setbacks from private roadways could create unnecessary restrictions and are not needed since private roadways are within private property and are so protected by the property line setback in subsection C. Uh this can be accomplished simply by adding the word public in two places in subsection D which would essentially read quote all SECS structures shall be set back from any public road or unimproved public road rightway a minimum of 150 ft unquote end of quote. Kansas has more sunny days than Florida, but lags behind most other states in solar energy

production. Shaunie County can be a leader in taking advantage of our sunny weather. I look forward to your approval of these regulations that will allow people and businesses of Shauny County to take full advantage of the tremendous opportunities for all types and sizes of projects to produce clean, efficient solar energy. Thank you. Thank you, Vicky Arnett.

So, thank you. Good morning. Uh, my name is Vicky Arnett. I live at 1110 Southwest Medford and I'm a very proud member of the League of Women Voters. Today, I'm not going to repeat everything that has been said in praise of this ordinance, except to say that I would request that you adopt this ordinance as it's written without amendments. I think to make overuse of the conditional release permitting process is potentially a burden to planning department staff as well as the planning commission. Um, and it potentially can delay projects and that would create developers to just go away and move on to another county. So, thank you for your time. Please pass this ordinance.

Thank you. Uh Justin Green.

Oh, it's Justine. I'm sorry. My pinmanship might not be great, but I also have a hard name, so it's not bad.

Um I'm Justine Grieve, 2424 Southwest 26th Drive. Um I have just a couple points I want to make. One is that I believe the people of Shauny County want solar power. Obviously, there are people on both sides of the issue, but at the meetings I've been at so far on this topic, there are far more supporters than detractors. And we all like the idea of clean, cheap energy, and solar energy is that it is affordable. It's um the way of the future, and it's environmentally friendly. Also, the land use and development department wants this and um I would echo Vicky's points on that topic. They felt like the conditional use permit process alone lacked the guidance that they needed to efficiently make the decision. This provides them with um regulations, guidance, standards so that they can um consider projects on a case-byase basis but with um some regulations behind that to speed up the process, make things go more smoothly, streamline it. Um it reserves the right to deny projects, address specific issues or concerns um that might arise, but provides the guidance and structure that they need to make um consistent decisions going forward. Thank you. All right. Uh, Jonathan Smith.

All right.

And uh, sorry they're not stapled. Uh, we don't have stapler technology at my house yet, so we have paper clips. Um, hello. Uh, my name is Jonathan Smith. I live at 2526 Southeast Colorado here in Topeka. Um, solar energy conversion systems are easily one of the strongest and most reliable energy generators in the market today. They allow us to generate electricity, a resource that grows in demand every single year due to the electrification of our economy, especially with our current over reliance on AI and data centers. And solar energy conversion systems do not produce the carbon dioxide or methane in order to generate that power in the same way that coal and natural gas does. uh expert speculation such as from the US Department of Energy Information Administration, uh the International Energy Agency, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Center for Rural Affairs, Cleanpower.org, solar quarter, and nature.com all see solar energy as one of our cheapest power sources by levelized cost of energy um which is how they track uh what's the most cost-effective um form of energy to produce uh in the short span of the next four years as well as over the next few decades. Failing to invest in solar energy conversion systems here and now would be a costly oversight. If we were to choose to allow this technology to grow and prosper here, it could create a new market industry for new high-skilled labor, jobs, aggra business, energy, tourism, etc. Um, the Shauny County Comprehensive Plan repeatedly speaks about the importance of incentivizing development that benefits Shauny County from the perspectives of investment, infrastructure, high-paying jobs, the protection of our beautiful landscapes, the protection of agricultural properties, developments that can live side by side with agriculture, tourism, wildlife safety, trail management, the well-being of our residents, etc. And of course, one of the main divining purposes written into the bylaws of the Shauny County Planning Commission is to adapt, comply, and implement the wishes of the comprehensive plan. They have done that here by writing and updating these regulations to better suit the

