By GAYLE WEBER

gweber@dailynews.net

More than 50 people, most of them wind proponents, gathered at the Ellis County Commission meeting Monday to hear discussions about a possible moratorium on wind developments in the county.

At the Jan. 19 meeting, commissioners indicated they would like to discuss implementing a moratorium on applications for wind projects in Ellis County in order to get their zoning regulations finalized and a comprehensive plan in place.

On Monday, Commissioner Vernon Berens backed off his immediate support for a moratorium.

"At the present time, I think it's a code word against wind," Berens said. "It's a stall tactic."

Berens said he doesn't want to delay any possible projects ready for development in the county now by implementing a moratorium.

"I'm not against a comprehensive plan down the road, but let's not use this to curtail this particular wind project we have in the courts," Berens said.

Commissioners Perry Henman and Glenn Diehl agreed the county needs a comprehensive plan in order to avoid more lawsuits, such as the one the county is facing with its approval of Hays Wind LLC's conditional-use permit.

"If we would have started long ago, we wouldn't be in this position we're in," Diehl said. "I am not in favor of a long-term moratorium at all."

No commissioner has said how long he would endorse a moratorium, but said they have requested additional time with their counselor next week to discuss the matter.

However, Aaron Weigel, a project manager with TradeWind Energy, which is requesting permits for four meteorological towers in Ellis County, said a moratorium for any length of time likely would discourage some developers from coming to the county.

"If we're going to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars, we might be more likely to do that in a location where we have higher confidence that we'll finish a project," Weigel said.

Weigel asked commissioners to exclude requests for met towers in their moratorium because the towers only are collecting data. TradeWind Energy has not committed to leasing its project in Ellis County yet.

Weigel also suggested commissioners draw from the state's guidelines for siting wind farms to ensure their feasibility in the county.

"If you need to wait for a few months to get your permits in place, that seems relatively reasonable," Weigel said. "But a moratorium seems like an intentional delay that's probably longer than necessary."

Ellis County has five potential wind developments, including the Hays Wind and TradeWind projects that could be affected by a moratorium.

Les Rogers, who has land in the proposed Chetolah Crossing Wind Project in southwest Ellis County, said the economic effect for the area would be too great to pass up.

"I just don't understand how or why you can be against it," Rogers said. "It's a tremendous amount of money that would come into this county in the next 30 years."

However, Henman said a moratorium would mean the county would be working to make zoning regulations complete and to implement a comprehensive plan that would detail exactly where a wind development could go.

"We're going to have timelines and deadlines ... and we'll get it done," Henman said.

He said he hoped to be able to vote on whether or not to implement a moratorium in the next two weeks.

"As the chair(man), I'm going to get this moving one way or the other," Henman said.