Pre-construction components of a wind farm in Allen County are coming together.
On Sept. 22 Allen County Planning Commission members will consider zoning changes to accommodate the project. Meanwhile, four towers with gauges attached to their tops are measuring wind velocity and frequency.
Those steps were mentioned to commissioners Tom Williams and Jim Talkington Tuesday. The third commissioner, Jerry Daniels, was absent.
County Counselor Alan Weber said the wind farm was a topic for planners on Aug. 25. Two landowners attended — one fully in favor, the other gathering information.
The planners asked Weber to prepare a document with more comprehensive language for their consideration of zoning changes, including input they expect to gather from citizens.
Land in question is in the northeast quadrant of the county, somewhat in the same corridor that is expected to support a wind farm in Anderson County. Another wind farm is operating in Coffey County.
The developer who approached commissioners several months ago is EDP Renewables, Houston. The company has 27 wind farms, including two in Cloud County, Kan., and one in Canada. It also has two solar power parks in California.
The zoning question will lead to a recommendation from the Planning Commission, with county commissioners the final authority.
A BLESSING HOUSE, as Tracy Keagle terms it, will be erected south of the courthouse, a place where donations of non-perishable things may be left and obtained by needy folks. The proposed site drew thumbs up from Williams and Talkington.
Keagle told commissioners the miniature house — two-foot square and three feet tall — will be on a pedestal to give easy access. Such things as diapers and canned goods will be available. The project is part of the over-arching Humanity House initiative.
Spring and summer garden goods, grown in large measure by Keagle, have been helpful, she said.
“We have given away 5,500 pounds of produce from the community garden (end of South First Street),” she said. Additionally, produce grown in the former law enforcement center garden, Jefferson and Jackson avenues, has been given to Hope Unlimited. “We haven’t kept track of it, but it has been quite a bit.”
IN OTHER NEWS, commissioners:
— Put off most discussion and a decision on whether to give the Allen County Community Foundation another $100,000 from landfill reserves. In 2012 $50,000 from landfill coffers was endowed in an environmental fund, and has generated $6,479.51 for whatever purposes commissioner decide within that arena.
Another $50,000 went to a public health fund, and has accumulated $207,000 in interest and donations. Grants to date total $13,900.
When money is endowed it remains under control of the foundation for perpetuity.
— Agreed to remain a part of the state’s Rural Opportunity Zone project. The county will continue to provide $1,500 a year to entice college graduates to return to the state. If away for five years or more they can receive up to $3,000 a year — half from a local source and half from the state —to retire student loans. The local match also may be provided by a business or industry.
— Approved an Allen County Historical Society target-shooting concession inside the Funston Memorial Home compound on Oct. 8 to support Farm-City Days. Shooters will use an air-soft pellet gun, with three shots costing $2. The target will be on the side of a deer, with the declaration “I shot the last deer of Allen County 1893.” That supposedly was when the last deer was taken in the county, before the deer population surged 50 years ago.