future of Shauny County. However, there can always be improvements. Largely, the regulations, as they're written, are they're good. They're good enough. Um there are some small ways um that they may lead to unnecessary disinvestment in Shauny County. Um the acreage cap of a thousand acres is sufficient to assuage some um fears when it comes to entire landscapes of solar fields. Um but they may still unnecessarily stifle development. I would recommend removing the arbitrary cap and let the cup process work out the details of the projects um with the pertinent parties involved. Uh setback requirements from occupied buildings should be reduced from 500 to 200 ft unless screening ideally of vegetation is not possible then 300 ft would be recommended. Uh setbacks from unoccupied buildings need to be reduced from 150 to 100 ft. Setbacks from property lines can remain unchanged at 50 feet. Uh battery storage requiring the standards required in NFPA 855 are sufficient to assuage fears on fires. Um if you took the time to read over the document that I sent to the board of county commissioners yesterday and also today um or perhaps the version that I sent to the SNCO planning commission two months ago prior to the regulation updates on the 9th of February. uh it took me a very long time to adequately research it and I hope you find it useful as a tool or as reference material for future use. Uh my only regret is that I didn't take the time to commit that energy and work into that document during the previous couple of years uh that we as a county have been working on these regulations. Um I have no one to blame there except myself. So I apologize for that. Uh I work a full-time job as a truck driver. So all the time I've spent researching and writing about this has been during my own free time. Um, no AI was used in the making of submitting of any of these documents that I've given you. They were all sourced, cited, written, and formatted by me and no one else. Uh, I'm not proclaiming to be an expert in the fields of zoning, climate science, engineering, finance, public policy, or administration. I'm not paid by any organization. Uh, although I do volunteer with many environmental nonprofits around Topigen, Shny County.

Um, my name is Jonathan Smith. My friends call me JD. and I truly care very deeply about our environment, our county, and the future of our children and their children. Um, thank you and God bless. Thank you. Uh, Robert Riley.

Uh, my name is Robert Riley. I live at 2424 Southwest 26th Drive here in Topeka, Kansas. Um, I grew up out in the county. Um, I I as well want to thank uh Director Joanie um and the planning commission. Um, you guys have done great work and I appreciate it. And to echo one of the uh uh planning board members at the time, um it's been really great seeing democracy in action and the feedback and the the give and take that's happened here. and to get to the point with these regulations um that they've really been thoughtful and considerate um to take in safety concerns, environmental impact, decommissioning, landowner rights, respects to neighbors, and even how it fits within the conditional use permit process. Um I want to make a statement on why battery storage is critical. Um battery storage can there's if at peak times there's more than enough energy being created uh energy can ask uh for the solar panels to stop um pushing energy into the grid. So while it's you know high sun time if they're asked to stop that's wasted energy. battery can be um there to take cheap during the day created solar energy and offer it at peak times in the evenings when our demand is highest. So the the battery really makes all the difference in that equation. Um it also um provides the opportunity for um the farm to capture it cheaply and sell it you know at another time higher um to have just um an economic advantage. Um battery um storage fires are really rare on um solar farm installations. Um the emissions created in the rare instances that they do happen um are as harmful as burning plastics less harmful than a burning house. So, we want to stop all fires and we want to make sure things are safe. The um battery um safety

recommendations that the commission and Joanie worked to put in there um are the gold national standards for um safety considerations. Um and it's not that the original proposals wanted to ban battery. That's a mischaracter characterization that you heard earlier. it was that they wanted to have more time to consider the proper safety implications and insert the battery regulations later. They heard from the public how critical battery is at the get-go and heard about how to do it safely and that's why they felt comfortable putting that in at this point. It was never that they wanted to ban it is that that it's that they wanted to get it right and they finally felt that they did and that they could include it at this point. Um I the you know farmland into glass there is a whole somebody else mentioned it but there's a whole field of um agrovtaics of growing crops that thrive in shade underneath solar panels. A lot of those are um specialty crops ones that commodity farmers aren't growing um that farmers can actually sell at a really nice margin like eggplant. we don't have a lot of opportunity to grow a lot of that uh here in Kansas without shade cloth um high tunnels and things like that. So, it's just a nice pairing. Um people are hearing this feedback that they want the land to still be productive for food and there's ways to do both. Um the thousand acre size um you have to get over 500 acres for this to make a dent and like actually contribute anything of value to the grid. Um, doing it much smaller than that effectively bans it at a utility scale. Um, another opportunity for utility scale is that those that can't afford to put solar on their own houses or live in apartments or too shady of an area have opportunity for their grid power to be, you know, not coal emitting. Um, coal plants are 18 times more environmentally impactful

than solar farms. So, you know, we've had a lot of people that are concerned about the environmental impact of solar farms. This is a net gain. um from that. Thank you guys for your time and considering. I hope you really pass these regulations.

