One of the reasons I ran for county commissioner was the county zoning issue. I was not sold that rural Ellis County needed zoning yet, and more particularly was concerned how it was ram-rodded through despite vast opposition. But that is history and now we have zoning, which is a set of rules, regulations and procedures to protect neighbors from each other, and in our case to protect agriculture from rural residential nuisance complaints. However, with zoning we have given up some property rights. For example, we no longer have the right to build non-agricultural structures without a government-approved conditional-use permit. If a county commission approves a CUP without adequate conditions (rules, standards, regulations) to protect all property owners, then those owners will have little recourse in court to abate any future nuisance issues. This is because the county has determined through a CUP that the "use" is more beneficial to the county than the nuisance is a detriment.

Almost a year ago I voted against approval of the wind application for two main reasons:

* There was sufficient protest from offsetting land owners (70 percent to 80 percent, if you count owners whose protests were thrown out on technicalities).

* The regulations and rules in our zoning codes pertaining to Industrial wind farms were grossly lacking even compared to other Kansas counties with wind farms.

I was hoping the yearlong moratorium would persuade the zoning board to study, debate and compromise on a new set of standards and regulations for Ellis County. This would allow wind farms, yet also protect the interests of the few rural residential neighbors to the projects.

This process was starting; public hearings held, going through issues point by point, however, our lifting of the moratorium killed any serious attempt to change the rules, as evidenced by this month's zoning board meeting being canceled due to lack of anything on the agenda.

Today, we still have the same insufficient zoning regulations in place that caused my no vote several months ago. This is a shame, since this application before us is very well done. The company has gone a long way in addressing many of the concerns about health and nuisance issues inherent in an industrial wind farm. In many cases, such as noise and setbacks, the company has offered more than the zoning board would accept.

Now the zoning board has sent this application to us with a recommendation for approval with the stipulation that it is up to the commissioners to set any conditions for setbacks, noise level standards, shadow flicker standards and heights. Additionally, the commission needs to consider decommissioning requirements (such as bonds or escrow), road maintenance agreements and a power purchase agreement requirement.

Hopefully, we will go through all these issues point by point before a vote. We at least owe that effort to the citizens of Ellis County.

Perry Henman

Ellis