December 25, 2015
Kansas

Pratt County Commission: Public hearing set for NextEra wind farm

By Gale Rose | Pratt Tribune | Posted Dec. 24, 2015 | www.pratttribune.com

Pratt, Kan.

The new and current members of the County Planning and Zoning Board will tackle a major issue to start 2016.

The first meeting in January will be a public hearing on a proposed wind generator farm in Pratt County. The meeting with NextEra, the company wanting to build the wind farm, will be at 7 p.m. on Jan. 18, 2016 at the Pratt Area 4-H Center at the county fairgrounds.

There will be a lot of information at the meeting so an additional two days, Wednesday, Jan. 20 and Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016 have also been scheduled to make sure everything gets covered.

“I don’t think everything will get done in one night,” said Zoning Administrator Tim Branscom at the Pratt County Commissioners meeting Dec. 21.

As for the new members of the planning and zoning board, Rick Shriver, Ed Petrowsky and Darren Hodgkinson are all up for re-election.

Hodgkinson has indicated he was not going to be able to serve again because of other commitments.

Branscom presented several names to the commissioners. After discussion, the commissioners voted to retain Shriver and add Brad Swisher and Doug Freund to the board. Terms run for three years.

Community service people are helping to stuff envelopes with information about the meeting that will be mailed to property owners impacted by the proposed wind farm.

When the Planning and Zoning Board meets, it will have to deal with about 600 pages of data from NextEra. Anyone wanting part or all of the 600 pages needs to contact Branscom at 672-4132.

Mark McManaman, administrator of Emergency and Medical Services for Pratt County, presented a proposal for a demonstrator ambulance to replace ambulance No. 4 that has 144,000 miles.

The commissioners approved the purchase of a 2015 CBG Chevrolet ambulance for $168,600 to add to the Pratt County fleet.

The commissioners went into an extended executive session to interview candidates for the County Road and Bridge Director position. Seven candidates were interviewed but no choice made. The new director will replace Randy Phillippi who retired Dec. 19.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/12/25/pratt-county-commission-public-hearing-set-for-nextera-wind-farm/