Thank you. All right. Uh those are all the people we have signed up uh to speak, but is there anyone else who would like to speak at this time either for or against? Okay. Good morning. I'm Dr. Glenda Overreet Vaughn. I'm the president of the League of Women Voters of Shaunie and Topeka. Uh Shaunie can uh county and Topeka, Kansas. Uh my address is 3707 Southeast 23rd Terrace in Shaune County. And I am here in support of the proposed regulations and also supporting our climate committee who has worked diligently uh in addressing the solar regulations. They have as I think Leslie had already attested to that they have worked very diligently in studying this this uh the regulations and the solar application for at least the last three years. So, I want to thank our our committee for their diligence and I want to thank the planning commission for looking at balancing not only the um opposition but also those who are in support of the proposed recommendations. And with that, uh I want to thank you all for considering those recommendations. Thank you.

Anyone else? All right. One more. Oh, we do.

I'll be uh quick. Cooper Melvin 604 Northwest Half Moon Court, Topeka, Kansas. Um I haven't heard anything on like a pilot agreement, and I'm not sure if that's just my negligence of not going through that. Um, one of the things that's been done is using that pilot agreement and sending that money back to public schools and first responders. And that's strictly just for solar. Um, in Arkansas alone, I think that helped 30 raised 30% of the salaries uh for teachers. So, I feel like that could be utilized. Um, something else with the battery storage that they said, I think it's 0 005% and the majority of those issues are from misinstallation. So we have no regulations on who installs our solar. I mean it could be Joe Schmo to a carpenter. I mean so there's we got to look into licensing issues on that. Uh I think that's really all I have just to kind of clarify. But I appreciate everything and thank you.

Thank you. Yes,

I just wanted to go on record. My name is Renee Hansen. I live at 4448 Southeast 105th Street, very rural part of Shauny County, um, Bington, Kansas. I grew up in this area and I have family that moved into this area in the 1880s. So, I have a very rich history in the Shauny County area. Um, and in 1978 I was in debate at Shauny Heights and we debated energy issues and my affirmative plan was for photovoltaic energy and at that time it was capable of being produced but we didn't pursue it because of the cost. I think it's time that we support this kind of energy um and put our efforts into reducing um reducing harmful things that go into the environment from the coal fire industry. and I'm just up here talking impromptu, so I'm a little nervous, but um I just really am glad that this committee and all the people worked really hard to get to make this happen and have some regulations happen. Thank you.

I'm sorry. Can I get your first name again? Renee. Renee. Thank you. Ree. Okay. Anyone else? Okay. All right. Uh Joanie, I have a few more questions. Uh yes, let's close the public I'll make a move to close the public hearing. Second.

Motion's been made by Commissioner Ripon, seconded by Commissioner Ms. All in favor say I. Opposed. Motion carries. 30. Um, somebody, one of the speakers mentioned about having water on site for batteries. Is that is that a an issue? Is that something we have in our

So, my comment on anything related to battery would be that it would need to follow the NFPA 855 and that is a standard. It's the National Fire Protection Act. So, it would set forth standards in regards to what is needed. Um, when it comes to battery storage, water is necessary, but you don't necessarily fight a battery storage fire with water.

So, water is necessary if they have a need for cooling devices. So, most of most of these battery storage facilities, um, what you're looking at is thermal runoff. And so they all have standards that they have to meet in order to operate and they have specific shutdown points and they go through rigorous testing when you meet those NFPA 855 standards so that those those battery facilities shut down at certain points. And so another person made a comment that that battery storage fires are rare, which is pretty true. Any fires that you've heard of historically are probably an older technology. Um right now if you meet those NFPA standards typically you have shutdowns at points that would prevent that fire um and they any of the battery storage buildings or containers or whatever they may be they try and keep those separate. The biggest issue is maintaining any fire from coming into the facility. So having water to make sure that the battery storage facility is protected but also you know protecting the surrounding area to the outside with the battery storage container itself you don't put it out with water you let it burn um and you know the fire the fire districts we would require as a part of those fire plans because we do require that they give a fire plan if we request one. If there is a battery storage facility, we can request that fire plan. It can include requiring the the contractors to provide training to the fire districts um to ensure that they have what they need and they understand how to fight those fires with if and when necessary.

Okay. Say somebody puts in a solar farm and say it's 500 acres and that's say that's the limit. I total limit with the project area. Correct. Yep. What's to keep somebody from right beside it putting another one in?

We have a two-mile distance requirement as a part of these regulations, which is exactly what the point was. Um, what we didn't want to have happen is have a maximum acreage and then have one applicant come in and apply for multiple farms side by side to in essence override that maximum acreage. So, we put a two-mile from project area boundary to project area boundary to alleviate an influx of solar farms all in one area and try and make it so that it stretches them across fair areas of the county. Okay. The battery energy storage system in the NFPA is 855 the section 7.

