By OLIVIA BERGMEIER
Salina Post
The Saline County Commission met on Tuesday, Nov. 7, and discussed multiple action items in the week's agenda but focused primarily on one line item — an appeal extension for Plus Power.
County Commissioners at the Tuesday meeting included Rodger Sparks, James Weese, Joe Hay and Monte Shadwick via Zoom. County Commission Chairman Robert Vidricksen was absent from the meeting.
Mountain Peak Energy Storage, LLC, conducting business as Plus Power, approached the Saline County Planning and Zoning Commission in May with a battery-based electric storage and distribution facility project.
The project would be on farmland designated by the Saline County Planning and Zoning Commission, so Plus Power requested a conditional use permit, or CUP.
By Sept. 26, the project was ready for a vote from the Planning and Zoning Commission, with six of the nine voting members present.
The Planning and Zoning Commission ultimately denied the 40-acre project at the southwest corner of McReynolds and Simpson roads west of Gypsum.
READ MORE: Proposed Saline County Battery Energy Storage System denied
Plus Power appealed the decision, and at the Nov. 7 meeting, they requested to move the appeal hearing to sometime in February 2024.
According to County Administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes, the commission set to hear the appeal during the Tuesday, Nov. 14 County Commission meeting.
"That's not a magical date," Smith-Hanes said. "That was simply the first time that we thought that we would have five commissioners in attendance."
The appeal extension is due to the confusing nature of the Planning and Zoning Commission vote.
The initial vote in September ultimately denied the request with three in favor, two against, and one abstention vote. The Planning and Zoning Commission clarified the vote at its Oct. 24 meeting.
"Two points contained in the letter (from Plus Power) essentially are that their attorney is not available next Tuesday," Smith-Hanes said. "Secondly, although they're appealing a decision from September, it was really Oct. 24 the Planning Commission went back and made their findings, so they need a little bit of additional time to react to that."
The Planning and Zoning meeting on Oct. 24 acted as the final meeting on the issue, and later, Plus Power filed an appeal.
After Smith-Hanes provided additional information about the continuance of the appeal, the County Commissioners deliberated.
County Commissioner Joe Hay spoke first, "We've had four meetings on this item," Hay said. "The planning commission made it perfectly clear that they denied. I just have a hard time continuing with this — I don't know why we just don't go ahead and quit kicking this dead horse."
"I just think we just need to put this to bed and get done with it and continue with our county business."
County Commissioner James Weese spoke next, expressing concern with due process and allowing applicable time for the appellant, Plus Power.
Weese said he attended a few of the four meetings about this item and witnessed the interactions between Planning and Zoning Commissioners and the community.
"I was confused over some of their meetings myself — it didn't seem as cut and dry as what you're explaining," Weese said. "I don't see a problem with... moving it back to give them the chance to do it correctly, so it doesn't come back to haunt us in a court of law."
Commissioner Monte Shadwick agreed with Weese initially, stating it would be proper to allow ample time for the appellant.
A magical date for the community
Even though the Nov. 14 date is not a "magical date" for the commission, it seemed to be for the citizens once the meeting moved to public comment.
The first to stand at the podium was Gypsum resident William Desilvey, who expressed concern over the possible risks to the Gypsum residents.
Desilvey said he believed it was time the commission followed the citizens of Gypsum's preferences on the matter, with many of the citizens declaring a resounding "no."
"We have told you no, we will not give our consent, and we will not be screwed by anybody," Desilvey said.
After Desilvey finished his comment, Wade Waddle, an impacted resident near the project site, spoke to the commission about the lack of communication and awareness surrounding this decision.
Waddle said since the project proposal, he has received a one-page flyer about the battery storage facility and two notifications about County Planning and Zoning Commission meetings.
"Not a single person has checked to see if I'm available or when I'm available as an affected person," Waddle said. "We're catering to a company that has had multiple opportunities and paraded several people in this room to make their case."
"Nobody's taking into account anybody's schedule except the applicant at this point, and that's kind of insulting to me."
Trish Voth, a representative for Plus Power, also spoke at the podium, encouraging the commission to take their time with the matter and allow the extension so all parties had enough time for consideration.
Voth said the record required for the appeal would include 300 pages, and she encouraged the commission to take their time preparing and allow for ample notices for the community.
Gary Olson, another Gypsum resident, spoke at the podium next and told the commission his thoughts from the commission and community meetings held about the battery storage facility.
"Where I started having lots of questions was when we had the discussion one day that this was going to have a $2 million community impact," Olson said. "The next time we talked about it, it was going to be a $1 million impact with them asking Saline County folks for some tax abatements, so I started wondering, 'well, maybe they're going to ask for tax abatements for the whole thing,' and Southeast of Saline won't get anything."
Olson continued his concerns, expressing to the commission his beliefs that Plus Power did not have the community's best interest in mind.
"I think the commission is ready to make their decision, and I think we need to leave the date where it's at," Olson said.
Another Gypsum resident, Tammy Waddle, agreed with Olson and expressed that the commission "needs to take care of this."
In total, five Gypsum residents, one Assaria resident and one Salina resident spoke in opposition to moving the date, with many citing the need to take off work to appear during the Saline County Commission meetings.
The date stays the same
After hearing the public outcry from Gypsum residents, the Saline County Commission turned to a motion for the action item.
Commissioner Weese motioned to approve the extension for Plus Power's appeal, but no other commissioner provided a second on the motion.
The commission determined that the date for the appeal would remain the same — Tuesday, Nov. 14.