By GAYLE WEBER

gweber@dailynews.net

The Ellis County Joint Planning Commission will get another look at proposed changes to the county's zoning regulations soon. But after making a recommendation, commission member Kirk Dickinson said he wants county commissioners to sit down with the planning commission to come up with a resolution.

"Let's sit down and have a meeting, the two boards, and let's be done with it," Dickinson said.

Both bodies have been looking at the changes for more than a year with the planning commission's original recommendation coming in May.

Commissioners looked at the changes again Monday, but left the solution to two contentious changes open-ended.

Increased setbacks in wind energy conversion systems continued to draw the ire of Commission Chairman Vernon Berens, a known wind supporter.

"I can't go along with that," Berens said after hearing Commissioner Glenn Diehl's proposal to have 1-mile setbacks from non-participating residences in wind projects; 1.5-mile setbacks from village districts and non-participating suburban and family residential districts; and a 3-mile setback from incorporated cities in the county.

Commissioner Perry Henman has advocated the larger setbacks as an alternative for regulating noise in wind projects, but Diehl's proposal also included extensive noise standards.

"Personally, I would like to scale the noise regs way back, make it simple," Henman said.

Commissioners did not come to a consensus on either issue, but the planning commission will review the suggestions, which also included changed setbacks from county roads, setbacks from the three major bodies of water in Ellis County and cellular phone tower setback changes.

The planning commission could discuss the changes as early as its next meeting, which is scheduled for Feb. 24.