Okay. It's in there anyway. All right. Yes. Uh, a couple things that were mentioned. Um, the pilot was mentioned that is in here, correct? Um, so that says a payment in LA tax agreement which adequately compensates the county or other taxing entities, etc. So, that that is in there. Correct. Um, there was a comment about um public road versus private road. Is that something we ought to look at or is is it just a sort of assumed that it's a public road in the

when we when we don't consider driveways or private roads as roads. What we're looking at when we look at it on an official level is we're looking at public road rightaways or undeveloped or developed roads. So if you have a long driveway, if there's a shared drive, we don't consider that a road. Um, and so I guess for purposes of technicalities we could put public, but we don't look at private drives as roads. Um, even if it's within a planned unit development where it is a private road, that's not a public road. So, it's not a roadway that we would be looking at.

Okay. Um and then there was also a comment about um licensed installers uh whether there's any um certification or anything that's required for the installation.

We don't have any specific engineer certification requirements for the installers. they do have to submit their plans and outline all of the details of those plans to us for us to review as a part of that conditional use permit. Um, we don't have any specific licensing requirements in Shaunie County. And so I don't know, you know, if we added that in, I think we would have to do a deeper dive into what it would mean to be licensed to do specific jobs. And then I guess just to add on to that, just generally speaking, um take the solar portion out of this and just look at zoning and and development. Are there electrical codes that they would need to be up to up to code with or

So we have a building code and anybody who even even once a conditional use permit is considered and potentially approved, they don't just get a go build willy-nilly. um they still have to come back to us and apply for building permits. And so as a part of that building permit, they do have building codes that they would have to live up to, which would have specific requirements that they would have to meet um as a part of those building codes. Okay, great. Thank you. as part of those building codes, they would have to show all their drives, of course, screening if there's if it's necessary or do we have anything for screening around residentials or or is it all just controlled by setback?

We most of it is controlled by setback. The codes would not have the screening requirements. We do include discussion in here about whether or not we could require them to provide us details about landscaping plans and you know buffering and that again would come that's not one of the required things that they have to provide. It's something that we can request on a case- by case basis because it could be that it's not going to be an issue and we don't need that to be provided to us. Just depending on the circumstances, that's something that we could request for them to provide.

And if somebody was to propose a development, what kind of u notification area would you have around it? Would you go a,000 ft or uh by statute, any conditional use permit requires a,000 ft to anyone out? So 1,000 ft from the conditional use permit boundary. So if you have a thousand acre boundary for this farm, we would have to send notification to anybody not only within that area but outside of that 1,000 ft.

J on the setbacks um it is it reciprocal? So a solar farm can't be built within 1,000 ft of a existing structure, but could an existing could a new structure be built within 1,000 ft of a solar farm?

So the way that we have it written within those definitions is that it's for already existing structures or structures that are have been applied for or anticipated at the time that the conditional use permit is applied for. So if somebody comes and puts a building in after a solar farm is already there it no I mean there's nothing that we we could I suppose say you can't build within this because it falls within their setback but if that person has waved it and chosen to build something within a certain distance and the solar farm is already there it you would not apply in that same situation.

Okay. Thank you. Are there any other issues that have to be looked at as are there? I mean there I don't see any drainage issues or anything like that, but I was just wondering

those are all part of the the potentially required um documents that would have to be submitted. Just remember that this is still a conditional use permit process and we would still do a full evaluation based on any specific case that comes in front of us. And so anytime we have a CUP come to us, we send out review documents to public works, to environmental health, to a city, to fire districts. And so the specifics of that case would still go to all of those entities to be looked at. And any requirements that come back to us or recommendations would be implemented as a part of those conditional use permits. And I would also point out something that I didn't address um in my first comments that we do have a clause in here that allows the the board of county commissioners to wave um any of the requirements on a case-byase basis if that argument is made by either the land use and development staff or the applicant. um that so number 12 on page three it says that the board of county commissioners at its discret at its discretion may vary or wave the minimum requirements set forth in these regulations. Um we we included that because there's no way for us to come up with every single thing that may or may not be a situation for a specific case. And we know that in any situation that there may be a one-off that we need to consider. And so we wanted to give the governing body the opportunity to to look at something and say, "Well, this doesn't just doesn't make sense in this case." So we want to wave those requirements. These solar farms are, and I don't know if we can even answer this. uh does will they go into our grid for Shaunie County and for our area or that is this something that gets shipped off to

another state or

Well, I mean I think that the answer to that is it kind of depends. We don't have the ability to regulate to say it has to stay local um if it is something that they're applying to the large grid. We are just one piece of the consideration. they have to apply to get into the grid first. And that process can take several years. Um, and so if this is a solar farm that's applying to get into the big grid, then once it goes into the grid, it all the little molecules and whatever's joined together and they're gone. You can't separate out what was created here versus what's created somewhere else. Um if it's so the the ones that we did with Free State early on, they are staying local to the sense that Free State Cooperative has its own grid here and so their solar farms are supporting their clientele. So, if it's a community style uh solar farm that's supporting just those homeowners, it could stay local, but if it's something that they've applied to go onto the big grid, then it joins in and it's spread nationwide. We we have no way to stop that.

How large were those solar farms? The they're 10 to 15 acres garden solar. Yeah. Uh I mean, yes, if you Yeah, that's what would probably be called a garden solar. Okay. um and the tax on on these. So, they have a 10-year moratorum on that or

there's I I don't want to misquote this incorrectly, but there is state law that allows for a 10-year exemption, I believe, from property tax. Um, which is why we included the clause for a payment in lie of taxes. So, we could consider if if they come in and they get that 10-year exemption, we could consider whether or not we need a pilot to help support the fire districts or whomever the county um to make up for that loss of tax revenue. All right. Any other questions?

I not really a question, more of a comment. I do want to just thank you and the planning commission and your department for the work on this uh as well as all the public feedback that was given. Um when we talked about this initially back in 2024, it became clear that we needed some parameters on this. And so we put a moratorium in a one-year moratorum and I you know I I really don't like moratoriums typically. I know we've discussed this. Um, I think it's kicking the can down the road, but I agreed to that one because it was done with the intention of forming regulations and that's what we actually did that rather than using a moratorium as a de facto ban on solar because um the comment was made that you know the future's coming whether we want it or not and that is true. Um, so I think it's important that we get something in place. Um, and and I appreciate all the work that you guys have done. I know a lot of people have read these and when compared to the regs in a lot of other places, they're simple. They're they're easy to understand. They're comprehensive and so I I think it's uh a really good product that you guys put together.

Thank you, Commissioner. Yes,

I would agree with that. I think that a lot of hard work has gone in, a lot of input. As uh was said earlier, it's democracy in action. You see some give and some take. Uh we have a proposal before us. Um I anticipate there may be some changes to it from the board before we're done here today. Uh but I do appreciate all the hard work that's gone into this and getting us to this point. Uh because prior to that, it was really unregulated and anybody could propose anything. um and it left us in a quandry as to what Shauny County would look like outside of our comprehensive plan and just leaving it to the will of the commission. Some concerns that I have is ultimately what's the best use of the land. I you have to look at balancing out the farmland agricultural use versus energy use. Um we do have restricted areas um from the regulations on where this could go in. Um, as I said earlier, some of the general concerns that I have are the size, your setbacks, distance to other neighbors, and then also the buffering. So, those are some concerns that I have when we look at what we adopt as a regulation for Shauna County as it relates to solar.

Yeah, I I too like to thank the staff and for all your time and the and the planning commission for all their efforts. Um, but two, yes, we need some regulations. Um, I'm not sure about the size. Uh, we are an urban county and Kansas has lots of counties that that aren't and we're a different animal here. We have a lot of people live out in the county and as we could tell by that map, we don't have a whole lot of areas that would actually qualify as a place to put these. And uh, I notice most of you live inside the city. you're not out in the county and you're not the ones that are affected by a solar farm going right beside your house. I don't know how many of you have a solar panel on top of your roof, but you know it you've always got that option as well. But uh u I I'm a little concerned about the acreage myself. Uh I'm not opposed to solar. I just I just don't want to see huge solar farms like they're proposing in some areas. In some some counties, that would be fine. That they're wide open. They don't have many people. Uh uh you you buy a section of ground out in the county, a lot of counties, and never touch another house. You'd be you'd still have plenty of room. Uh that's not the case in Shauny County. It's different. It's a different animal. Um, so um, when I look at this, I I think I'm probably opposed to a thousand acres. It it seems like our first rate set of regulations was what what did we have, Joan?

240 is what we had originally were considering. Yeah. Um,

and I I would like to, you know, another comment that was made was in regards to Johnson County and theirs being set at 2,00. Um, I've attempted to do some looking at their land density. I mean, obviously I have the benefit of a GIS department who can bring me my own county's land density and I can see by parcel how that is. If you do look at Johnson County maps, what you'll see is their density tends to all be shoved up in one corner. And so they have large dense areas closest to the city and then on the outlier areas it appears as though they have very open area. So, while you can't compare county to county, um even if they are both urban counties, we're different. And we have to base this off of what we've considered for Shauny County as the best because we are looking at Shaunie County, not Johnson County, not Douglas County. Yes, they did have larger size options. Um but that's just not the case here for a number of reasons. And I want to, you know, fall back not just on this is because how we want it to be. We we looked at this and and looked at those size requirements based on variables and considerations of things that actually occur here in Shauny County.

I'm an old dirt farmer. I deal in quarters of ground and u yeah like quarter ground's 160 acres and that's what you would buy if you were going out looking for land. And so I think it ought to be something divisible by 160. That's just me speaking of Well, you said the word section several times. A section is 640 acres. Yeah. Two uh half sections 320. So, um

Ray, sorry I cut you off there. Uh no, I was I was just going to reiterate. It seems like anytime we talk about land, it it's always in 80 acre increments. And so because of that, a mile by a mile. And so, um, you know, I don't know. I mean, do we need to look at lowering it down to a section, 640? I was even looking at 320, but

I would be comfortable with this if we went to 640th section because that's usually that's a an area that is regulated by the county. Um it's a known entity. Um we see that on our plat and so and we heard multiple times that you know sort of the minimum that anyone would look at would be 500. Um, I think it would be pretty difficult for somebody to come up with 640. I looking at that map, there's only about three different spots where it looks like it would even be possible. Um, and again, you'd have to find somebody that's willing to allow it. U, so

then when you figure transmission lines into the equation, it's even less then probably. So, it's It's not.

So, I'll make a motion to lower it to 640. Second. Motion's been made by Commissioner May, second by Commissioner Cook. All in favor? Those opposed? I'm opposed. I would rather have it at 320. So, But it passes at uh two 21 vote. All right. And so that way you would not exceed 640 acres

unless unless we granted a variance. Correct. which we could do for any building opportunity in Johnny County really. So, all right. I'm fine with the two mile uh boundary. I think that's I don't have any issues with that. The located next to um other property of 150 ft. I don't know. That's your setback. Yeah, but that's to a property though, not a structure, right?

Um, bless you. I mean, the distance to a structure is pretty I mean, was it 500 ft? Is that what it was? To a residence. Yeah. 500 to a residence. Yeah. So, you know, football field to any other structure it's 150 about one and a half football fields. Other than that, it was it was if it's just farmland, how how far back do you have to be to set back? Uh from any other property line, yeah, it's just 50 ft just to the property line. But if there's a structure on it, then so from a residence, it's 500 ft. And this is um

any of the structures. So the structures would have to be at least 500 feet away from a residence. Um that's not much. 150 ft from any other building, accessory building, uh 50 ft from a property line, and then 150 ft from road or unimproved road right away. I think it'll seem pretty reasonable, honestly. Yeah.

All right. So, do we want to make a vote on the entire the entire proposal or do we have other changes we want to make? I don't know. Discuss. I don't have any other changes that I'm asking for. I don't either. All right. Well, I'll make a motion that we approve the home resol home rule resolution as amended. Second. Motion's been made by Commissioner May, seconded by Commissioner Cook. All in favor say I. Those opposed. Motion carries. 30. So,

thank you, Commissioners. All right. Thank you, Lisa. What's next? Next on the agenda is public comment. I think we've had enough. Is there anyone who would like to speak on some other subject or topic? Okay. Um, next next item. Next item is item six, administrative communications. Mr. May, do you have anything?

Um, I I don't necessarily. Um, but you know, we had a lot of proms in town this weekend. It was uh is nice to see everybody's kids going out. I had a senior that went and um so it's exciting. School year is almost over. So, Commissioner Cook, go out and look at the tulips before they're gone. I was going to say I spent an evening out there volunteering at Old Prairie Town and had a good crowd go through there and had nice weather. We've dodged the rain. So, yeah, if you get a chance, it's it's uh and you know, it's not just at Old Prairie Town. We have a nice uh Lake Shaunie

Lake Shaune at Eninsley Gardens and Gage Park. We have quite a few tulips. Uh so get out and enjoy them. Playoff hockeyy's coming up too. Oh yeah. So scarecrows are made the playoffs, so get your tickets. Yep. So all right. Uh next item. Next item is item seven, executive session. Rich, do we have a need? Okay, that we're turned